The artist received the German scholarship from the Schloss Solitude Academy in Stuttgart at a time when the debate about stopping the construction of Nord Stream 2 was ongoing. Her work is about the energy crisis, which is causing fuel prices to rise in Poland and around the world. With the permission of the institution from which she received the grant, the artist invests the money she received in gold - a symbol of an investment that is resistant to crisis fluctuations. She uses it to construct a musical instrument modelled on a folk pipe, which could be a means of easy sound communication in urban spaces during power cuts. The gentle sounds produced by the hand-sized pipe can help people find their way through dark streets during the expected blackout.

Barbara Gryka

Barbara Gryka comes from the Polish village of Końskowola. She is a graduate of the Faculty of Media Art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. In 2019, she obtained her diploma in Mirosław Bałka's Studio of Spatial Activities. She is currently a doctoral student at the Sound Action Space Studio, led by Katarzyna Krakowiak, PhD, at her alma mater. In her practice, she deals with performative actions. She works with people who are not necessarily involved in art. Her favourite pastime is talking, and she also likes to observe other people, their behaviour and lifestyle. In her project 'Architecture from the Middle', she visited her neighbours in the Lublin Housing Association, knocking on their doors asking them for a chat. She is planning to continue her visits to modernist Polish apartment blocks. In the "Dance of the Motorcycles", she led a group of eight men on motorbikes to dance a Lublin folk dance.