What Happens on Earth Stays on Earth

Magdalena Lazar’s exhibition "What Happens on Earth Stays on Earth" presents a new series of works situated at the intersection of local memory, geology, and speculative biology. As is typical for the artist, she interdisciplines various media (photography, objects, installation) and works with a wide range of materials – from those she processes herself (metal, textiles, cast glass) to found elements that she sensibly incorporates into her works (blown glass, scrap metal, or horse bits). Her point of departure lies both in personal experience tied to the mining landscapes of Upper Silesia, where she comes from, and in the broader context of the contemporary world, in which no environment remains untouched by human activity. The exhibition’s title points to cyclical processes in which nothing disappears: what is extracted, transformed, or discarded persists – circulating as matter, memory or hidden energy, sometimes taking on mythological or alchemical dimensions. Extending beyond materiality, this perspective extends to the social context as well – shared narratives, culture, and language, such as the Silesian dialect, which is gradually disappearing. At the same time, Lazar draws attention to what often escapes human perception: the subterranean environment and its microbial life, brought to the surface by mining, as a reminder of overlooked forms of existence and challenging our established notions of life, matter, and temporality. The exhibition thus reveals a world in constant transformation, where everything that happens on Earth continues to resonate within it.