msn warsaw director joanna mytkowska interview 1234754303

Joanna Mytkowska, director of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (MSN Warsaw) since 2007, discusses the museum's first year in its new building designed by American architect Thomas Phifer. Located in Warsaw's Central Square near the Palace of Culture and Science, the white modernist structure opened last fall with performances and the collection exhibition "The Impermanent." Mytkowska reflects on the museum's controversial reception among local audiences, its role in Poland's political debates—including being mentioned during the recent presidential election campaign—and the institution's long-standing ambivalence toward artistic canons rooted in its close ties to Warsaw's progressive artistic community.

Polish pavilion at Venice Biennale explores fluidity of language with film recorded underwater

Poland's entry for the 2024 Venice Biennale, titled *Liquid Tongues*, is an audio-video installation by artists Bogna Burska and Daniel Kotowski. The work centers on a performance by the Chór w Ruchu (Choir in Motion), which includes both hearing and deaf performers, with much of the content filmed underwater in a Warsaw swimming pool. Presented across two screens in the Polish pavilion, the installation draws inspiration from whale song to explore alternative modes of communication, using spoken English and International Sign. The project builds on a previous performance at Warsaw's Zachęta National Gallery of Art and was developed in close collaboration with curators Ewa Chomicka and Jolanta Woszczenko.

Director of Poland Jewish Museum Reinstated

director of poland jewish museum reinstated 1234774937

Dariusz Stola has been reinstated as the director of the Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, seven years after being forced out by Poland’s former nationalist government. Stola, a respected historian who led the museum from its 2014 opening, was blocked from reappointment in 2019 by the Law and Justice party despite winning a competitive selection process. His return follows the 2023 election of a centrist coalition led by Donald Tusk and a subsequent move by Culture Minister Marta Cienkowska to reverse the previous administration's ideological purges.