Europe of Care on Display: dialogues between art and biocultural memory in the “Atlas farmakognostyczny” of Łódź

A Dialogue Between Art, Science, and Memory

The project originates from the works of Lithuanian artist Dovilė Dagienė, inspired by the intertwined stories of Polish and Lithuanian families through war and memory. During her research, Dagienė encountered Jan Muszyński, a botanist and pharmacist from Vilnius, patron of the Pharmacy Museum of Łódź, and author of the Atlas of Pharmacognosy published after World War I — a seminal work for Polish botany and the history of European pharmacognosy.

This contemporary atlas of pharmacognosy reinterprets his scientific legacy through art, weaving together science and art, research and memory, and restoring to the materia medica and the knowledge of medicinal plants their cultural, symbolic, and universal meaning.

Art as a Language of Knowledge

The exhibition “Atlas farmakognostyczny / The Pharmacognostic Atlas” brings together artists from various European countries:

• Dovilė Dagienė (Doda, www.doda.lt, Lithuania): The project’s creator explores the memory of plants and lost landscapes, intertwining botanical archives and family stories linked to war and diaspora.
• Belén Rodríguez (www.belen.news, Spain): Her work reflects on the relationship between humans and nature, grounded in the transformation of human attitudes toward the natural world. Her pieces maintain a subtle, poetic, sometimes melancholic tone. This recurring motif, in an exhibition that explores the relationship between art, science, and nature, evokes the image of death and rebirth as a starting point for reflecting on the ancient cult of nature and its transformative power.
• Carles Tarrassó (www.carlestarrasso.com, Spain): He presents an installation dedicated to ancient mixtures and culinary recipes, reminding us of the shared roots of these disciplines. His work is also a kind of atlas of ingredients — arranged and described as essential components.
• Aleksandra Liput (leguern.pl, Poland): Drawing on Slavic mythology, literature, and iconography, the artist creates objects inspired by natural medicine and psychedelic fungi.
• Katarzyna Korzeniecka (www.katarzynakorzeniecka.com, Poland): Her paintings, centered on the iconography of water and made with natural components, explore autobiographical threads and the relationship with her late father — an enigmatic figure, both parapsychologist and healer.
• Estera Lipman (@estera_lipman_prints, Poland): An homage to the avant-garde of Łódź, her raster variations evoke the memory of Kobro and Strzemiński. They possess the precision, rhythm, and energy of scientific work while offering a counterpoint to the organic, dreamlike, and intimate atmosphere that pervades the entire Atlas of Pharmacognosy.
• Agata Szwajcowska (@cyber_catira, Poland): Consciously abandoning synthetic paints, she works with natural pigments and fibers to create abstract compositions belonging to the Materia Intima series.

Their works interact with the museum’s space as a visual journey between nature, body, and memory — where artistic research intertwines with the history of science and opens a dialogue with the historical collections of the Pharmacy Museum of Łódź.

The Pharmacy Museum of Łódź: A Bridge Between Heritage and Contemporaneity

The Pharmacy Museum of Łódź, member of the European Route Aromas Itinerarium Salutis (AIS), holds one of the most significant collections of instruments, furniture, and artifacts related to the history of pharmacy in Central Europe.

Its historic rooms, dedicated to Jan Muszyński, provide a unique context where the contemporary art exhibition “Atlas farmakognostyczny” establishes a dialogue between contemporary art and pharmaceutical history, between creative works and historical collections, renewing the perception of pharmaceutical heritage as a living space of knowledge, creativity, and cultural experimentation.

Among the museum’s initiatives is the online digital publication dedicated to its collection: Monograph of the Pharmacy Museum of Łódź – eBook version (PDF)

A Living Heritage that Unites Europe

Through the language of art, “Atlas farmakognostyczny / The Pharmacognostic Atlas” gives contemporary meaning to biocultural memory and traditional botanical knowledge, understood as Europe’s shared heritage.

The exhibition reflects the spirit of the Cultural Route of the Council of Europe, of which AIS is part, and celebrates the dialogue between creativity and knowledge as a form of care, continuity, and collective awareness.