Farewell to Szymon Popielec SzymON/OFF 2025, Autonomous Realization

Szymon Popielec (1989–2025), intermedia artist, performer. He was born in Szczebrzeszyn. A graduate of the Faculty of Arts at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (UMCS) in Lublin. He completed his diploma under the supervision of Professor Jan Gryka. In 2011–2012, he was a scholarship holder at the Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra. In 2021, he won the Grand Prix in the Lubelska Wiosna painting competition. He was a doctoral student at the Doctoral School of Humanities at UMCS in Lublin, where only his defense remained.

He has participated in numerous group exhibitions: “The Landscape of Polish Painting” (2023, Zachęta, Warsaw); “The Sammlung Pustuła Collection” (2023, BWA, Rzeszów); “S / PACE / S,” Robert Kuśmirowski, Mariusz Tarkawian, Szymon Popielec (2021, Galeria XX1, Warsaw); “No Budget Show” (several editions, Cracow,, Lublin, Kazimierz Dolny); “(Spring)Dreams” (2018, Galeria Biała, Lublin); “Palindrome” (2015, PGS, Sopot).
He has also had individual exhibitions: “Layers” (2024, Galeria XX1, Warsaw); “Voltage Frequency” (2022, Galeria Kaplica, Orońsko); “Wo i Wa” – with Julia Kral (2021, Galeria Terminal 08, Gorzów Wielkopolski); “The History of the Guest Book. Gryka/Tarkawian/Popielec,” Szymon Popielec together with Jan Gryka and Mariusz Tarkawian (2019, KZMRZ Studio, Kazimierz Dolny).

Date: May 16 – June 15, 2025 (Tuesday-Sunday, 12:00 PM – 7:00PM)
Place: Galeria Labirynt, 5 ks. J. Popiełuszki St., Lublin
Admission: Free

Opening: 10.05.2025 (Saturday) at 6:00 PM.
Place: Labirynt Gallery, Księdza Jerzego Popiełuszki Street 5, Lublin
Language: event in Polish, translation into Polish Sign Language by Ewelina Lachowska, translation into Ukrainian by Volodymir Dyshlevuk, translation into English by Hubert Bania
On view until: 13.07.2025 (Tuesday-Sunday, 12.00-19.00)
Admission: PLN 8 full-price ticket, PLN 4 concession ticket (opening: free)

Curators: Tal Schwartz and Waldemar Tatarczuk

“The Lemberg Machine”, exhibition by Ukrainian artist Dana Kavelina (b. 1995), exploring the entangled histories of Poles, Ukrainians, and Jews in the city of Lviv (Lwów/Lemberg) during World War II. At the heart of the exhibition is Kavelina’s one-hour film, an evocative and uncompromising journey into the events surrounding the German occupation of 1941 and the brutal pogroms that followed.

Looking unflinchingly from a Ukrainian perspective, Kavelina interrogates the roles of both victims and victimizers. Her work challenges the viewer to confront difficult histories and resist the temptation of simplifying or silencing the past. Through poetic language, hand-crafted animation, and meticulously designed scenography, she gives a voice to the victims and builds a space where memory becomes tactile and ethically urgent.

The exhibition includes elements of the film’s scenography — fragments of a haunting world constructed by the artist herself — allowing visitors to physically enter the atmosphere of The Lemberg Machine.

Screenings of the film will take place at designated hours with comfortable seating provided, encouraging visitors to engage with the work in its entirety.

In a moment when questions of historical responsibility, national narratives, and the politics of memory are once again shaping public discourse across Europe, Kavelina’s work offers a deeply personal, artistically rigorous, and politically resonant contribution.
The film’s presentation at Galeria Labirynt will be its Polish premiere.

The film was commissioned by the festival steirischer herbst ’23. In 2024, it was acquired for the MSN Warsaw collection.

Photography, editing, postproduction: Mykhailo Chelnokov
Decorators: Anna Nykytiuk, Uliana Pikhorovych
Animator: Olena Airiyants
Actress: Kateryna Turenko

Exhibition as part of the project “Simple questions – difficult answers”

Subsidized by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund.