Germany’s Tagesspiegel is full of praise for the new exhibition at the Polish Institute in Berlin. Titled “Invisible Work,” the exhibition presents Poles as asparagus pickers, construction workers, and car mechanics. The latter profession might even be considered a form of elevation in this context—after all, equipment used to repair cars (German ones, of course) is significantly more sophisticated than the scythes, hammers, and saws dominating the exhibition. These tools, as the German newspaper emphasizes, point to the “essential contributions of Polish craftsmen and agricultural laborers of all genders in Germany.”
According to German journalists, the exhibition—on display until June 6—would not have been possible without the political changes that began in Poland a year and a half ago. It was preceded, at the end of 2024, by a show that “focused on social turning points.” “The central reference point was the 2023 parliamentary elections in Poland, which marked the end of the nationalist and right-wing populist PiS government,” the newspaper notes.
Tagesspiegel also observes that the political shift in Poland has led to a “structural reorientation” of the Polish Institute in Berlin. Under the new, enlightened, and progressive leadership of Katarzyna Sitko—who has held the position since April of last year—the Institute now “positions itself as European.” According to the German daily, the “Invisible Work” exhibition, part of the broader series “What We Take With Us,” is the clearest expression of this new “European identity.”
And speaking of “what we take with us,” what exactly do Poles bring along? The exhibition answers this question as well. “Two wrenches are displayed opposite each other on a white wall. They are bent—like the ones used by plumbers and mechanics to reach hard-to-access nuts,” reports Tagesspiegel. But that’s not all. The symbolic toolkit of someone from the land between the Oder and the Bug also includes “hacksaw blades and cleavers, hammerheads and sickles”—all, of course, rust-covered.
And then there are the mushrooms. As Tagesspiegel notes, “mushroom picking is something of a Polish national sport.” And from mushrooms, it’s just a short step across the Oder to asparagus.
The German paper expresses hope that the current director of the Polish Institute in Berlin will remain in her post after the upcoming summer restructuring, which, according to Tagesspiegel, is expected to affect two dozen Polish cultural institutions abroad. “Let’s hope that the current blossoming of the Berlin branch continues,” the newspaper concludes.