Episode 04
FOR SO MANY REASONS AND SO MANY SORROWS
02.09.2023
52°16'22.7"N 21°00'28.9"E
millage: 75.569
curator: Magdalena Komornicka
artist: Liliana Zeic

Rituals of vegetation, a walk in search of hop cones for restful sleep, a communal picnic and conversations on flora and insomnia.

For so many reasons and so many sorrows
Today I really wish for some hop cones pillows.
The smell of these light, silver-greyish catkins
Brings sound sleep and invites silence.

I have dreamt about it or read it somewhere:
“Hop cones for insomnia, sleep – when love’s not there.”
When you snuggle down in your pillows enough,
Sleep, for what is life without love.

"A Pillow Filled With Hops"
poem by Maria Pawlikowska Jasnorzewska.
Translation: Dominika Kotuła.


Traditionally, pillows that promote restful sleep are made of hop cones gathered towards the end of August. Under the influence of the human body’s heat, the dried cones exude essential oils that have a calming effect on the nervous system, preventing an excess of stimuli from being carried into its center, and inhibiting the activity of the cerebral cortex. Dried hop cones placed inside a pillow hasten the process of falling asleep, promoting calmness and reducing anxiety. We took part in this walk to find good sleep in spite of insomnia. To support and develop queer styles of life, non-normative styles of life. For (and from) natural environment on the part of the queer community.