Olafur Eliasson is one of the most distinguished and renowned artist on the contemporary art scene. He is the author of spectacular installations in which he reproduces the power of nature. In his artistic practice, he has for years referred to the Sun, exploring its properties as a source of light and energy. In 2003, this Icelandic-Danish artist placed a huge artificial Sun at the Tate Modern in London. The installation was viewed by two million visitors—a record that has not been broken to date. The work, which will be on display at the Wola Museum, alludes to the relationship with what in many cultures is the most ancient force—the central star of the solar system.

Find out more about the exhibition ”The Cold Days Are Over”: https://muzeumwoli.muzeumwarszawy.pl/en/wystawa/warsaw-under-construction-15-the-cold-days-are-over/

The WARSAW UNDER CONSTRUCTION Festival was established at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw in 2009. It addresses design issues in the broadest possible sense: from industrial design, applied graphics, through architecture and urban planning to social design.

“The rising sun brings a promise of a new day. We want to make sure that everyone wakes up in dignity and safety. We strive to put an end to the current crises and to bring about fair changes that will ensure the fundamental wellbeing of all the people living in our country and the entire region.” This is the mission statement the activists from “Wschód” (pl. “the East” as well as “the Sunrise”), a group founded in Warsaw in 2022. The organization fights simultaneously for fossil fuel divestment and for an immediate embargo on Russian fuels. Its founders had previously launched the Polish Youth Strike for Climate. Like many other Warsaw residents, they employ a set of grassroot organizing tools and tactics to respond to the climate crisis and the rising temperatures, and to combat the fear and anxiety that those phenomena provoke.

Find out more about the exhibition ”The Cold Days Are Over”: https://muzeumwoli.muzeumwarszawy.pl/en/wystawa/warsaw-under-construction-15-the-cold-days-are-over/

The WARSAW UNDER CONSTRUCTION Festival was established at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw in 2009. It addresses design issues in the broadest possible sense: from industrial design, applied graphics, through architecture and urban planning to social design.

“The rising sun brings a promise of a new day. We want to make sure that everyone wakes up in dignity and safety. We strive to put an end to the current crises and to bring about fair changes that will ensure the fundamental wellbeing of all the people living in our country and the entire region.” This is the mission statement the activists from “Wschód” (pl. “the East” as well as “the Sunrise”), a group founded in Warsaw in 2022. The organization fights simultaneously for fossil fuel divestment and for an immediate embargo on Russian fuels. Its founders had previously launched the Polish Youth Strike for Climate. Like many other Warsaw residents, they employ a set of grassroot organizing tools and tactics to respond to the climate crisis and the rising temperatures, and to combat the fear and anxiety that those phenomena provoke.

Find out more about the exhibition ”The Cold Days Are Over”: https://muzeumwoli.muzeumwarszawy.pl/en/wystawa/warsaw-under-construction-15-the-cold-days-are-over/

The WARSAW UNDER CONSTRUCTION Festival was established at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw in 2009. It addresses design issues in the broadest possible sense: from industrial design, applied graphics, through architecture and urban planning to social design.

Every hot day poses a huge challenge to all the living organisms of Warsaw. Ever more Varsovians die from hyperthermia during heat waves. Rising temperatures lead to higher mortality rates mainly among the elderly and among those with respiratory conditions, a demographic which is growing due to the ageing of the population and the deteriorating air quality in the city. Therefore, Warsaw needs to urgently adapt to those new thermal conditions. We need architectural solutions ensuring the sustainable cooling of buildings. In the long term, energy-intensive air conditioning systems are a dead end. According to the International Energy Agency such systems are responsible for nearly 20% of global energy consumption and the associated emissions. Yet, their popularity is not decreasing. If this trend continues, by 2050 there will be over 5.6 billion ACs in use worldwide, which will significantly increase the percentage of energy consumption taken up by this sector.

Find out more about the exhibition ”The Cold Days Are Over”: https://muzeumwoli.muzeumwarszawy.pl/en/wystawa/warsaw-under-construction-15-the-cold-days-are-over/

The WARSAW UNDER CONSTRUCTION Festival was established at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw in 2009. It addresses design issues in the broadest possible sense: from industrial design, applied graphics, through architecture and urban planning to social design.

By 2050, heat will pose an existential risk to over 3.5 billion people. Since more than one-half of mankind lives in cities, multiple urban centres have proclaimed climate emergencies and introduced comprehensive climate policies. These include strategies to reduce climate warming rates as well as efforts to adapt cities to the new conditions, including the temperature changes. The experts present at the 2023 Ecocity World Summit note that reaching European carbon neutrality by 2050 and curbing temperature increases to 1.5° C in comparison to the pre-industrial era rate requires us to cut emissions by 43% by the end of the decade. They also emphasised that the goal can only be achieved with measures focused on urban areas.

Find out more about the exhibition ”The Cold Days Are Over”: https://muzeumwoli.muzeumwarszawy.pl/en/wystawa/warsaw-under-construction-15-the-cold-days-are-over/

The WARSAW UNDER CONSTRUCTION Festival was established at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw in 2009. It addresses design issues in the broadest possible sense: from industrial design, applied graphics, through architecture and urban planning to social design.

