About

UpComing. Selected Degree Pieces of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw 2022

On 9–30 December 2022, at the Czapski Palace, Krakowskie Przedmieście 5, we are going to present the next edition of the annual review of young art – UpComing. Selected Degree Pieces of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw 2022. For the fourteenth time, we invite you to the exhibition of degree projects from the past academic year by twenty-six graduates from all nine faculties of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Magdalena Sołtys is the curator and author of the exhibition concept.

What this time, then?

"Permanent surveillance in the mists of absurdity and boredom – and a meeting with Rafał Wojaczek, the legendary cursed poet. The never-ending oppressive competition and pursuit of approval for human subjectivity, or, I always wanted to be a dancer. An invitation to exfil in an impossible situation – and a show of illustrations to an abandoned book. A spectacular chase after darkness with William Blake – and the phenomenon of the Freudian uncanny. Porcelain deer as witnesses of industrial death – postcards from Dachau, a German concentration camp.

A secret taken to the grave in a set design according to Japanese idiom. Discourse on the body and gender. Fear of femininity and the Other – what you are afraid of and disgusted with. The issue of sexual violence. A symbolic and real figure of a mother – Madonna with baby Jesus and a parent with alcohol use disorder. Self-portrait and a facial composite. Pure evil of industrial livestock production. Confessions of a porcupine: after all, every human being has an animal lookalike – and a restored ram from the column from the former garden of Bolesław and Maria Cybis. A waste heap of plants in the era of consumerism’s disrepute – and postmodern design in all its glory.

Designing out-of-this-world furniture and programming artificial intelligence – and creating a program that measures the likelihood of swapping people for lives. A study of translucence. Cryptoart entangled in the
cryptocurrency market – and the art world as a planet. And dramatic immigration – to art. Demonstration and training centre of new digital technologies and a private archive of the research process, or, how to connect B. Latour, J.L. Borges and Babel Gallery, making it a great adventure. The diversity of Polish folklore and its patterns – Bambers, Highlanders, Huculs, Kashubians, Kociewiaks, Księżaks, Kurpie and Sitarzs. Ethnographic monuments created within non-European cultures that have regained their splendour – ritual masks made of papier-mâché. To sit upon: milkman’s stool, stump, bench, the mysterious ryczka… Moreover, a recommendation for a trip to the Haida Gwai archipelago." – sums up Magdalena Sołtys, exhibition curator and author of the exhibition concept.

Easel painting, drawing, illustration, classical sculpture, objects/installations, video art, photography, textiles, printmaking and graphic design, animation, furniture, interior design, exhibition design, set design, conservation objects, dissertation on art… Classical and experimental. Multimedia and intermedia. Figuration, landscape, abstraction. Colour assault and monochrome. The intersection of art and science. Freedom and mathematical precision. Visual and audio-visual culture. Dead seriousness and irony. Reflection and fun. All that must be seen, studied, and puzzles solved! Who did what and why!

Participants of the exhibition UpComing. Selected Degree Pieces of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw 2022

Faculty of Painting:
Bartosz Kowal / Julia Kowalska

Faculty of Sculpture:
Franciszek Promiński / Marta Pruszyńska

Faculty of Graphic Arts:
Viktar Aberamok / Pelka Atys  / Anna Frydrych / Linda Lach / Krzysztof Stępniewski

Faculty of Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art:
Bartłomiej Dzięgiel / Pola Grycewicz / Filip Kamil Łazarczyk

Faculty of Interior Design:
Monika Bartczak / Juliana Lenssinck / Dominika Renusz / Zuzanna Spaltabaka

Faculty of Design:
Zofia Kołątaj / Marlena Norowska / Jan Wilczak

Faculty of Media Art:
Kamil Jakubowski / Lena Pierga / Aleksandra Wiktoria Sołtysiak

Faculty of Stage Design:
Katarzyna Polak / Maciej Strzałkowski-Rajca

Faculty of Management of Visual Culture:
Dobromiła Dobro / Jess Łukawska

From among the artists and designers, whose degree pieces will be shown at the exhibition, prizewinners will be selected in the following categories: ART, DESIGN and SCIENCE. There will also be two other awards: the Student Self-Government Award and the Award of the Museum of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.

