About
The postmodern world and its challenges of living on our planet create spaces for new narratives and new ways of acting. Engaged in the social transformation of our century, I explore the potential of bridging design, science, art, embodiment, and praxis. I'm Sylwia Orczykowska, a Systemic Communication Designer with Polish roots, based in Zürich, Switzerland.
In the folds of misty fjords, body language. CAS ETH in Regenerative Systems. Norway, June 2024.
Whether I designerly translate science messaging or develop a creative workshop, I bring people together. The multi-layered, non-linear stories I tell, raise awareness about human beliefs and habits, inviting to do things afresh. My take on the art of communication is the ability to work on images and text simultaneously, bringing a distinctive depth and integrity to the content. I attach particular importance to visions and the core ethos, the building blocks of individual experiences and genuine connections.
While experimenting in parallel with artistic and non-verbal communication, I design various types of inspirational experiences with the elements of immersion and embodiment.
As a critical system design thinker and practitioner, I synthesize the dots beyond the latest technologies, navigating between meta-design and place-specificity levels, embodying unwritten knowledge, experience in flow, and human understanding in my real-world interventions for more sustainable and regenerative futures.
Over 15 years of co-designing social dialogue through advertising, marketing, communications, and graphic design gave me a deep understanding of social mechanisms and a wide range of possibilities to tap into their potential. Engaging with the projects in Switzerland had a pivotal role in shifting my focus toward transformative communication, addressing environmental challenges and social transformation of our century (2019-present). My experiments on regenerative, life-centric communication design gave foundations to the white-on-white philosophy.
Exploring the systems view of life and the interdisciplinary approach of systemic design resulted in joining the Systemic Design Labs at ETH Zürich, as a Communication and Art Designer. My versatile work background and rich creative skillset support the development of the pioneering ETH MAS executive programme in Regenerative Systems, guiding thought leaders and decision-makers worldwide in dealing with complexities and uncertainties across system types and governance scales for resilience and real-world regeneration interventions (2023-present).
In association with a living systems lab MonViso Institute in Ostana, Italy, I weave research, education, with entrepreneurship on sustainability transitions and regenerative design. I develop system design communication coupled with real-world field practices, addressing complex challenges on a global scale with place-based responses. I am also associated with the partnering project Systemic Cycles: cycling journeys towards resilient regenerative futures combined with a regional exploration of supply chain systems. (2023-present)
In my search for alternative angles of scaling out individually experienced transformation to a global level of shifting societal paradigms, I sparked ART NOW!, the community of artists engaged in social transformation. We are passionate designers of various performance and workshop formats, raising environmental awareness, moving boundaries, and inspiring human actions through arts, feeling, and embodiment. The latest art research additionally incorporates elements of scientific discourse, as part of a transdisciplinary lab experiment, drawing inspiration from the fundamental laws of nature, as described in quantum mechanics: QHM Experiment (2021-present).
I dedicated many years to my passion for dance, practicing modern jazz and Broadway jazz in renowned studios in Warsaw, Poland (Ballet School of R. Turczynowicz, Egurrola Dance Studio) and in Barcelona, Spain (Escola Coco Comin). The turning point in my experience of drawing the source of movement was the discovery and intensive practice of contact improvisation (Steve Paxton, Nancy Stark Smith, 2020). Recognizing the driving force inside rather than outside the body has an ongoing considerable impact on my professional work of interweaving text, image, and body movement for social transformation and sustainability transitions.
Started in 2020 with no expectations, yoga has become an integral part of my mornings, bringing long-lasting body strengthening and an in-depth experience of being and becoming. I also practice mountain biking and skiing, which I find to be illustrative analogies of building the personal capacity of organic emergence and befriending the complexity of living systems when facing new challenges.