On the Edge of Chaos | Exhibition

What?

How can we find our way in a world where wars, climate catastrophe, forced migration, and social crises are becoming an everyday reality? Is it possible today to think about community and solidarity beyond the simple division between “us” and “them”? The exhibition “On the Brink of Chaos” addresses these questions, inviting viewers to reflect on the present day as a state of constant instability—a moment of limbo between the collapse of familiar orders and the possibility of new forms of social life emerging.

The exhibition’s title refers to the concept of the “edge of chaos,” drawn from complexity theory. It is a state in which a system has lost its stability but has not yet collapsed—a moment of particular vulnerability to change and the formation of new relationships. In this sense, the exhibition becomes an attempt to imagine a future based on interdependence, care, and cooperation rather than domination and hierarchy.

The exhibition features works by artists who operate across national borders, languages, and identities. Videos, installations, sculptures, and textiles come together to form a polyphonic narrative about experiences of violence, uprooting, and migration, as well as about the possibilities of rebuilding community and creating new narratives about the future.

Who?

The curators of the exhibition are Małgorzata Ludwisiak and Katarzyna Słoboda.

Małgorzata Ludwisiak—art historian, curator, and expert in the field of museology. She has served, among other roles, as deputy director of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw and the Museum of Art in Łódź, director of the Ujazdowski Castle Center for Contemporary Art, and founder of the Łódź Design Festival. In 2026, she will serve as curator of the Albanian Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale.

Katarzyna Słoboda—curator, choreography researcher, dance dramaturg, and Ph.D. in the humanities. For many years, she was associated with the Museum of Art in Łódź, where she organized exhibitions and projects devoted to contemporary art, choreography, and performative practices. She currently teaches curatorial studies at the Academy of Art in Szczecin.

Artists participating in the exhibition: Noor Abed, Architects for Gaza, Moumita Basak, Edgar Bąk, Alicja Bielawska, Eglė Budvytytė, Rana Hamadeh, Ana Laura Lozza & Barbara Hang, Inside Job (Ula Lucińska, Michał Knychaus), Martyna Jastrzębska, Agnieszka Kalinowska, Yulia Krivich, Eliza Proszczuk, Zoarinivo Razakaratrimo / Madame Zo, Ala Savashevich, Iza Tarasewicz, Julita Wójcik, and Hannah Alexandra Younger.

For Whom?

The exhibition is intended for those interested in contemporary art, social and political issues, and current challenges related to migration, climate change, and human rights. It is an invitation to anyone who wants to view current events through the lens of art and reflect on how to build solidarity in a world increasingly marked by uncertainty and crises.

Why is it worth it?

The Łódź of Many Cultures Festival draws on the idea of the city as a place where different histories, experiences, and ways of understanding the world converge. The exhibition “On the Brink of Chaos” expands on this perspective, taking it to a global level. Rather than offering simple answers, it invites us to reflect together on how to live in a reality where old orders are losing their stability and new ones are just taking shape. By bringing together artists working at the intersection of cultures, languages, and experiences of migration, the exhibition presents art as a space for reclaiming invisible histories and imagining new models of community based on interdependence, care, and responsibility. It is one of the most important exhibitions in this year’s Festival program—addressing a topic that concerns us all today.

Accompanying events

• Curator-led tour on September 20 at 15:00,
• Guided tour in plain language with translation into PJM on October 16, at 16:00,
• Curator-led tour on November 28, at 12:00,
• Performance on November 29 at 12:00 p.m. – registration

Partner

Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź

Availability

This exhibition is recommended for visitors ages 13 and older. It features works that address global crises and violence, as well as depictions of nudity and intense auditory stimuli.

The exhibition is on display at the Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź, whose facilities are fully accessible to people with mobility impairments. All entrances are located on Level “0,” and the buildings are equipped with elevators and restrooms accessible to people with disabilities. It is also possible to arrange for a museum staff member to assist you from the public transportation stop.

Photos

• Agnieszka Kalinowska, Heavy Water (Afghanistan), photo courtesy of the artist and BWA Warszawa
• Ala Savashevich, Unknown, photo: The Gdańsk Contemporary Art Collection, on loan from the City of Gdańsk to the NOMUS – New Museum of Art, a department of the National Museum in Gdańsk
• Hannah Alexandra Younger, Solidarity, 2017, The collection of the Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź
• Alicja Bielawska, When Things Find Their Place (Green Blanket), 2013, The collection of the Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź
• Architects for Gaza, The Power of Invisibles, 2023
• Edgar Bąk, production by Agata Król, Chaos, 2024, The collection of the Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź
• Eliza Proszczuk, production by Karolina Radulska, Sisterhood I from the Double Thread series, 2020, The collection of the Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź
• Inside Job (Ula Lucińska, Michał Knychaus), Paradise Rot, installation view, BWA Wrocław Główny, 2025, photo: Alicja Kielan
• Iza Tarasewicz, The Means, The Milieu, A Thousand Horsepower, Barcelona, courtesy of the artist
• Julita Wójcik, Down-at-Heel, 2013, The collection of the Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź, the work was created during the Manufaktura workshops at Zachęta – National Gallery of Art in Warsaw, photo: Michał Szlaga
• Laura Lozza & Barbara Hang, Consumation, 2018
• Martyna Jastrzębska, Absencing, 2023
• Moumita Basak, Untitled, 2022, The collection of the Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź
• Noor Abed, Our Songs Were Ready for All Wars to Come
• Rana Hamadeh, Standard_Deviation, 2021-202X
• Yulia Krivich, Presentiment, 2014