CECC young researcher and PhD candiate Jan  Świerkowski is the curator of the exhibition "Understanding the Universe. Serenity-Impulse-Power” of Kujawy-Pomorze Region brings together art, astronomy, history, and science. It was curated by Jan Świerkowski and Olga Marcinkiewicz.  

The SERENITY part tells a story about the history and traditions of the Kujawy and Pomorze related to Copernicus, Gothic, and Hanza traditions. The Sky Island installation, a symbolic representation of the region, introduces the visitors to the most spectacular monuments, cultural heritage as well as local legends, all of them depicted in a microscale. It will be an unusual occasion too, to see and touch one of the most beautiful reprints of the first edition of Nicolaus Copernicus’ work ‘De Revolutionibus’, and learn about the computer-generated reconstruction of the astronomers’ face.

The IMPULSE invites the visitors to dive into the present time of the region. The 365 QR codes, for each day of the year, lead the visitors to a multimedia library with films and images of the most famous places, people, and events of the region.

The future of the region (the POWER) is represented by an art & science installation “Kowalski in Space” by Instytut B61, an international art & science group and in cooperation with the fashion designer duo Rad Duet. It consists of everyday outfits designed for extraterrestrial colonies and travel outfits designed for spacewalks, inspired by traditional patterns. The latter was transformed according to the phenomena of time dilation and gravitational lensing.

“Understanding the Universe” exhibition explores the traditions and scientific potential of the region where revolutionary discoveries take place. Nicolaus Copernicus was the first modern European scientist to propose the Heliocentric Theory, which placed the Sun, not the Earth, at the center of the Universe. Another astronomer from Toruń, Profesor Wolszczan, made the second groundbreaking discovery that changed the way we perceive the world. He confirmed the existence of planetary systems besides the Solar System.

EXPO 2020 Dubai, Polish Pavilion, 03-09.2022