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What was left

2014, ceramics paper,
4 x 2 x 2 cm

What is usually rejected is saved and preserved in noble material to make us reflect on what we are leaving behind. There are no cards successively filled with notes, plans, dreams, which over time become a form of a document, diary, which allows verification of successes and failures. The act of tearing the corners of the cards reflects the passage of time, it is used to quickly open the calendar on the page with the current date. However, it doesn’t mean the same for everyone  for some it is waiting for something to come, for others counting the days gone by.

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From prosperity to the anus, through the anus to non-existence

2014, objects, onglazed painted porcelain, [22x] Ø 18-34 cm

Classic tableware often possesses decoration in the form of sentimental floral motifs, geometric ornamentation or rustic genre scenes. Here, however, the inspiration for the vessels holding our future meals came from images of the anus produced in transanal ultrasound tests. This is a commentary on the phenomenon of compulsive consumption (both in the sense of acquiring material goods and consuming and digesting food), which exceeds actual need. The pleasure is only momentary  beautiful meals are quickly transformed into material of nondescript form and equally nondescript consistency. Here, before the eyes of those.

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Object with a hole

2014, object, porcelain,
11 x 36 x 36 cm


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The object, made of precious material, called 'white gold', is a kind of caricature of a utility object. The suggestive hole in its central part is so small that it is difficult to assign any utility function to the object. There is association with the body. The limits of intimacy are shifted. Disgust in combination with the material desire makes this useless object something one wouldn’t want to have but still…

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II. V.

2014, objects, porcelain,
[2x] 10 x 14 x 14 cm
Action supporting the fight against hunger 'Empty Bowls'

Bowls based on the hemisphere with the wall extended upwards. Exactly at the height where the extension begins, there are small holes – on the individual copies in the amount of 2 or 5. These numbers according to the Seven Deadly Sins determine the second sin, which is Greed and the fifth – Intemperance in food and drink. This detail prevents the vessel from being filled with liquid in its entire volume. ‘Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed’ – Mahatma Gandhi.

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Weeds

2014, objects, porcelain,
[60x] Ø 26 cm
Kaolin. Art and Design in Contemporary Ceramics – Jingdezhen (China), Ćmielów (Poland)
Fragment of this piece is in collection of National Museum in Cracow (Poland)

Jingdezhen in China is the place where kaolin clay is excavated with traditional methods to be later used in the production of porcelain. I focused on the hardly visible wayside weeds, which are camouflaged and covered in kaolin dust. Weeds are considered undesirable, as they disturb the aesthetics of elegant places. They pose a threat to crops and must be controlled. Weeds are usually self-seeding plants and are often hard to identify. In the language of Chinese propaganda, the word ‘weed’ denotes also a dissident. The set consist of 50 plates. They are decorated underglaze with cobalt – an ancient decorating technique (Chin. qinghua – literally translated as ‘blue flowers’), which is considered a milestone in the development of Chinese ceramics. I used also stencil technique popular with the opposition movement. When exhibited the plates are usually arranged in rows and bring to mind old herbariums, gravestone photographs on porcelain or commemorative plates, which used to be ordered by various institutions to honour the accomplished activists or to mark special occasions and anniversaries.

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Out of place

2014, object, painted porcelain,
65 x 28 x 28 cm
Kaolin. Art and Design in Contemporary Ceramics – Limoges (France)

The vase reflects the character of the era in which it was created. Since the beginning of time it has been a luxury good defining the status of its owner. Handed down from generation to generation, it constitutes family values and traditions.

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Empty Bowls

Since 2014, organization and coordination of action to fight hunger
Festival of High Temperatures

Empty Bowls is an international action that raises awareness and acts in the fight against hunger. Its aim is the involvement of all willing to make ceramic, signed bowls. As part of a public event, guests, having a meal there, have the option of paying a donation to organizations fighting hunger. In return, they can keep the bowl for themselves, to use it every time to remember those who have nothing to fill it with.

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RWB

2013, object, porcelain,
60 x 30 x 30 cm
Kaolin. Art and Design in Contemporary Ceramics – Jingdezhen (China)


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In Jingdezhen's landscape porcelain and plastic coexist almost 'fused' with each other, making the surrounding space look a bit grotesque. The technical fabric called RWB330, to which the designer refers, with its recognizable set of colors and patterns can be found in the farthest corners of the world. Its inseparability with porcelain creates a quaintly odd image of the city and engages in dialogue with the local traditions of pottery, serving mostly as protection for the raw products against external factors.
Mass production is one of the characteristics of the Chinese civilization. Manual work is more often identified with the reduction of costs and exploitation of workers, thus the label 'Made inChina' has strongly negative connotations attached to it in the West. The cheap, machine-based, mass production of the synthetic fabric has been contrasted with the craft process of creating porcelain forms on a potter's wheel and arduous decoration; painting each square several times in order to give the surface a type of structure that would imitate the fabric itself. A huge amount of work, technological experiments and practice were required to finally achieve the level of precision which (especially in Chinese culture) determines the value of the work.

Although from a technical viewpoint the project is far from ideal, any 'shortcomings' are an integral and inevitable part of it, as they make people stop and begin to doubt their illusory effect, causing them to gradually explore the deeper layers of meaning behind the work. Perfection, being the domain of machines, generates cold and anonymous objects and creates a distance that the designer seeks to overcome in her work.

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Land-scape

2013, objects, porcelain, plastic, [4x] 63 x 32 x 32 cm
Kaolin. Art and Design in Contemporary Ceramics – Jingdezhen (China)
Piece is in collection Krehky Gallery in Prague (Czech Republic)


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The largest concentration of ceramic studios in Jingdezhen is located in an area, where railroad tracks cross, brutally revealing the underlying layers of earth and exposing the dark side of human existence. Both bits of plastic, bags, banners and shards of porcelain dishes litter the ground. In some places, greenery is still fighting to take back the space. This colorful collage is simultaneously frightening and fascinating, however residents seem unruffled, it seems as though they too have grown into this landscape, to which they had grown accustomed to already long ago.
Landscapes are important themes, deeply engrained in Chinese art and culture. Patterns are copied from generation to generation, and attempts at creative reinventions are still rare. In this project, the artist attempted to reproduce the Chinese landscape as faithfully as possible, although she did so using entirely means. Pieces of plastic from around Jingdezhen served as a medium to create decorations on traditional porcelain forms. Brushes were replaced by a heat gun. Under the influence of high temperature, the plastic began to deform, to tear and to melt onto the surface of the vessel, and then – suddenly deprived of the heat – froze in its 'shapelessness'. Sometimes the process revealed secrets of the layers underneath, sometimes it created new spatial structures. She treated the process of creation as painting – applying the different layers of plastic coatings to obtain a gradual saturation of colors: from light blue to navy blue.
The project consists of 4 vessels. According to Chinese beliefs, the number 4 is attributed to death, therefore it is usually avoided. It also has a symbolic meaning in Marusińska’s work as it relates to a question about 'the end', as well as the consequences of the exploitation of nature by man.  

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Tester

2012, action, object, glass bottle with liquid
Art Review 'Survival 10' 'It all depends on you' – Oławka Stadium, Wrocław (Poland)

Arranging a perfumery stand in the sports bath makes guests embarrassed. The hostess encourages people to test and apply secretions, which are a sweat mix of football team members. Sweat, considered an aphrodisiac and a kind of fetish, is a symbol of struggle, effort and bravery for players. Wrapped in glass matter, it becomes an object of desire for some and disgust for others.

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