Exhibitions

Opening: 17 May, 7:00 PM

Artists: Kuba Bąkowski, Przemysław Branas, Oskar Dawicki, Javier Delgado, Marian Dobrzykowski, Monika Drożyńska, Marta Frej, Marcel Grisard, Wiesław Gruszkowski, Roman Joachimowski, Stefan Kaczorowski, Kamil Kak, Agnieszka Kalinowska, Tomasz Kopcewicz, Tomasz Kosiński, Anna Królikiewicz, Paweł Kruk, Aleksandra Kubiak, Edmund Kupiecki, Simon Larbalestier, Jacqueline Livingston, Honorata Martin, Rafał Milach, Maciej Moskwa, Jacek Niegoda, Julian Opalski, Anna Orbaczewska, Piotr Pawlak, Joanna Rajkowska, Agnieszka Rayss, Zygmunt Reinhardt, Marta Romankiv, Zofia Rydet, Adam Rzepecki, Ala Savashevich, Janek Simon, Łukasz Skąpski, Tadeusz Stoklasa, Michał Szlaga, Tadeusz Szpak, Joanna Unterschütz, Włodek Witek, Sławomir Witkowski, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Piotr Wyrzykowski, Edmund Zdanowski, Marek Zygmunt

Curators: Aleksandra Grzonkowska and Maja Murawska – NOMUS – New Art Museum, Maja Bieńkowska and Małgorzata Taraszkiewicz-Zwolicka – The Gdańsk Gallery of Photography

Hospitalities is an invitation to reflect on one of the most important concepts shaping contemporary Europe. In light of current events related to migration, mobility, and identity, we pose the question of the right to hospitality and its role in today’s society – how we receive and treat the Other in a space we consider our own. 

Hospitality is not only a friendly gesture of empathy, but also a political and cultural act that reveals complex relationships within both multicultural and homogeneous societies. We explore the adaptation of social, geographical, and symbolic spaces – such as home, city, or country – to welcome Others. We ask ourselves: Who has the right to occupy these spaces after past conflicts, and who is excluded? We raise the issue of the boundaries of hospitality and openness, the sense of “belonging,” and the notion of temporariness. 

Is hospitality today merely a gesture of empathy, or has it become an unconditional necessity for coexistence? This extends beyond human relationships to our attitudes toward animals, the environment, and the planet. 

We invite viewers to consider whether art can serve as a tool for diagnosing social processes and as a space for reflection on the human condition. The works – video installations, objects, photography, and textiles – treat hospitality as a contemplation of both forced and voluntary migration, identity, and the space we live in, as well as the one we create for others. 

The exhibition encourages a deep examination of the mutual relationship between art and politics in the search for answers about social responsibility and the place of aesthetics in the discussion about the right to belonging. Selected works open up the door to new interpretations, portraying hospitality not only as an attitude, but also as a metaphor – reflecting contemporary debates on nationalism, diversity, and coexistence. 

We therefore ask: Can openness to others be a path to overcoming divisions? Who is the giver and who the recipient of hospitality? The exhibition is intended as an invitation to uncover the complex and often uncomfortable questions hidden within the concept of hospitality. 

In recent years, the theme of hospitality has been addressed repeatedly, but this exhibition at the National Museum in Gdańsk contributes to the discourse by examining attitudes of inclusion and exclusion based on both global and local contexts – such as the formation of Gdańsk communities in postwar realities. The eightieth anniversary of the end of World War II serves as a poignant moment for reflection on this topic. 

The exhibition features works from the collections of the Gdańsk Gallery of Photography, the Gdańsk Collection of Contemporary Art, a deposit of the City of Gdańsk in the collection of  NOMUS – New Art Museum, as well as pieces on loan from participating artists.

Conservation: Joanna Didik, Kamila Ślefarska, Cátia Viegas Wesołowska
Inventory: Kalina Krasowska, Małgorzata Pajkert, Mirosław Szwabowicz
Publications: Adam Majewski, Tamara Makhalina
Digitization: Janina Antczak, Konrad Królikowski, Andrzej Leszczyński, Grzegorz Nosorowski
Promotion and communication: Justyna Sobotka, Paulina Szwaj; współpraca: Paweł Burian, Klaudia Ficak, Adam Jurek
Education: Noemi Etush, Nadzieja Grabińska
Collaboration: Gabriela Brdej, Marta Burczyk, Lidia Gringmann, Mariusz Grym, Małgorzata Maciakowska, Piotr Pietraszek, Paweł Powirski, Monika Raszewska Grażyna Skierka, Daniel Starzyński, Anna Wojdat-Zielińska
Audience Caretakers: Magdalena Obrębska, Elżbieta Pobłocka, Anna Schick
Finance Support: Stocznia Centrum Gdańsk