Joanna Zabielska: POSTGRANICZE. The Borderland of Echoes and Realities

Joanna Zabielska
POSTGRANICZE. The Borderland of Echoes and Realities
Virtual Reality Installation (3-channel) atSchauraum Angewandte
Tue 21.01., 14 – 18h
Fri 24.01. & Sat 25.01.2025, 11 – 19h
Free entry

"Postgranicze" is a world of speculative fiction built upon a foundation of reality. Set in the borderland forests of Podlasie, where Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine converge, it is a place where the soil speaks—its voice rich with histories and myths, personal testimonies, and magical tales, woven into a tapestry of languages and dialects.
Inspired by the Slavic myth of creation, in which the world is formed by three interconnected elements—sky (niebo), earth (ziemia), and underground (podziemie)—this experience comes to life through three VR installations. These realms unfold through the eyes of three guides: the Great Grandmother, the Whisperer Witch, and the Traveler. Together, they lead us into a virtual Post-Borderland—a digital habitat of post-humans, spirits, and nature, daring to imagine a world free from border regimes.

"Postgranicze" is both a story and a provocation—a call to imagine the unimaginable, rooted in the whisper of the land.

Joanna Zabielska (born in Warsaw, lives in Vienna) works at the intersection of art, design, architecture and city planning. Using a variety of media—from VR installations to inflatable sculptures to performances—she develops participatory, site-specific projects. After graduating in Spatial Planning at the Vienna University of Technology and in Social Design at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, she started studying at the Digitale Kunst Department at the University of Applied Arts Vienna; "Postgranicze" is her diploma thesis.