Drawing inspiration from the Polish Highland tradition, where shepherds once carved intricate patterns into wood during long periods of solitude and stillness, the project reimagines ornamentation as a record of suspended time. Waiting becomes visible, tactile—etched into surfaces, shaped by hand.

At the heart of the installation is a monumental wooden structure carved collaboratively by artisans and school students. Each segment of the surface reflects a different experience of waiting: the slow grind of bureaucracy, the quiet endurance of social crises, the practiced stillness of a night watchman or a taxi driver, the numbing repetition of daily traffic. These carvings, detailed and expressive, document not just time’s passing, but the emotional and social dimensions of delay.

In conversation with the theme 'Surface Reflections', this project asks us to look again at surfaces—not simply as decoration, but as carriers of deeper truths. The carved wood reflects more than artistic skill; it becomes a mirror of the social and emotional dimensions of time.

Through the act of carving, waiting is transformed into expression. The exhibition invites us to consider how our place in society shapes the way we wait—and how time, though often silent, leaves its mark.

By linking ornamentation to the rhythms of everyday life, 'Records of Waiting' makes the quiet act of waiting visible, tactile, and political. It reminds us that even stillness has texture, and that behind every surface lies a reflection of our shared human condition.

Through this crafted landscape, the Polish Pavilion reveals how waiting is not neutral—it mirrors power structures, social roles, and lived inequalities. By linking the act of ornamentation with the passage of time, the pavilion reflects on how people mark, endure, and give meaning to suspended moments.