Crumbs of the world

Karina Marusińska, Monika Braun

"Okruchy świata" (Fragments of the World) is an essayistic book consisting of 12 works by Karina Marusińska, primarily documented photographically in Wrocław's museums. The artist traces historical threads that often go unnoticed, focusing on details of everyday life and remnants. Marusińska engages with the material, posing questions about society and human nature. Monika Braun, in 12 essays, analyzes these works, broadening the perspective and creating a network of associations from the fields of art, social sciences, and literature.

Marusińska's works in ceramics and glass demonstrate how these media can be excellent material for contemporary art, serving as an inspiring element of the region's cultural landscape. The book connects art with the history of Wrocław, showcasing themes related to museum collections, often overlooked in official discourse, and also opens up space for diverse narratives and marginalized voices.

"My works are connected with museums and the objects found there, which provoke me to engage with them and perceive their specific qualities. In the exhibits, I see connections to everyday life, their fragility, their ordinariness," says Marusińska. "Dialogue allows me to speak about the complexity of the world. Working with 'fragments' appears to me as practicing mindfulness. Mindfulness to things seen through a fragment, a broken-off element, a left trace. I also conduct a dialogue with Monika Braun, who introduced her voice."

Karina Marusińska
Interdisciplinary artist, academic lecturer, socio-cultural animator. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts—design, ceramics design. She also studied on scholarship programs at the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao and at the Ceramic Institute in Guebwiller. She completed postgraduate studies in Design Management conducted by the Institute of Industrial Design and the College of World Economy at the Warsaw School of Economics, as well as international postgraduate studies "Kaolin" in art and design in contemporary ceramics at ENSA Limoges in France and China. She works at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław as an assistant professor in the Contextual Ceramics Studio, run with Prof. Mirosław Kociński. She co-founded the Wzorowo design group. She belongs to the Food Think Tank collective and the performance group Łuhuu!. She is a multiple scholarship holder, award winner, and participant in numerous national and international exhibitions, festivals, symposiums, and outdoor events. Her works are in the collections of Krehky Gallery in Prague, the National Museum in Warsaw, the National Museum in Wrocław, the National Museum in Krakow, and the Regional Museum in Stalowa Wola.

Monika Braun
Actress, culturologist, academic lecturer, writer. She graduated from the Acting Department of the National Academy of Theatre Arts in Wrocław and defended her doctorate at the Institute of Cultural Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. She has published the following books: Everyday and Beyond Everyday Games... On the Communicative Aspects of Acting, Wrocław – Jerusalem – Wrocław (short stories, with Lev Stern), Mona. A Story of a Painter's Life, Journeys to Many Distant Worlds, or Graphic Design Lessons According to Jan Jaromir Aleksiun, CiSz. 70 Years of Ceramics and Glass at the Wrocław Academy of Fine Arts, Migraine. Family Chronicle, To Believe in the Impossible. About the Stained Glass of Teresa Maria Reklewska, and The Traveler. On the Life and Glass of Kazimierz Pawlak, Against Repetition, as well as numerous articles on theater and visual arts, texts for art catalogs, and essays. She works, among others, at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław.

The book was published by the Tymon Karpowicz Foundation for Culture and Education and the Centre for Culture and Art in Wrocław. The publishing partner is the Wrocław Institute of Culture as part of the Wrocław Publishing Program.

• Publisher: Fundacja im. Tymoteusza Karpowicza, Ośrodek Kultury i Sztuki we Wrocławiu
• ISBN: 978-83-971914-0-2
• Year of publication: 2024
• Edition: 1
• Number of pages: 224