Does artistic speculation create tomorrow? Discussion around the Suzanne Treister exhibition

On 30 October at 18:00 we invite you to a discussion around the exhibition “Suzanne Treister: Prophetic Dreaming”, which will take place in ms¹. During the meeting, we will talk about how art, technology, science and alternative ways of thinking intertwine in stories about the future. The discussion, led by Rafał Pikula, will be attended by Daniel Muzyczuk, Gabriela Sitek and Justyna Stępièn.

The exhibition “Suzanne Treister: Prophetic Dreaming” will be a starting point for a conversation about the relationship between art, new technologies and ways of imagining and shaping the future. Treister has been looking at these relationships for years, noting the interplay of cyberculture and science with esotericism and alternative knowledge systems. The artist's narratives address the impact of technological change on the way we think about the past, present and future.

The conversation will be moderated by Rafał Pikuła, a journalist dealing with technology, science and their social consequences, associated with Spider's Web. The curator of the exhibition — Gabriela Sitek, director of the Museum of Art in Łódź — Daniel Muzyczuk and researcher of posthumanism — Justyna Stępiec, were invited to the discussion.

The combination of diverse perspectives will allow us to look at Treister's work from many angles: curatorial, institutional, philosophical and technological. The conversation will explore how art can explore and challenge dominant scenarios, and whether artistic speculation can be a way of predicting possible variants of the future.

Participants of the meeting:

Daniel Muzyczuk — director of the Museum of Art in Łódź. As a curator, he realized numerous artistic and exhibition projects, including “Long Gone Susan Philipsz”, “We went to Croatan” (together with Robert Rumas), “Melancholia of opposition” (with Agnieszka Pindera), “Sights 2011”, “Sounds of the electric body. Experiments in Art and Music in Eastern Europe 1957-1984” (with David Crowley), “Notes from the Underground. Alternative Art and Music in Eastern Europe 1968—1994” (with David Crowley), “Museum of Rhythm” (with Natasha Ginwala), “Through the Soundproof Curtain: The Polish Radio Experimental” (with Michał Mendyk) and “Work, work, work (work). Céline Condorelli and Wendelien van Oldenborgh” (with Joanna Sokołowska).

He was the curator of the Polish Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale of Art. He is also the author of the book “Twilight of the Magicians”, published by Wydawnictwo Krytyki Polityczna in 2025.

Justyna Stępièn is a professor at the Department of British Literature and Culture. She received her PhD at the University of Szczecin in 2012. In 2012-2019 she worked as an assistant professor at the Institute of English Studies at the University of Szczecin. She is the author of the monograph “British Pop Art and Postmodernism” (2015), and the editor of the monograph “Redefining Kitsch and Camp in Literature and Culture” (2014). Co-editor of the special issue of “Open Cultural Studies: Transmediating Culture (s)?” (2017) on the processes of transmediation broadly understood. He is currently working on a book on posthumanist artistic practices. She is a member of the international research group/collective The Posthuman Art and Research Group (aka. Dori.O), an association of artists and researchers from Europe and co-founder (together with Katarzyna Ostalska) of the Centre for Posthuman Research at the University of Applied Sciences.

Gabriela Sitek — curator of the Museum of Art in Łódź, co-curator of the exhibition “Suzanne Treister: Prophetic Dreaming” (together with Jessie Robertson, Modern Art Oxford). She has curated numerous film programs (Avant-garde Film Academy with Łukasz Ronduda) and screenings as part of the Millennium Docs Against Gravity festival (including “Queer Body Experiences” — with Annette Lingg and Angelika Ramlow; a retrospective of Barbara Hammer's films — with Krystyna Mazur). Co-editor of the book “Stories of avant-garde film” (2020, with Łukasz Ronduda).

Teacher:

Rafał Pikuła — Journalist, columnist, critic of new media, speaker and lecturer. Graduate of journalism and cultural studies at the University of Warsaw and postgraduate studies Digital Media at SWPS. Head of “Spider's Web+” Magazine. Polish Radio Expert. It talks about technologies from a human point of view, about the consequences of the development of artificial intelligence and its impact on society, culture and the media. He has published, among others, in “Gazeta Wyborcza” (in the business editorial office, as well as in the weekend magazine and “Duży Format”), “Newsweek”, “Forbes”, “Polityka”, “Przegląd” or “Tygodnik Powszechny”. Two-time Finalist of the Economic Journalism Award (2023, 2024). Nominated for the Grand Press Award in the Journalism category (2025). Passionate about beautiful literature, good cinema and wise art. Amateur of sports, in particular football and tennis, chess player.

Discussion partner: Spider's Web