29 April – 7 August 2022

 

Things are all around us. They serve us in everyday activities that have not changed for thousands of years: we get up, eat, work, play, care for ourselves, sleep. Things influence our habits, customs and rituals. Writing with a reed on a clay tablet is different from using a typewriter, and different still from a touch screen. How women moved in crinoline and a corset is not how they move in a modern loose-fitting dress. Things, though invented and produced by humans, have a way of controlling us, determining the quality and comfort of life. 
 

The things assembled in the exhibition come from different eras, cultures, and corners of the world. We show them in a layout corresponding with the rhythm of the day – from morning grooming, to the household routine, to play, rest, and bedtime. The shapes and functions of many of these things have largely been forgotten, as have their names: bed warmer, parure, liseuse, aigrette, chatelaine, banyan. Others have changed so drastically that their usage confounds us – young smartphone users would likely be unable to make a phone call on a 1932 telephone or operate a post-war Bajka projector. 

We invite you to step into a world of things and practices that no longer exist. 
 

Accompanying the exhibition is a catalogue with text by Marcin Wicha and Richard Bobrow, photographs by Agnieszka Rayss, and graphic design by Marcin Wicha. 

The exhibition is just one of many events planned for the National Museum in Warsaw’s anniversary year. It brings together curators from nearly all of the museum’s departments, making it not only a panorama of forgotten items and habits but also a sweeping overview of the kinds of artefacts the museum has amassed in its 160 years of existence.   
 

Exhibition curators: Grażyna Bastek, Monika Janisz