Adrianna Szojda and Olga Staňková: Soil and Silence
Open studio/pop-up exhibition of Adrianna Szojda and Olga Staňková
Snehta Residency, Athens
November 11, 2025, at 19.00
Snehta Residency proudly presents an open studio event/pop up exhibition showcasing works created during the third phase of the Sustainability is in the Air (SAiR) residency program in Athens. Featured artists include current Snehta residents Adrianna Szojda and Olga Staňková. Two artists working across different media, both embracing sustainable artistic practices. They create new works that address the current eco-social crisis, with a particular focus on soil — a vital component of our ecosystem and a material that reflects the exploitation and severe depletion of the earth. The pop up exhibition Soil and Silence gives the viewers just an insight into Adrianna Szojda’s and Olga Staňková’s work after their interaction with the Athenian cityscape and the Greek mentality, history and culture.
Olga Staňková's project: Fluid Nature
“My project Fluid Nature explores ways of perceiving and relating to damaged nature and the diversity of natural relationships. It examines the shifting meaning of nature within artistic practice and records possible approaches to the theme, along with experimental forms of artistic documentation. It addresses ecological connections, contemporary escapism, the Eremocene, the Biocene in contrast to the Anthropocene, and sustainability. The project also investigates the boundaries between painting and object, as well as materiality in relation to how the theme is communicated.
I feel a need to create tension in paintings. It reflects the nervousness of the present we are witnessing (and perhaps a post-apocalyptic future), the instability and rootlessness tied to how we treat soil and nature. The scenes evade fixed interpretation – whether we see the last rays of the sun over the mountains, or exploited, lifeless soil surrendered to silence. The views in the paintings are both quiet and loud; present, yet veiled in the mist of abstraction.”
Adrianna Szojda's project: In-between soil and debris: regenerative practices and methodologies with and for the damaged world
“My project In-between soil and debris: regenerative practices and methodologies with and for the damaged world seeks collective regenerative practices that emerge in opposition to the oppressive dominant systems and that's what I continue to look for during my stay in Athens. During my residency, I also work with local soils, mainly by chromatography technique, investigating their potential as carriers of their own stories, at the same time so tightly entangled to ours.
Soil is central to my practice because, as Vandana Shiva reminds us, “the future lies in the handful of soil”. Yet, while humanity has long known this truth, the power structures continue to exploit and exhaust the earth. I ask: What can grow from shared human and more-than-human relations? How can soil, plants, and other beings guide us toward more diverse, inclusive futures? How can we strengthen our communities resilience in the face of eco-social crisis?
During the Open Studio, I will present the process of my residency in Athens. You are invited to bring your own soil sample, which I will include in the chromatographies I’m going to work on in the following weeks.”
Soil Collection Guidelines:
- Collect up to 100 g of soil from about 10 cm below the surface in a place you know well.
- Briefly describe the place: What plants grow nearby? What’s its history or past human activity?
- Let the soil dry on a piece of unbleached paper in shade for at least 2 days.
- Store it in a not completely sealed container.
- Attach your description with your name and bring your soil sample to SNEHTA on November 11, 2025.
