Elusive Sense: On the Fluid Boundaries of Perception

"Elusive Sense. On the Fluid Boundaries of Perception" is an exhibition, that launches at the London Design Festival showcasing Polish art at the intersection of design and new technologies. It features five of Poland’s most innovative new media artists to explore our evolving relationship with new media. It’s produced by the Polish Creative Industries Development Center in collaboration with On & On Designs, the Polish Cultural Institute in London and art’otel London Hoxton, as part of the UK/Poland Season 2025. "Elusive Sense" delves into how technology acts as an agent in reshaping our bodies, perception of reality, and understanding of self. The exhibition confronts a fundamental tension: are we augmenting our senses through technology, or outsourcing our bodily functions and becoming dependent on the systems we create? Aleksandra Szymańska, Director of the Polish Creative Industries Development Center, commented that the exhibition "embodies the spirit of the season by fostering a new chapter of cultural collaboration and showcasing the vibrant, pioneering path of contemporary Polish artists." She added that the London Design Festival provides the "ideal platform to introduce this compelling work to a wider audience." The exhibition presents a multifaceted dialogue through artists like Iga Węglińska and Agnieszka Mastalerz, who offer contrasting views on our symbiosis with non-human agents. Węglińska’s transhumanist work explores sensory augmentation via clothing, treating the skin as a reactive membrane where technology and body merge. In contrast, Mastalerz’s video-based work uses poetic language to analyze the control mechanisms inherent in our relationship with technology. The art collective panGenerator and Kamil Czapiga (aka Cosmodernism) investigate the nature of the digital image. panGenerator's "Hash to ash" installation illustrates the fragility of digital memory by transforming a selfie into physical ash, while other works critique the endless scroll of social media. Cosmodernism reveals the profound visual wealth of the natural world through microscopic ecosystems that appear computer-generated, challenging our perception of the "real." Finally, Janek Simon confronts artificial intelligence's influence on cultural memory in his "Meta Folklore" series. By training a neural network on images of ethnographic sculptures, Simon generates and 3D-prints new, mutated forms, offering a speculative vision of a universal folklore created through algorithmic alchemy. Curator Anna Szylar said the featured artists "are at the forefront of a creative movement that dissolves the traditional boundaries between design, fashion, and technology." She describes the exhibition as intellectually and sensorially provocative, offering "a glimpse into the future, as imagined by some of the most exciting talents emerging from Poland today." Organised jointly by cultural institutions in both countries, the UK/Poland Season 2025 is a landmark cultural programme with over 100 events designed to foster collaboration and dialogue. “Elusive Sense” exemplifies this mission, bringing new Polish voices to the global conversation around art, technology, and the human condition. Exhibition period: 20th September – 4th October Gallery opening hours: 10am - 5pm Opening and artist talks: 20th September, 6:00 pm, art’otel London Hoxton Accompanying event: 26the September, art’otel London Hoxton Finissage: 4th October, 6:00 pm, art’otel London Hoxton