For PhotoSaintGermain 2025, the independent Warsaw-based publisher BLOW UP PRESS takes over the first floor of the Librairie Polonaise, presenting a hybrid exhibition and art book pop-up.
At the core of this presentation is viridescent, afire, a new project by Małgorzata Stankiewicz exploring the ecological decline of the Baltic Sea. The artist examines marine hypoxia through a deeply poetic visual language, working for the first time with NASA and ESA satellite archives, which she transforms into handmade cyanotypes. These ethereal images reveal “dead zones” deprived of oxygen — an exploration that weaves together science, mythology, ecology, and spirituality. The exhibition accompanies the release of the book viridescent, afire, published by BLOW UP PRESS — a 178-page volume printed on Favini’s Alga Carta, an eco-friendly paper made from recycled marine algae. A material and symbolic extension of the artwork, the book offers a slow, contemplative immersion into a shifting reality.
Alongside this, BLOW UP PRESS will present a selection of its most striking and daring titles by Polish and international artists, including Michael Ackerman, Weronika Gęsicka, Lorenzo Castore, Hubert Humka, Tomasz Tomaszewski, and others. Each publication reflects the publisher’s commitment to powerful storytelling — thought-provoking, enduring, and visually bold, with exquisite design.
From November 14 to 16, informal meetings and book signings will take place at the Librairie Polonaise, offering visitors a glimpse into the unique world of this publisher, founded in 2017 and renowned for its craft-based, experimental, and engaged approach to the photographic book.
La Librairie Polonaise
At the heart of the Latin Quarter, the Polish Bookstore of Paris has been a crossroads of arts and letters since 1925. Crossing its threshold is already a journey to Poland. Its shelves offer a vast selection of books in French and Polish across all subjects, while its collection of artisanal and handmade objects maintains the unique atmosphere of this historic institution opened since 1925.