SCIENCE
‘Does everything in the universe revolve around us?’, Copernicus once asked. We will ask the most eminent experts about this, as well as about the chances for a new Copernican revolution. Among them are:
Michał Szwajewski
The content director of the festival is Michał Szwajewski – President of the Space Entrepreneurship Institute, creator of instruments for exploring space and planets.
dr eng. Jerzy
Żurek
Associated with the Polsat Plus Group, expert, academic and former director of the Communications Institute – National Research Institute.
prof Katarzyna Malinowska
Lecturer at Kozminski University in Warsaw, lawyer and expert in space law and insurance in the space sector. She is an author of dozens of scientific publications on space law, an expert of the Enterprise Risk Management Committee of the International Astronautical Federation, and also a member of the International Space Law Institute. She is a winner of the prestigious Rosalind Franklin Society 2023 award – an organisation that promotes the achievements of women and minorities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
dr Michał Wierciński
He has been involved in the space and defence sector since 2005. Since 2009, he has managed research projects at the Ministry of Defence (MON) carried out within the framework of the European Defence Agency and NATO Science and Technology Organisation. He was also a co-author of the MON’s strategy for defence research and technology activities. He has been the director of the Office of Space and Satellite Technologies of the Polish Armament Group S.A. since 2015, and since 2022, vice-president of the Polish Space Agency for cooperation with industry.
dr Tomasz Barciński
Doctor of technical sciences in the discipline of automation and robotics. Since 2011, he has been involved in the Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He has been a head of the Mechatronics and Satellite Robotics Laboratory since 2017. He specialises in control theory and mechatronics. He leads an engineering and scientific team involved in the design and construction of scientific instruments and spacecraft subsystems for the most important space missions that Poland participates in, e.g. ESA ATHENA X-ray space telescope, ESA ExoMars Mars lander, GLOWS photometer for the NASA IMAP mission, DFP instrument for the ESA Comet Interceptor mission. On behalf of the CBK PAN, he is working on the construction of the Polish Eagle Eye observation satellite.
More guests to be announced soon.
ART
The artistic part is shaped by a combination of music, audiovisual art, and fashion. The audience will be treated to a premiere concert by the duo Nanook of the North. The new songs are inspired by the sounds of space, collected by NASA. A CD with a concert recording of the event will be released by the prestigious German record company Denovali. A premiere show of the latest collection by MMC, the internationally recognised Polish designer duo, awaits festival attendees in the fashion zone of the event. The main theme of the collection is space.
Nanook of the North
A unique union of internationally recognised musicians: electronic music producer Piotr Kaliński (Hatti Vatti) and violinist and composer Stefan Wesołowski.
A duo acclaimed by Boiler Room, The Wire and NPR US radio – Bob Boilen of Tiny Desk Concerts called Nanook of the North’s concert at the famous SXSW Festival in Texas the ‘wow moments of SXSW’.
The project has successfully released two albums in the German record company Denovali. The band recorded their first album in Iceland at Ólafur Arnalds’ studio and collaborated with Inuit artists during a recording session in Greenland. The material focuses on the northern inspirations of the duo. The latest album ‘Heide’ is a raw and minimalist sonic landscape, almost devoid of percussion elements, but featuring the vocal contribution of acclaimed mezzo-soprano Margarita Slepakova. Similar to their debut, the music on ‘Heide’ is rooted in nature and its primordial essence. The album’s title is a reference to the wild and the untamed, and the material on the album was recorded in winter during a lockdown in the middle of a forest in the countryside in northern Poland, which is clearly felt in the aura of the nine new tracks from ‘Heide’.
MMC
MMC is the simplicity and purism of form encapsulated in ultra-modern fabric. MMC was created by two graduates of the Department of Clothing Design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź – Ilona Majer and Rafał Michalak. Appreciated by experts in the fashion world, they have presented their collections at numerous shows in Poland and abroad.
MMC’s designs feature their own distinctive style, nonchalant and exclusive minimalism. The designers boldly embrace expansive, oversized forms and combine unconventional fabrics with intriguing textures. The brand is well-known for its designs of unique outerwear and unconventional designs for dresses and skirts.
