Seminar: Awe. Emotional Experience in the Museum

Seminar: Awe. Emotional Experience in the Museum

SEATS TAKEN (all tickets have been collected)

Awe. Emotional experience in the museum | free admission

Date and time: 4 March 2026, 09:00
Place: Royal Baths Museum (Muzeum Łazienki Królewskie), Warsaw

We invite you to participate in a seminar on the concept of awe as an aesthetic, emotional and practical category in exhibition work. During presentations, discussions and workshops, curators, scenographers and volunteers will share their experiences.

Location:

• The first two panels (9:00–14:15) — Palace on the Island.
• Third panel (15:00–17:00) — depending on the module: Palace on the Island, Old Guardhouse, Hermitage Wing Office, New Palm House and the temporary exhibition "Łazienki w zachwycie" in the Cadets’ Hall.

Admission is free — please fill in the registration form.

There is a possibility of additional participation in workshops and exhibition tours (please indicate your preferred event in the form).

Seminar programme:

• 9:00–9:30 — Participant registration
• 9:30–9:45 — "The Potential of Awe" — opening of the seminar — Dr. Marianna Otmianowska, Director of the Royal Baths Museum
• 9:45–10:00 — "It's Worth Living in Awe" — Prof. Wojciech Malajkat, Director of the Contemporary Theatre in Warsaw
• I PANEL "ON AWE":
• 10:00–10:30 — "Museotherapy. Healing with awe" — Prof. Jadwiga Jośko-Ochojska
  Description: Museotherapy is the transformative effect of art on human health by awakening positive emotions. These emotions trigger physiological, biochemical and even anatomical mechanisms, causing beneficial changes in our body’s cells — from improved immune system function to greater nervous system efficiency. Scientific research shows that viewing artworks reduces levels of pain, anxiety, aggression, depression, suffering and insomnia, as well as symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases; increases empathy, creativity, motivation to live and social integration; improves memory and the formation of new memories and range of motion and balance maintenance. Based on evidence from biochemical, hormonal, epigenetic and neuroimaging studies of the brain, classic treatment methods can be integrated with new paths indicated by museotherapy.
• 10:30–11:00 — "Can you design awe? Designing the museum experience" — Ewa Paszkiewicz, Zofia Zaccaria, Lidia Iwanowska-Szymańska
  Description: The speakers will talk about the collaboration between curators and the scenographer in creating an exhibition focused on emotional experience and opening a space for awe. They will also discuss the impact of participatory activities on the exhibition and how emotions related to awe translated into scenographic solutions.
• 11:00–11:30 — "How to create an exhibition accessible to everyone - on universal design for temporary exhibitions" — Dorota Stelmaszczyk-Szwed, Anna Milczanowska, Jan Pfeifer
  Description: The presentation concerns universal design of temporary exhibitions with particular attention to the "Łazienki w zachwycie" exhibition. Solutions increasing accessibility for visitors with diverse needs — sensory, mobility and cognitive — and for people with visual and hearing impairments will be discussed. The topic of combining exhibition aesthetics with inclusivity principles will also be addressed.
• 11:30–11:45 — Discussion (moderator: Dr. Kamil Frejlich)
• 11:45–12:15 — Break
• II PANEL "ENGAGING THE PUBLIC IN EXHIBITION DEVELOPMENT": Presentations by the curators of the exhibition "Łazienki w zachwycie" (12:15–13:15) — the story behind preparing the exhibition, relations between concept and reception, and knowledge and emotion.
• 12:15–12:30 — "BioBlitz - natural studies" — Paulina Organiściak-Kwiatkowska
• 12:30–12:45 — "Practical wild kitchen following Paul Tremo - culinary workshop" — Ewa Zagawa
• 12:45–13:00 — "Metamorphoses - behind the scenes of preparing a performance with youth and adults" — Lidia Iwanowska-Szymańska
• 13:00–13:15 — "Łazienki sketchbooks - an illustration project in the museum" — Zofia Zaccaria
• 13:15–13:30 — Discussion (moderator: Marta Boguta)
• 13:30–13:45 — "Giving Voice. On oral history in museum practice" — Jolanta Żubrowska
  Description: A conversation about practical aspects of using interviews and processed material for exhibition purposes; starting point are interviews made for the exhibitions "Łazienki w zachwycie" and "Life of the Royal Garden".
• 13:45–14:00 — "Hunting for consensus" — Jan Wiśniewski
  Description: Experiences from working in the Social Curatorial Team (project for the Museum of Hunting and Horsemanship) — a participatory experiment from 2025 on cooperation among people with different views on hunting.
• 14:00–14:15 — Discussion (moderator: Marta Boguta)
• 14:15–15:00 — Break
• III PANEL "WORKSHOPS AND TOURS" (15:00–17:00): Workshops (parallel, locations and leaders):
• "Stopping the awe. Sketching as a mindful practice in the museum space" — Picture Gallery, Palace on the Island. Led by: Zofia Zaccaria
  Description: Reflection on mindfulness, the rhythm of visiting and creative experiencing of space with a sketchbook; how to translate a fleeting experience of awe into a lasting illustrative record.
• "Telling the picture. Creating short literary forms inspired by the museum collection" — Small Gallery, Palace on the Island. Led by: Lidia Iwanowska-Szymańska
  Description: Reading ekphrases written by past and contemporary Polish poets, writing exercises and creating your own pieces about selected exhibits.
• "Transformation on stage, or how to act and create etudes" — Old Guardhouse. Led by: Anna Gajda
  Description: Exercises from acting training, improvisation and creating etudes based on engravings from "Metamorphoses"; the impact of theatrical activities on wellbeing and creative thinking.
• "From Paul Tremo's notebook - turnip stew" — Hermitage Wing Office. Led by: Ewa Zagawa
  Description: A culinary workshop from the series "From Paul Tremo's notebook" — preparing a dish inspired by an eighteenth-century recipe.
• Workshops and walk "In the world of squirrels" — start: New Palm House, then Łazienki gardens. Led by: Dr. Agata Beliniak
  Description: A meeting about the Łazienki squirrels — tracking traces, biological curiosities and the work of scientists studying these mammals.
• Guided tour of the exhibition "Łazienki w zachwycie" — Cadets’ Hall. Led by: Dorota Stelmaszczyk-Szwed, Monika Kawecka, Lidia Butowska
  Description: Presentation of the exhibition’s themes — what moves visitors to the Royal Baths; the exhibition is accessible to many senses: sight, hearing, touch and smell.

Organisational information:

• Admission free, registration required via the form.
• Registration form: registration form

SEATS TAKEN — all tickets have been collected.