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OFF-Biennále Budapest
Polish artist Karolina Breguła’s five-channel video installation, The Storm, explores the Biennale’s key themes—safety and security, or the absence of both—revealing the fragility of communities gripped by anxiety and uncertainty in the face of overlapping crises.
It presents a dark and unsettling portrait of collective fear, isolation and, on a broader scale, a dysfunctional society. In an era of global political and environmental crises, Breguła’s dark, analytical work captures a complex psychological state through a deceptively simple scenario: the image of the sea and a distant island, observed by five characters who gradually unveil their deepest emotions as the wind and waves grow more violent. The looming storm not only signals an impending natural disaster but also l exposes social tensions and conflicts within the small community, which appears unprepared to confront the coming dangers together. The installation’s text-heavy, talking head composition portrays the individuals crippled by fear, while the growing suspense underscores their inability to unite—paralyzed by suspicion, separation, and powerlessness.
Breguła is a brilliant storyteller who works through deeply researched, collaborative processes, delving into the sensitivities and social changes that shape communities. The Storm, created in collaboration with local artists in Buncrana on Ireland’s north-west coast, explores the underlying dynamics of a society that prioritizes self-interest over solidarity—where survival is an individual struggle rather than a shared responsibility. It portrays people trapped in a cycle of competition, mistrust, and alienation, caught in a storm that serves as a powerful metaphor for a system that has eroded human connections, leaving them unable to respond with care and compassion.
Many of Breguła’s projects revolve around a poetic yet rather unsettling portrayal of collective experiences, often reflecting on the state of the oceans in the context of the climate crisis. Through her expansive and experimental cinematic language, she creates situations in which collective storytelling can emerge. For Breguła, collaborative fiction writing is a political act—one that facilitates the diagnosis, expression, and discussion of societal issues.
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Karolina Breguła (born 1979) is a visual artist and filmmaker. She creates stories about art, architecture and urban spaces, which are a field of her anthropological and sociological observations. She is interested in storytelling – the roles of retelling memories, the favourable and detrimental effect of fiction, the remedial and destructive force of imagination. She considers collaborative fiction writing a political activity which supports the process of diagnosing, expressing and discussing social problems. Many of her works are co-created with their protagonists and participants. Her works have been exhibited at institutions such as the Jewish Museum in New York, Museum of Contemporary Art MOCA Taipei and at international events such as Venice Art Biennale and Singapore Biennale. She is the winner of the Views Deutsche Bank Foundation Award, the Samsung Art Master, the EMAF award, Golden Claw at the Gdynia Film Festival among others. Her works are included in collections such as Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Wroclaw Contemporary Museum and ING Polish Art Foundation. She is an associate professor at the Academy of Art in Szczecin, she collaborates with lokal_30 Gallery. Since autumn 2023, together with Weronika Fibich, she has been running Lokatorne – Space for Antidisciplinary Activities. Karolina works between Poland and Taiwan.
Supported by: Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland from the Culture Promotion Fund, Adam Mickiewicz Institute
1053 Budapest Magyar utca 26
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