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Kisieland consists of several independent elements: a colour video and an acrylic painting on canvas. The first part is a record of Radziszewski’s meeting with Ryszard Kisiel, an amateur artist from Gdańsk, a pioneer of the gay culture in Poland. The second part of the work is a painting interpretation of Indianka-Szamanka [Indian-Shaman], one of many photographs documenting Kisiel’s performative activities at the turn of 1985 and 1986.

Kisieland fully illustrates not just the field of Karol Radziszewski’s interests, but also the methodology of his work with archives, consisting in queering history, norms, and institutions.

Kisieland is an attempt to build a relationship between the present and the past, revealing forgotten non-normative threads and heroes. Pointing to historical continuity thus becomes a performative activity – it helps to identify and construct the identity of the contemporary queer community. For Radziszewski, the queer archive is an anti-ethnographic, fluid creation that complements and verifies normative narratives, but which, above all, has emancipatory potential.

Kisieland consists of several independent elements: a colour video and an acrylic painting on canvas. The first part is a record of Radziszewski’s meeting with Ryszard Kisiel, an amateur artist from Gdańsk, a pioneer of the gay culture in Poland. The second part of the work is a painting interpretation of Indianka-Szamanka [Indian-Shaman], one of many photographs documenting Kisiel’s performative activities at the turn of 1985 and 1986.

Kisieland fully illustrates not just the field of Karol Radziszewski’s interests, but also the methodology of his work with archives, consisting in queering history, norms, and institutions.

Kisieland is an attempt to build a relationship between the present and the past, revealing forgotten non-normative threads and heroes. Pointing to historical continuity thus becomes a performative activity – it helps to identify and construct the identity of the contemporary queer community. For Radziszewski, the queer archive is an anti-ethnographic, fluid creation that complements and verifies normative narratives, but which, above all, has emancipatory potential.

Chariot was created specifically for the Estrangement exhibition, presented at the Showroom gallery as part of Polska!Year, and relates to the history of London’s Edgware Road, an ancient trade and war route. This area boasts the largest population of migrants from the Middle East in London.

During the opening, the artist interacted with the audience – she played with the children, led a horse-drawn parade, and invited passers-by to write on its sides, inscribed with: عربة which means ‘chariot’, and غربة, which means ‘estrangement’. In Arabic, the two words differ by just a single dot. This is reminiscent of how the Arabic alphabet is treated: with hostility, due to anti-Arab propaganda, or as an exotic ornament due to its calligraphic nature.

The Chariot addresses the question of multi-culturalism; because migrations create countries, environments and cities, they are an inseparable part of cultural, technological and social development.

Uberconsciousness Cocktail – not me was created as part of a project entitled Poza Postmodernizm [Beyond Postmodernism], in which Rogulski verified art trends present beyond the Iron Curtain from the perspective of an artist coming from a communist country in Central-Eastern Europe in the 1980s. Confronting these with Western trends led him to not expand the existing concepts describing art, but also to create new ones, which describe the artistic trends emerging throughout the period of transformation. Rogulski constructed his own theoretical proposals, based on the belief that moving beyond the prevalent trends, including postmodernism, can be achieved through internal transformation and thinking beyond the prevailing patterns.

Uberconsciousness Cocktail … is a carefully thought-out concept that demonstrates that every change and development should start with the individual. Hence, Rogulski’s work can be read as the intention of internal transformation, tantamount to a spiritual journey into oneself and finding a wider perspective for interpreting the world anew in the social, cultural and artistic realm.

Marta Romankiv’s project is an interventionist art action drawing attention to the exclusion of immigrants from democratic processes in Poland. Before the 2020 presidential election, Romankiv organized a symbolic vote in six cities and art institutions, allowing people without Polish citizenship to cast ballots that were formally invalid but socially significant.

The sealed ballot boxes became symbols of their political invisibility. Romankiv challenges the archaic divisions between citizens and non-citizens, raising questions about redefining citizenship and making democracy more inclusive. Her project blends art and activism, emphasizing that immigrants are full members of society who should have the right to participate in shaping its future.

The photograph Jak Buba bobu tak Boba Bubie shows the artist Andrzej Rzepecki in front of the Ministry of Culture and Art in 1983. Captured in the frame is Kozakiewicz’s gesture – symbolic and provocative – which serves as a clear commentary on the communist authorities of the time and their censorship policies toward independent art. The photo was taken by Marek Grygiel.