Katarzyna Depta-Garapich NON-HUMAN

Laboratorium Cracow Art Week KRAKERS (MOCAK Special Award)

venue: Galeria Beta

opening: 23 April, 6 pm

24 April – 14 June 2026

curator: Daniel Arbaczewski

The starting point for Katarzyna Depta-Garapich's exhibition, NON-HUMAN, is a search for alternative tools and strategies for existing in a world marked by crisis. Non-human beings, animals, plants, and the tissue of the earth constitute unity, a whole in which a woman transforms into a tree, her hands into branches, the branches have bear claws, and hands sprout fur. Unity with nature is a tool for emancipation and contestation of the divisions imposed on us, while ferality undermines an anthropocentric view of reality and proposes a more multi-species narrative.

MOCAK is taking part in the 15 edition of Cracow Art Week KRAKERS (23–30 April 2026). The highlight of this anniversary edition of the festival will be the presentation at the Beta Gallery of one of the winning projects from the Laboratory section’s competition.

The competition has been open to individual artists and collectives working in the field of contemporary visual arts. Its main aim is to support independent artists, including those just entering the art scene, and to enable them to present their projects for the first time. The competition focuses primarily on ephemeral project rooms and pop-up spaces.

In the 15th edition, the organisers were interested in projects demonstrating how new forms of sensibility, community and thought emerge from ‘lower-ranking’ objects, images, ideas and stories.

The entries were invited through open call, and submissions were assessed by a panel of experienced experts – directors of institutions, academics, curators and critics associated with prestigious academic centres and institutions. The members of the panel included Adam Budak, Agnieszka Jankowska-Marzec, Łukasz Murzyn, Arkadiusz Półtorak and Łukasz Surowiec. The prizes were funded by the Hestia Artistic Journey Foundation.

The projects were assessed according to the following criteria: artistic quality, conceptual coherence, innovation and alignment with the theme of the edition – Hunters, Gatherers, Practitioners of the Future. Selected concepts received financial awards to support their implementation.

Cracow Art Week KRAKERS is Poland’s largest recurring, grassroots event dedicated to the visual arts, organised by East of Art Foundation. The festival brings together cultural institutions, galleries and creative communities, integrating art colleges and ephemeral initiatives to create a network of collaboration based on dialogue and accessibility.