Extreme weather phenomena have for years been considered anomalies. However, their frequency and repetitiveness have made them a new norm. This shift is directly related to the warming of the climate, the increase in average temperatures on Earth, the melting of glaciers, and the rising water levels. While we are slowly getting used to the climate crisis, adapting to changes in living conditions is becoming increasingly difficult. Temperatures in cities and non-urban areas are rising faster than our ability to develop adaptation measures or implement climate disaster prevention strategies. Rising temperatures pose an existential risk to a number of systems and ecosystems, which could reach a tipping point when changes to their functioning become too rapid and irreversible.

Find out more about the exhibition ”The Cold Days Are Over”: https://muzeumwoli.muzeumwarszawy.pl/en/wystawa/warsaw-under-construction-15-the-cold-days-are-over/

The WARSAW UNDER CONSTRUCTION Festival was established at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw in 2009. It addresses design issues in the broadest possible sense: from industrial design, applied graphics, through architecture and urban planning to social design.

Extreme weather phenomena have for years been considered anomalies. However, their frequency and repetitiveness have made them a new norm. This shift is directly related to the warming of the climate, the increase in average temperatures on Earth, the melting of glaciers, and the rising water levels. While we are slowly getting used to the climate crisis, adapting to changes in living conditions is becoming increasingly difficult. Temperatures in cities and non-urban areas are rising faster than our ability to develop adaptation measures or implement climate disaster prevention strategies. Rising temperatures pose an existential risk to a number of systems and ecosystems, which could reach a tipping point when changes to their functioning become too rapid and irreversible.

Find out more about the exhibition ”The Cold Days Are Over”: https://muzeumwoli.muzeumwarszawy.pl/en/wystawa/warsaw-under-construction-15-the-cold-days-are-over/

The WARSAW UNDER CONSTRUCTION Festival was established at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw in 2009. It addresses design issues in the broadest possible sense: from industrial design, applied graphics, through architecture and urban planning to social design.

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, sunshine was typically considered to provide benefits to human health. People believed it could enhance medical treatment and improve sanitary conditions. Doctors recommended heliotherapy – i.e. solar ray treatment – ever more frequently, especially alongside aerotherapy. Numerous spas in pre-war Poland advertised themselves as offering desirable conditions for such therapies. Air and sunlight were seen as particularly valuable for developing immunity in children. Such positive public attitude towards sunshine prevailed practically until the early 1980s when public attention turned to the adverse effects of frequent prolonged exposure to sunlight and the harms caused by ultraviolet radiation.

Find out more about the exhibition ”The Cold Days Are Over”: https://muzeumwoli.muzeumwarszawy.pl/en/wystawa/warsaw-under-construction-15-the-cold-days-are-over/

The WARSAW UNDER CONSTRUCTION Festival was established at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw in 2009. It addresses design issues in the broadest possible sense: from industrial design, applied graphics, through architecture and urban planning to social design.

The earliest air temperature readings using measuring instruments were carried out in Italy. The world's first network of weather stations which took measurements based on a uniform set of rules was created there in 1654 and became known as the Florentine network. It included 11 locations, seven in Italy, as well as ones in Paris, Osnabrück, Innsbruck, and Warsaw. Measurements were taken several times a day, at identical times, using two thermometers (one facing the north, the other facing the south). Although the Florentine network was active only until 1667, it led to the development of instrumental measurements of air temperature and was crucial for introducing objectivity to meteorological observations. By the 18th century, standardized measurements of temperature were being taken in at least 55 cities across Europe.

Find out more about the exhibition ”The Cold Days Are Over”: https://muzeumwoli.muzeumwarszawy.pl/en/wystawa/warsaw-under-construction-15-the-cold-days-are-over/

The WARSAW UNDER CONSTRUCTION Festival was established at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw in 2009. It addresses design issues in the broadest possible sense: from industrial design, applied graphics, through architecture and urban planning to social design.

The first half of the 17th century brought a breakthrough in the development of meteorological observations with the invention the first measuring instruments: a liquid thermometer and a mercury barometer. In Warsaw, a crucial figure spearheading this shift was Antoni Magier (1762-1837), a writer and chronicler, but primarily a physicist and meteorologist. He conducted systematic observations using devices he constructed himself. He published his daily readings of the “degrees of cold and heat” on his house on Piwna Street for the passers-by to see. In the following decades, Varsovians were able to read the temperature from thermometers hung in almost every pharmacy and public building in the city (such as the churches or the city hall).

Find out more about the exhibition ”The Cold Days Are Over”: https://muzeumwoli.muzeumwarszawy.pl/en/wystawa/warsaw-under-construction-15-the-cold-days-are-over/

The WARSAW UNDER CONSTRUCTION Festival was established at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw in 2009. It addresses design issues in the broadest possible sense: from industrial design, applied graphics, through architecture and urban planning to social design.