Agata Nowicka | Curator
Marysia Zaleska | Curator

So... There I was, standing in front of a fridge full of cakes. Every kind of cake your mind could venture to, when dreaming at night. Agata told me I could pick any of them. Talk about a kid in a cake shop, immaturity cam shinning through like you couldn’t imagine seeing from a man with a beard.

Berlin is a city full of exhibitions. It was only a matter of time until I got a trade that had something to do with this expressive hub of Germany. Agata and Maria are curators from Poland and they were behind the design for a space which exhibited the work of a handful of Polish illustrators. The Pixel Trade was photographing this space and how it felt to stand in the attic of this old Berlin building.

            Interview with Agata & Marysia

Describe your most memorable adventure as a child.

A: Jumping from the entrance roof of my friends house, with an umbrella, on the first day of school. Riding go carts with my dad. 

M: Traveling around former Yugoslavia with my parents and brother as a kid. Staying at different campsites weeks at a time in our old camping van. I still remember some places, the smell of figues and sound of crickets. It was just before the war started.

What is the best part about curating?

A: Distancing yourself from your own art work and focusing on the work of others. Also, team work that producing the exhibition involves.

M: The best part is the creative process I guess. It's also a great feeling to generate an occasion for people to experience something new.

What is the hardest part about curating?

A: Setting the limits. Knowing that not including someone might upset them. Having to resign from doing something spectacular because of the limited budget.

M: The organisation, logistic stuff and paper work and all the bureaucracy that have to be managed during and after the exhibition.

If you could curate any body of work, who would it be and why?

A: To me, it's more the question of what than who. Right now, I'd love to curate an exhibition with only hand drawings by all the artists whose art I admire.

M: I'm not set on any specific person/persons work but I would definitely like to develop my skills into other fields like, design or architecture. I'm interested in practical domains that touch upon esthetics and art.

When was the last time you felt defeated by something in life?

A: When I broke my nose and couldn't leave my bed and work for a couple of days. I felt defeated by my nose. Being defeated by health is something I fear most.

M: I felt totally defeated by my health problems lately but I'm now regenerating and hopefully a well deserved vacation will make me get better.

Where do you go to find solitude?

A: The beach, by the village where I grew up, north of Poland.

M: I mentally shut down and I find solitude within myself. I don't need to go anywhere specific for that.

What is something you haven’t told anyone in a while now?

A: "I can't do it." Without explanation.

M: The positive things you should tell people you love and like. I promise myself I'll catch up.

What do you do when you’re stressed?

A: Lately I read the Never Ending Story to my 7 year old daughter. It takes me back to the time when I was a kid.

M: Tell myself that there is no use in stressing about things one can't influence or change.

If you could teach one lesson to any child, what would it be?

A: Since having my daughter I learned the kids teach us more about life and the meaning of it than we could ever teach them. Also, their artistic freedom and courage is something that grown up artists can only dream of.

M: To stay a child as long as possible and not to aspire to be like the older kids. Adulthood will inevitably catch up some day

Describe your most memorable adventure as an adult.

A: Trip to Morocco with my friends and journalists and art editors from all over Europe. We had so much fun, especially engaging in some illegal activities I probably shouldn't mention.

M: Sailing a 3 day long storm in the Aegean sea with no reliable navigation.

If you had to recommend a favourite music album, what would it be?

A: Too many. I like to listen to XX when I'm working at night. During the day any hip hop will do. Love listening to Devendra Banhart's Mala in a car, too.

M: I just saw a documentary on Harry Nilsson so I guess it will have to be Aerial Ballet from 1968