Włodzimierz Maciejczyk ‘Soft Tissue Examination Protocol’

Meat is matter that evokes deeply contradictory feelings in us: from primaeval appetite to instinctive revulsion and fear. Through this exhibition, Włodzimierz Maciejczyk encourages us to confront this reaction.

opening: 28 August 2026 (Friday), 7:00 p.m.
where: Galeria Labirynt, ul. ks. Jerzego Popiełuszki 5, Lublin
language: opening in Polish; Polish Sign Language interpretation: Marta Stępniak; Ukrainian interpretation: Volodymyr Dyshlevuk
exhibition runs until 20 September 2026 (Tue–Sun, noon–7:00 p.m.)
free entry

Sensitive content warning
The exhibition contains realistic imitations of blood, wounds, intestines, tissues, body parts, dead animals and meat. All such elements are fake.
The exhibition also includes nudity. Some works may cause discomfort or be difficult to view.

The exhibition title ‘Soft Tissue Examination Protocol’ sounds like a stark medical report. Yet behind this deliberate, almost forensic detachment lies the artist’s pulsing, painful empathy for all living beings, for degraded nature and its fate in the modern world. The motif of meat forms the central axis of Maciejczyk’s current research and artistic practice at the Doctoral School of Humanities and Art (SDNHiS). Here, it appears not only as a visual motif, but also as a universal language used to talk about our own fragility and the hidden cruelty of the world we live in.

Włodzimierz Maciejczyk (b. 2001) is a versatile intermedia artist, painter, sculptor and performer. He graduated from the Institute of Fine Arts at the Faculty of Arts of Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (UMCS), where he is currently pursuing doctoral studies at the Doctoral School of Humanities and Art (SDNHiS). He completed his Master’s degree with distinction, defending his art diploma under the supervision of Dr Anna Barańska. His annex to the diploma project, created in the Department of Intermedia and supervised by Prof. Jan Gryka, was also awarded distinction. In his artistic practice, Maciejczyk seamlessly blurs the boundaries between disciplines, combining painting and sculpture in interdisciplinary installations. His work is deeply socially engaged, addressing key issues of the contemporary world such as the commercialisation of art, ecological crises, the devastating consequences of wars, animal welfare and discrimination.

The artist has received more than a dozen national and international awards and distinctions, including the First Award at the 2nd VIA CARPATIA Art Biennale (2023) and the Special Lublin Cultural Award ‘Cranes’ (2024). His artistic practice has been supported multiple times by prestigious scholarships, such as the Scholarship of the Minister of Science and Higher Education (2024), the Scholarship of the Marshal of the Lublin Voivodeship (2023) and the Rector’s Scholarship for the best students (2021–2024). He has presented his works at several dozen group exhibitions in Poland and abroad, e.g. in Italy, the United Kingdom and Slovakia.

The project was funded by the Artistic Scholarship of the Mayor of the City of Lublin and the STER NAWA Scholarship under the project ‘Education and Research International Network’, intended for the best foreign doctoral students at the UMCS Doctoral Schools.