EXHIBITION: KINGA NOWAK. RZAR MI TROPIKUW

In autumn 2026, Bunkier Sztuki will present a solo exhibition by Kinga Nowak, one of the most compelling figures in contemporary Polish painting and sculpture. Rzar mi tropikuw, curated by Anna Batko, offers a critical reflection on the entanglements of modernity, colonialism, and the enduring fascination with the “exotic”, while simultaneously proposing a decolonial re-reading of European visual culture.

The exhibition takes Kinga Nowak’s paintings and sculptures as its point of departure, placing them in dialogue with examples of folk art, objects historically classified as “primitive” archival materials, and works by distinguished avant-garde artists. Among the featured works will be pieces by Władysław Hasior, Edward Sutor, and Leokadia Płonkowa.

One of the exhibition’s central elements will be the monumental textile work Curtain after Jean Genet, inspired by The Blacks (fr. Les Nègres), a play by the French writer Jean Genet. The work addresses issues of social roles, mechanisms of power, the gaze, and representation, raising questions of the subjectivity of those who have historically been depicted through the perspective of dominant cultures.

The exhibition title references both the Futurist pamphlet Subtropical Evening Organised by White Negroes (Wieczór podtropikalny urządzony przez białych Murzynów) and Claude Lévi-Strauss’s celebrated work Tristes Tropiques. The project brings together contemporary art, history, ethnography, and a critical reflection on the modes of construction of cultural otherness.

Kinga Nowak graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, where she has led the Painting Studio since 2023. She also studied at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Her works are held in major Polish museum collections, and her paintings were included in the prestigious publication 100 Painters of Tomorrow.

The exhibition will be accompanied by the premiere publication “Painter in the Museum: Kinga Nowak”, the first comprehensive study devoted to the artist’s practice. Conceived as an authorial compendium, the catalogue will document selected exhibitions alongside paintings, sculptures, and installations from recent years. Combining the qualities of an artist’s monograph, archival publication, and collection of critical essays, the volume will feature reproductions of artworks, exhibition documentation, newly commissioned texts, an interview with the artist, and a detailed chronology of her career. Extensive inserts and fold-out sections dedicated to exhibition documentation will form an integral part of the publication’s visual narrative. The graphic design of the catalogue is by Michał Batko. The publication is produced through a collaboration between Bunkier Sztuki, the Centre of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu, and Aspekty Gallery.

Curator: Ania Batko

Coordinator: Renata Zawartka
Exhibition design and visual identity: Damian Nowak