mixed media on canvas, 130 × 190 cm, stickers

The garden is a form of ordered space deeply rooted in our culture. But what might a garden look like on the internet, in an age of image and information overload? Virtual space, the interfaces of computer programs and games, and social media platforms all create structured systems that can be understood metaphorically as gardens. Within these virtual gardens, each user constructs their own identity, filling digital space with photographs and “planting” it with traces of their presence. Does this make us virtual gardeners – or perhaps the plants themselves? The desire to leave behind evidence of our existence may stem from an awareness of transience and mortality in the physical world. Every day, we mark our presence across the seemingly infinite space of the internet, colonizing it while competing for attention and virtual dominance.These questions became the starting point for The Garden of Virtual Colonizers, in which Shumska juxtaposes abstract, organic compositions with found materials from the internet.

Presentations:

2022 – Temporary Map of Temporary Places, m2 Gallery, Warsaw, Poland

2022 – Great Patriotic, BWA Gallery, Bydgoszcz, Poland

2020 – Online presentation of the finalists of the 9th NEW IMAGE / NEW LOOK Art Award, University of the Arts Poznań, Poland

2019 – Alchemy of Motivation, Modern Art Research Institute, Kyiv, Ukraine 2019 – 2nd Ukrainian Biennale of Young Contemporary Art, Kharkiv, Ukraine