Jury UpComing 2022

Prizes in the categories: ART, DESIGN, SCIENCE – Jury:

The Award of the Museum of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw – Jury:

The Student Self-Government Award – Jury:

"For some, UpComing is just the beginning; for others, it is an event deeply embedded in history. (…) Undoubtedly, considering the over 200-year-old tradition of Fine Arts in Warsaw associated with Marcello Bacciarelli and Zygmunt Vogel, we would have to treat UpComing as a relatively new project and merely a glimpse on the axis of time. Nevertheless, youth as an inherent part of the project does not mean lack of maturity. On the contrary – UpComing represents the point of view of the young generation, serving as a kind of mirror that reflects fragments of reality and motifs that are significant to everyone,” – says Prof. Błażej Ostoja Lniski, Rector of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.

What, where, when?

UpComing. Wybrane Dyplomy ASP w Warszawie 2022
Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw | Czapski Palace | Krakowskie Przedmieście 5

opening: 9 December 2022, 6 p.m.
exhibition: 10 – 30 December 2022
Tue – Sun, 12 – 7 p.m.

Free admission

Curator and author of the exhibition concept: Magdalena Sołtys

Sociologist and cultural anthropologist, contemporary anthropologist, cultural animator; graduate of the University of Warsaw. Art critic and editor of art publications. Curator of contemporary art exhibitions and exhibition designer. Involved in many capacities in the organisation of the International Poster Biennale in Warsaw. She is the acting Head of the Inter-Faculty Department of History and Theory of Art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Rector's Advisor for Cultural Policy.

Catalogue design and visual identity of the project: Izabela Manturo / Aneta Zdziech

Izabela Manturo

(born 1995) A graduate of the General School of Fine Arts in Warsaw and the Faculty of Graphic Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Qualified for the list of the best degree pieces in Poland by the editorial office of FONT nie czcionka and became a laureate of the International Review of Graduation Projects. On a daily basis – on a par with graphic art – she practices painting and looks after two cats. IG | @manturo.studio, @manturo.izabela

Aneta Zdziech

(born 1994) artist, designer. She works mainly in the field of editorial graphics and photography. In her works, she relies on the word and its correlation with the image. Her projects are based on research and comprehensive storytelling. A graduate of the Faculty of Graphic Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Qualified for the list of the best degree pieces in Poland by the FONT nie czcionka editorial office and, together with the s4o collective, was honoured with the Polish Graphic Design Award. Socially involved. She has worked with, among others, the Arctic Paper company, the Dwie Siostry publishing house and the Pracownia Wschodnia Association. IG | @halkoanita

Exhibition design: Maciek Choiński

(born 1997) A graduate of the Faculty of Interior Design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and the Faculty of Architecture at České Vysoké Učení Technické in Prague. Winner of the international competition New European Bauhaus Prizes in the Rising Stars under 30 category (Brussels, 2022). Finalist of Design 32 – the Best Degree Pieces of the Academies of Fine Arts in Poland (Katowice, 2022). Scholarships: of the President of the City of Warsaw (2020–2021) and Rector of the Academy of Fine Arts (2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/2021). Author of projects, incl. at the 1st and 2nd International Ephemeral Art Festival in Uniejów (2018, 2019). Winner of Prof. Lech Tomaszewski Prize (Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, 2020). His practice includes interior design, exhibition design and design.

IG | @maciek_choinski, @mocco_studio

Animation project: Aleksiej Cecocho

IG | @cecocho_art

Organizer: Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw | Czapski Palace

Honorary patronage:
The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage
Mayor of the City of Warsaw

The event has been co-funded by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund obtained from subsidies established in games covered by the state monopoly in accordance with Art. 80 section 1 of the Act of 19 November 2009 on gambling games.

Media Sponsors:
TVP KULTURA, SZUM, VOGUE, Radio Dla Ciebie, Radio Kampus, K MAG, Notes Na 6 Tygodni

Event organization and publicity: Office of Publicity and External Relations, Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw