In algorithmic translation

The Copernicus Science Centre shows “In algorithmic translation” only during the 16th Przemiany Festival, which this year asks “Is AI thinking for you?”. The exhibition runs for three days, 2-4 October 2026, in the Centre’s conference centre, and admission to the festival is free.

The Copernicus Science Centre on the exhibition:

We are increasingly coming to understand the world through the lens of algorithms. Artificial intelligence is becoming an intermediary between us and reality. It processes data and recognises patterns to generate new content, create evocative simulations and uncover relationships that we might not otherwise notice. Like any translation, this one is not neutral either.

Algorithms organise the world according to their own rules. Some data highlight certain aspects, whilst others omit them; they create new categories and suggest different interpretations. Sometimes they lose sight of the context, fail to distinguish between facts and opinions, or simply make things up, presenting content that sounds credible but is unsubstantiated. The way in which information is organised therefore influences what we perceive and the picture of reality we construct. How do algorithms explain the world to people, and how do they change the very process of understanding it?

The creators of the ‘In algorithmic translation’ exhibition are attempting to answer these questions from various perspectives. At the exhibition, you’ll see, amongst others, a robot trying to find a needle in a haystack. The rhythm of human breathing will be translated into drawings and computer graphics, whilst interactive installations will respond to visitors’ voices and presence. Historical war photographs, in turn, will be used to generate what the original images do not show - plausible images, suspended between collective memory and simulation. You’ll also see a new language created by a neural network. It is an abstract system of signs that raises the question of whether machines can develop their own forms of communication.

Some projects look inside AI systems, whilst others test the limits of their effectiveness or use the technology to transform the human experience. What they have in common is the question of what is preserved, what disappears, and what only emerges as a result of algorithmic translation. And who, exactly, gives meaning to what we end up with at the end of this process - a human being or a machine?

In many ways, the exhibition allows visitors to experience the world as interpreted by algorithms - through images, sound, language, movement, light and even their own breathing. Rather than confining artificial intelligence to screens and interfaces, it presents it as part of a broader technological environment that is having an ever-greater influence on how we remember, create, categorise and interpret the world.

What to expect

The exhibition participants are Paweł Janicki, Dawid Konopka, Jakub Koźniewski, Andreas Lutz, Patrycja Maksylewicz, Agnieszka Rayss and David Sypniewski, Sefa Sagir and Anna Klimczak, the duo Varvara & Mar, and studio Dotdotdot. The curator is Rafał Kosewski, the texts are by Patrycja Strzetelska, and the exhibition was designed and built by Lotne Studio.

The exhibition fills the ground and first floors of the Centre’s conference centre. On Saturday and Sunday the festival’s experimental stations run on the first floor, where, the museum says, visitors can test artificial intelligence programs and play go against a robot; on Sunday from 3:00 to 7:00 pm, in the Lektorium on the ground floor, visitors can create “memory patterns” with Bielik, a Polish language model (experimental stations, in Polish).

Tickets and time

• Admission: free - the museum states this for the whole Przemiany Festival 2026.
• Hours: Friday 2 October 8:30-11:00 pm (opening night), Saturday 3 October 11:00 am-10:00 pm, Sunday 4 October 11:00 am-8:00 pm.
• Earlier on Friday: 1:00-2:00 pm, a curator-led preview tour of the exhibition.
• While you are there: during the festival the museum also opens “The Future Is Today”, part of its permanent exhibition, free of charge (Friday 8:30-11:00 pm, Saturday and Sunday 11:00 am-8:00 pm).
• Language: the museum says that some festival events will be interpreted into Polish Sign Language and English, with details given for each event. The exhibition text above is the museum’s own English.
• Dates: the heading of the museum’s English page reads “October 3-5”, while the timetable on the same page and the Polish page both give 2-4 October; we follow the timetable.
• How long: three days is the whole run - on Monday 5 October it will be gone.

Events

• 2.10.2026, 1:00-2:00 pm - curator-led preview tour of the exhibition (exhibition page).
• 2.10.2026, 7:00-8:30 pm - festival opening in the Auditorium: the conversation “Is AI thinking for you?” with philosopher Tomasz Stawiszyński, artist Jakub Koźniewski, one of the exhibiting artists, and digital culture researcher Dr Monika Jabłońska, interpreted into Polish Sign Language and English (opening, in Polish).
• 2.10.2026, 8:30-11:00 pm - exhibition opening, with Andreas Lutz’s performance “Abstract Language Model (Live)” at 9:00 pm (opening, in Polish).

The full programme of debates, panels and workshops is on the Przemiany Festival page.

See also

• Mirrors. Between Illusion and Reality - a paid temporary exhibition in the same building, until 22 November 2026, on how the eye and the mind are fooled by reflections.

Museum profile: Copernicus Science Centre.