Post-Industrial Eden is a photographic exhibition by the American artist Todd Forsgren, who has been documenting small garden enclaves for twenty years now, gathering material in such countries as the United States, Cuba, Mongolia, Japan, Great Britain, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, and Poland. The exhibition shows how gardening is practiced on a small scale in radically distant territories, in different climate zones and in the specific landscapes of a given geographical region. The beginning of the 21st century saw an increased interest in horticulture, which coincided with the growing political, economic and climatic crises in the world. Larger awareness of the ongoing effects of those deepening crises meant that societies had to revise their approaches to capitalism, global financial markets, and public institutions. A deepening disillusionment, the COVID pandemic, wars, and mass migration caused by the effects of armed conflicts in various parts of the world have awakened interest in nature and has led many to perceive it as a refuge in the face of social unrest and emergent instability. In response to these changes, many people have revised their consumption habits. Rising food prices and supplies shortages have encouraged people, especially in developed countries, to appreciate self-sufficiency, organic food and localism. Small garden cultures have gained more and more supporters, who began to perceive them as places free from “big politics” and the broadly understood globalization.

The “intimate gardens” documented in the exhibition are often surrounded by a fence separating them from city architecture. The artist’s idea was to “bring together” what appeared to be mutually exclusive spaces and to identify contexts that redefine what is urban and rural, public and private, modern and primitive, global and local. In the series of photographs presented at the exhibition, the artist shows how the assumptions behind the documented gardens differ. Some of them arose from the practical need to grow vegetables, fruits and herbs, the goal of which is self-sufficiency, others are the result of life philosophy, are aesthetic in nature, and are more related to the need people have for a comfort zone. Community gardens, which are gaining popularity, are created with reference to values such as locality, community, collective action, and civic engagement. They have become not only a place to practice gardening, but also a community meeting place.

The artist notices and evokes various ideas shaping these intimate places; he perceives them as the Edens of our time. Man is just one of the elements of an ecosystem on which we humans depend to a certain extent. The pursuit of balance and minimal exploitation of environmental resources with an increased pursuit of self-sufficiency is a bottom-up action; it influences attitudes of increasingly large groups of people, who can initiate political decisions and stop the noticeable effects of climate change. The exhibition is one of many activities aimed at increasing ecological awareness and influencing collective responsibility for the condition of our planet. The topics addressed here resonate with contemporary research areas and the context of international discourses on climate change among scientists, politicians, and artistic circles. The exhibition is also a response to contemporary philosophical approaches to nature and its resources, and reflects emergent trends in which self-sufficiency, mental well-being and intimate connection with nature become a more urgent than consumption. The photographs are a form of resistance to the proliferation of virtual spaces that have been brought about by the democratization of access to new technologies, the excess of which ultimately leads to loneliness and the decline of interpersonal relationships. Todd Forsgren’s photographs, taken since the beginning of the 21st century, can therefore be perceived as a contemporary compass, setting a direction for where and how to look for broadly understood balance and harmony in the face of contemporary threats.

Todd Forsgren – studied Biology and Visual Arts at Bowdoin College and completed his MFA in Photography at J.E. Purkyne. In his artistic practice, he refers to issues related to ecology, landscape and climate change. His photographs have been featured in National Geographic, Slate, Wired, The Guardian, Nature, New Scientist, TIME’s Lightbox, and Cosmopolitan. They have been shown at numerous venues and exhibitions, including the Cleveland Museum of Art, Noorderlicht Photography Festival, Academy Art Museum, Rotterdam Photo Festival, Indian Photography Festival, Koenig & Clinton, Carroll & Sons, Heiner Contemporary and Jen Bekman Gallery. He is the author of art books, including Driving into the Sunset (2022), Old Pictures from Paradise (2018), A Constant Wind Between a Breeze and a Gale (2016), Ornithological Photographs (2015). The artist teaches photography at Rocky Mountain College and is also the director of the Ryniker-Morrison Gallery. He lives and works in Billings, Montana.

Curator: Mariola Balińska
Collaboration: Aleksandra Grzonkowska, Marta Kołacz
Exhibition Design: Alicja Wódecka Pracowania Architektoniczna
Visual identification and graphics: Anna Witkowska
Texts: Mariola Balińska, Todd Forsgren
Translation: Language Extreme
Promotion and communication: Oliwia Szepietowska-Chmiel, Paulina Szwaj
Education: Noemi Etush, Nadzieja Mielewczyk