About the exhibition
“Polish Flowers” is a journey full of riddles and mysteries through Polish rituals, following the trail of blooming plants. Its rhythm is defined by the seasons and the eternal cycle of life. In seven rooms filled with flowers, colors, and adventures, a multisensory path awaits children and their guardians, along with a lush bouquet of knowledge from fields such as ethnography, cultural anthropology, botany, and natural science.
Have you ever tried on a wedding dress? Here is your chance! You will also be able to swing on ropes made of flax and hemp, and see how dyeing with flowers works in practice for artists. You will be delighted by traditional folk design, which loves flowers. You will listen to traditional songs about flowers and arrange a floral map of Poland. You will dive into one of the most beloved topics in ethnography—ethnobotany and folk medicine. You will be able to examine the structure of a flower in detail and learn how it differs from an inflorescence. The exhibition will also be the perfect opportunity to discover what connects flowers with straw and hay, and which flowers bloom at night. See for yourselves and discover the magic of flowers with us!
We are opening the exhibition at a special moment: in the museum’s 135th anniversary year and in the tenth year of uninterrupted exhibition activity aimed at our youngest visitors. This is also our tenth consecutive family exhibition, through which we encourage the public to explore the ethnographic perspective on interpreting cultural phenomena. The “Polish Flowers” exhibition creates an opportunity to look at various past and contemporary Polish practices in which people use flowers, and to reflect on how and why they do so. It is in human nature to create culture, and we constantly do so by referring to the resources of our “natural surroundings.” In times of the immense impact humans have on the environment, these surroundings become a transformed landscape—to some extent, a result of human culture.
Exhibition Accessibility
The exhibition is available in Polish, English, and Ukrainian.
It is accompanied by: a video guide in Polish Sign Language, scripts and alternative descriptions for multimedia, audio description of the exhibition, and films with dialogue provided with appropriate subtitles. When designing the exhibition, the needs of people on the autism spectrum were taken into consideration.
IMPORTANT:
Visitors sensitive to olfactory stimuli are kindly asked to note that in various parts of the exhibition there are dried plants and other objects that emit an intense scent.
Exhibition Creators: Education Team of the State Ethnographic Museum
Project Manager: Anna Grunwald
Curatorial Team: Julia Szawiel, Anna Grunwald, Małgorzata Ruszkowska, Kaja Nowakowska, Magdalena Dąbrowska
Content Coordination: Julia Szawiel
Production Coordination: Magdalena Dąbrowska, Weronika Adamska
Co-creators of the exhibition:
- Inspiration: Beata Kuracińska
- Graphic Design: Marta Ludwiszewska, Małgorzata Stolińska
- Supervision and Adaptation of the Scenography Design: Katarzyna Similak (“Dziewczyny od wystaw”)
- Scenography Design: Ferwor Studio: Paweł Paciorek, Katarzyna Strzelecka-Paciorek, Aleksandra Bartczak
- Artistic Installations – Textiles – Design and Supervision: Tomasz Armada, Ewelina Węgiel
- Textile Installations – Graphic Production Support: Filip Holak
- Textile Installations – Production: Laura Adamska, Dominika Ciemięga, Bożena Napieracz-Hejduk, Karolina Pieniążek, Alicja Tkaczyk, Maja Ulińska
- Interactive Displays – Design and Production Supervision: Joanna Góra-Raurowicz (“Dziewczyny od wystaw”)
- Installations / Mechanisms: Sebastian Rozpara, Rafał Łojewski (3rd Dimension FX)
- Programming: Szymon Leyk
- Kinetoscope / Stamps: Tomasz Marzec (Kontra Pracownia Plastyczna)
- Animation: Magdalena Połomska
- Printing House: Agnieszka Browarska and Arkadiusz Nabiałek (A DWA)
- Printing House: Paweł Matysiak (K2 Strefa)
- Constructor: Tomasz Major (BT Construction)
- “Through an Insect’s Eye” Flower Lamp: Adam Szczęsny (Yam Yest Design)
- Voice Recording: Krystyna Czubówna
- Audio Description: Maria Nowak, Monika Dubiel
- Video Guide in PJM (Polish Sign Language): Natalia Siuchta, Tomasz Grabowski
- Subtitles – Preparation and Translation for the Film: Tomasz Jurewicz
- Alternative Descriptions, Audio Description Consultation, PJM Video Guide Script: Paulina Celińska
- Translations: Bartosz Wójcik (English), Jurij Zawadski (Ukrainian)
Financed by the funds of the Mazovian Voivodeship Self-Government, the organizer of the State Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw, and co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage under the National Centre for Culture’s programme Culture — Interventions, 2023 edition.
Organisation
