The experimental project ‘Shells and Armour’, presented at the Institute of Design in Kielce, showcases prototypes of prosthetic costumes designed to expand the human sensory experience. Artists working at the intersection of art, design, botany, narratology and bioengineering are testing membranes that respond to vibrations, temperature changes and olfactory stimuli. The exhibition, curated by Marta Lisok in collaboration with Jakub Święcicki, will open on 27 March 2026 at 6.00 pm in the Main Gallery of the Institute of Design in Kielce.
The work carried out as part of the ‘Shells and Armour’project stems from the need to create a prosthetic costume that will expand the user’s sensory experience. Researchers from the fields of art, design, botany, narratology andbioengineering, collaborating on the project,aim to transcend the limitations of human perception. They draw inspiration not only from the communication methods of insects, but also from the thermal dynamics of reptiles and the regenerative mechanisms of algae and fungi.
The aim of their tests is to design a membrane that reactsto non-visual signals: vibrations, temperature changes or olfactory stimuli. During the prototyping phase, they create shelter-suits, composting suits, suits for increasing humidity, additional repositories of memories, external archives of emotions, suits for gatherers and nomads, womb-suits and tomb-suits.
Experiments with shells that allow one to inhabit bodies other than one’s own and experience the world through a different mode of perception raise questions about the role of senses that we, as humans, have not yet developed. This speculation on future forms of interspecies cooperation in hostile environments is accompanied by a collection of armour-like objects that grow into the body. Their use leads to a deepening of social skills, including by enabling faster, non-verbal communication. It elicits a wide range of reactions: from the need to care for, flee or be hyper-vigilant, to following in someone’s footsteps, attacking or calling a gathering.
Curator: Marta Lisok
Curatorial collaboration: Jakub Święcicki
Shells and Armour
Kielce Institute of Design (Main Gallery)
Opening: 27 March 2026 at 6.00 pm
Exhibition dates: 28 March – 30 August 2026
Participants: Tomasz Armada, Daniela Bergschneider, Aleksandra Bystry, Ľudmila Bubánová, Jessica Ciupa, Aleksandra Dłutowska, Eliška Gogolová and Bára Tetaurová, Iza Koczanowska, Olga Konik, Barbara Kubska and Anna Pohl, Małgorzata Markiewicz, Justyna Mędrala, Paweł Szeibel, Jakub Święcicki, Zuzanna Tokarska, Iga Węglińska, Joanna Zdzienicka-Obałek
whiteMAD magazine is the media patron of the event.
source: press materials
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