Museum Living Matter

Living Matter will cover an area of approximately 3,500 square meters. You will see over 300 works and 12 hours of video by 55 artists from 16 countries. This project explores what place people have in the world, as solving environmental problems requires first making a change in oneself. People should ask themselves this and make an effort to find the answers which are hidden deep inside. Some questions will be more abstract such as “Who am I?”, while others will be more specific: “Who am I in this world?”, “What does this world offer me?”, “What do I bring into this world?”

This exhibition is inspired by the ideas of the great Russian geologist and geochemist Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky. He was one of the first to discover people's ability to change the environment. This manifested in his concept of “living matter” in the biosphere, by which he meant all living creatures of the planet. The scientist believed that Earth's evolution was a single process, in which humans and nature were equals. Vernadsky developed his theories between 1920-1930, which back then were largely ahead of their time.

We are used to thinking about nature as something detached and isolated from us, yet still available for our use and consumption. This exhibition is an attempt to eliminate the boundaries between people and nature. This project presents people, animals, plants and even inanimate objects as having equal value. The reason for this is twofold: firstly, people possess some properties of inanimate objects; and secondly,  objects can, in fact, change the world. The artists explore this exact idea in their works.