LONDON.- Elusive Sense: On the Fluid Boundaries of Perception is a group exhibition showcasing the work of five leading contemporary artists from Poland who each explore the impact of technology on the sensory landscape. Presented as part of the UK / Poland Season 2025, a diverse cultural dialogue taking place in over 100 art events across 40 cities in the two countries, Elusive Sense: On The Fluid Boundaries Of Perception is curated by Anna Szylar, a specialist who focuses on the intersection of culture, art and new technologies.
The exhibition is being staged in two parts: at Centerspace in Bristol and art’otel London Hoxton from 5 September – 4 October with a series of events highlighting the central themes of the exhibition and how they extend through to fashion, design and music.
The London element of Elusive Sense: On The Fluid Boundaries Of Perception celebrates the pioneering practice of Cosmodernism, Agnieszka Mastalerz, panGenerator, Janek Simon and Iga Węglińska.
Technology has permeated every aspect of daily life with our shared experience of the world becoming inextricably interwoven with it. Elusive Sense: On The Fluid Boundaries Of Perception considers how this is impacting the sensory landscape and probes the challenges that technology's ever-expanding entity poses to humanity. Each of the artists explores how technology becomes not just a tool but an active agent that shapes our bodies, minds, our perception of reality and our understanding of ourselves. Does technology enhance our senses, or does it lead to their functions being transferred to systems on which we are ever more dependent? Does this mediated sensation allow us to survive in an increasingly stimulating reality, or does it strip us of a vital plane for maintaining authentic contact with the world around us?
Aleksandra Szymańska, Director, Creative Industries Institute: “Poland’s Creative Tech sector is rapidly evolving, blending art, culture, and cutting-edge technology. As digital tools, artificial intelligence, and immersive experiences reshape how we create and engage audiences, Polish innovators and startups are co-creating a new wave of creativity — merging tradition with technological breakthroughs and redefining the future of the creative industry. Elusive Sense: On The Fluid Boundaries Of Perception is an opportunity for Creative Industries Institute to further support the visionary community with five artists who each explore the impact of technology on humanity in a captivating showcase of pioneering artistic talent in Poland. ”
Anna Szylar, Curator, Elusive Sense: On The Fluid Boundaries Of Perception: “Elusive Sense brings together the very best artists working in Poland who are harnessing the opportunities that technology presents us with to interrogate the very possibilities it offers. How will technology impact our senses and does this add to or take away from our shared experience as humanity. Cosmodernism, Agnieszka Mastalerz, panGenerator, Janek Simon and Iga Węglińska each offer a unique and compelling perspective on what I perceive to be the most urgent questions of our time. We are thrilled to exhibit their work in Bristol and in London during the Design Festival - a moment when the international creative community is championed in the UK’s capital.”
Elusive Sense: On The Fluid Boundaries Of Perception is organised by Creative Industries Institute, an institution created to support and connect creative industries. The exhibition at art’otel in London is co-organised by On&On Designs, a cultural studio and events curator that supports European creatives in entering and influencing the UK market, particularly in design, retail, interiors and placemaking. The UK/Poland Season 2025 is initiated by the British Council and co-organised by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and the Polish Cultural Institute.
Curatorial Text by Anna Szylar
The artistic dialogue established between the works of Iga Węglińska and Agnieszka Mastalerz is underpinned by a palpable tension that considers the central questions posed by the curatorial direction of Elusive Sense: On The Fluid Boundaries Of Perception. Węglińska's work, rooted in transhumanism and the anthropology of the body, examines the limits of human communication. Agnieszka Mastalerz focuses on the mechanisms of control inherent in our relationship with technology.
Another theme addressed in the exhibition is the nature of the digital image, exploring not only its creation and consumption but its life cycle. In their installation Hash to ash, the art collective panGenerator poignantly illustrates the fragility of digital memories by transforming the viewer's selfie, taken in the exhibition, into a handful of physical ash. Seen alongside Infinity, the collective's second piece on display, the works serve as a critique of the hypnotic and exhausting search for visual stimulation on social media. Kamil Czapiga’s (known as Cosmodernism) works, appear to be computer-generated video, but are in fact ecosystems of living organisms observed under a microscope. Czapiga creates "science fiction, but without the fiction”.
Janek Simon's series ‘Meta Folklore’ enters into a direct confrontation with the influence of artificial intelligence on our understanding of heritage, tradition, and identity. Simon's work poses a crucial question about the future: will artificial intelligence enable the birth of a new, rich, and syncretic global culture, or will it flatten history and identity?
Elusive Sense: On The Fluid Boundaries Of Perception does not attempt to offer simple answers. Instead, it invites viewers into a space of active reflection on our cyborgian present.
BIOGRAPHIES
Anna Szylar is the founder of Monster Mind Studio, a curator, and a cultural manager with over a decade of experience in international collaboration within the immersive media field. She has been a propagator and promoter of Polish art, building its recognition through collaborations with partners such as SXSW, MUTEK, Tribeca Film Festival, Korea Foundation, Sheffield Doc Fest. From 2014 to 2021, she was associated with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, and later with
the Visual Narratives Laboratory (vnLab), where she was responsible for VR distribution and international relations. She is a regular speaker and moderator at international industry conferences. Szylar also serves as a program advisor for IDFA DocLab, one of the world's leading festivals dedicated to interactive and immersive documentaries. Her curatorial work includes exhibitions such as Ground Control, presented during the Venice Film Festival (2023), Mixer Festival (2024) and MDAG Vision (2025). She is also an alumna of the prestigious Biennale College Cinema Immersive program, through which her Monster Mind Studio is producing the VR piece Channelers (2025), directed by Jakub Wróblewski.
Iga Węglińska - Iga Węglińska is a multidisciplinary body-tech designer blending art and science through sensory interaction, wearable interfaces, and speculative design. Iga Węglińska PhD is a researcher and academic. She works as an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Design, Academy of Art in Szczecin, where she serves as Head of the Fashion Design Department and leads the Fashion Design Studio in both BA and MA programs. She also teaches as an Associate Lecturer at the School of Form, SWPS University in Warsaw. Her works have been presented in various exhibitions in Europe, Asia, and the USA, and published in magazines and portals such as Dezeen, Designboom, LS:N The Future Laboratory, WGSN, Promostyl, Numéro Netherlands, Vogue Italia, I-D Italia, Elle Poland, Glamour Poland, and KMAG.
IG:
https://www.instagram.com/igaweglinska
Agnieszka Mastalerz - is a visual artist based in Warsaw. She is a graduate of the Studio of Spatial Activities led by Mirosław Bałka at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (BA, MA, 2018). Her work revolves around mechanisms of control and the processes that influence and exploit the individual. Her work has been exhibited at numerous institutions, including Królikarnia — the National Museum in Warsaw, Krupa Art Foundation in Wroclaw (2025), Catinca Tabacaru Gallery at the Goethe Institut in Bucharest (2024), NS-Dokumentazionszentrum in Munich (2023), MOCAK – Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow, Manifesta 14 Prishtina, eastcontemporary gallery in Milan (2022), Fabbri Schenker Projects in London, MAXXI – National Museum of 21st Century Art in Rome, Center for Contemporary Art Luigi Pecci in Prato (2021), Wschód gallery in Warsaw (2020), Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, Starak Family Foundation in Warsaw (2019), Deichtorhallen in Hamburg, Fondation Hippocrène in Paris (2018), Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (2017 – as the laureate of the Hestia Artistic Journey Competition), and TRAFO Center for Contemporary Art in Szczecin (2016).
IG:
https://www.instagram.com/agnieszkamastalerz/
Janek Simon - is an artist who lives and works in Warsaw. He studied Psychology and Sociology at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków (1996-2001). Simon was the laureate of the prestigious Spojrzenia Award from the Deutsche Bank Foundation in 2007 and has participated in residency programs at Headlands Center for the Arts in San Francisco and Gasworks in London. Simon’s work has been exhibited extensively in Poland and internationally, including at institutions such as the Centre Pompidou-Metz (2020), Manifesta 7 (2008), BOZAR – Centre for
Fine Arts in Brussels (2025, 2011), Zachęta — National Gallery of Art in Warsaw, and the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw. He has had numerous solo shows at Raster gallery in Warsaw, and his work was featured in the 14th Baltic Triennial (2021) and the 35th Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts (2024).
IG:
https://www.instagram.com/jansizero/
panGenerator - is a group engaged in design and new media art, comprising Krzysztof Cybulski, Krzysztof Goliński, and Jakub Koźniewski. The projects developed by the group integrate modern digital media with unconventional spatial forms and engaging interaction – bridging the worlds of bits and atoms. panGenerator’s work has been showcased around the globe at major design and art festivals, including Ars Electronica, SXSW, KIKK Festival, Milan Design Week, Dutch Design Week, Warszawska Jesień, WRO Media Art Biennale, Łódź Design, and many others. Among their numerous awards are the Golden Lion at the Cannes festival, Lumen shortlist, an Honorary Mention at Ars Electronica, and the “Paszporty Polityki” in the Digital Culture category. In addition to their artistic endeavors, the group is also involved in educational activities – beyond numerous workshops, its members teach postgraduate Creative Coding courses at the School of Form and, from 2022 to 2024, led the Guest Workshop at the Faculty of Design at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts.
IG:
https://www.instagram.com/pangenerator/
Cosmodernism - is the intermedia art project of Kamil Czapiga, initiated in 2019 in Katowice, Poland. The Cosmodernism project incorporates abstract video art and photography with original sound design and experimental activities. The main idea behind his work is the search for a personal abstract expression, achieved through the exploration of micro and macro observation combined with specially composed soundscapes. As the building blocks for his films, Czapiga often uses various chemicals, dyes, and objects, capturing the physical and chemical reactions that occur between them. Although many of his works appear to be computer-generated, they are not created using CGI or digital techniques. They are, in fact, real objects seen from an unreal perspective—what the artist describes as "science fiction but without the fiction."
IG:
https://www.instagram.com/cosmodernism/
