“People walk faster in Warsaw now,” says Michał Kaczyński. It sounds like a throwaway line, but it isn’t. For Kaczyński, co-founder of Raster gallery, that quickened pace — physical, social and economic — is what the city’s contemporary art scene has become over the past decade.
Villa Roz, Warsaw
Alongside the rapid expansion of the market and the emergence of new institutions, the Polish capital has increasingly positioned itself as a dynamic centre shaped by international exchange and growing collector engagement. Art Warsaw, unfolding this year at Villa Róż — a city palace layered with political and architectural history — continues this movement while proposing an alternative to the standardised logic of large-scale art fairs through a more collaborative and site-responsive model.
Preceding the opening of the fair, we spoke with Kaczyński and Joanna Witek-Lipka, longtime director of Warsaw Gallery Weekend, about the shifting rhythm of Warsaw’s art ecosystem and the changing profile of collectors in Poland.
Alongside the rapid expansion of the market and the emergence of new institutions, the Polish capital has increasingly positioned itself as a dynamic centre shaped by international exchange and growing collector engagement.
Sylwia Krasoń: You’ve had a unique vantage point on the Warsaw art scene — from Warsaw Gallery Weekend to initiatives like NADA Villa Warsaw. Looking at the past decade, what is one shift that feels particularly significant — something that might not be immediately visible from the outside?
Joanna Witek-Lipka & Michał Kaczyński: We can easily point to certain changes that have taken place over the past decade: the general development is evident, and it is primarily driven by a strong economy, civilizational progress, and the art market, all of which are powerful forces shaping every aspect of artistic life. In addition to this, there is growing social engagement — perhaps still more “Instagram-driven” than deepened by mature sensibility, but nonetheless widespread and developmental.
The last decade has also been an arena of political turmoil, with its resonances strongly felt in culture: the constantly changing directions of major public institutions, the emergence of new ones, as well as market fluctuations, the pandemic, and other social circumstances that have had a profound impact on art. These phenomena, naturally, are not unique to Warsaw.
But what we have observed particularly clearly here over the past decade is a real acceleration. You can feel it in Warsaw, even if only in the fact that people walk faster on the streets. But that is not all.
SK: How has the growing pace of artistic production and circulation changed the way the Warsaw art scene functions today?
MK: I have a somewhat longer perspective, since our Raster gallery is celebrating its 25th anniversary, and even before it was founded, I was an active participant of the Warsaw art scene. Longevity, slow waves, and the specific dynamics of the art I encountered when I first entered this world were shaped by directors of institutions who, for decades, exhibited the same masters with whom they had grown up and attended school. Meanwhile, the few collectors of the time were retiring, staying faithful to the art from the period when they earned their first money and were able to buy their first significant works.
Obviously, this is a simplification, but the pace was slower, ideas lasted longer, and a relatively small audience gradually became familiar with them, developed a sensitivity to them, and became entrenched in them. Over time, the students of those who taught pretty much the same things as their professors slowly began to form something new, and the world calmly moved on to new themes.
However, when I used to regularly travel to New York over ten years ago for meetings of the committee evaluating gallery applications for the fair, I was initially shocked to hear my fellow jurors often criticise various proposals for being “so last year.” For me, style in art was something that lasted a decade, or perhaps even a quarter of a century — not something that belonged to “last year.” Now I understand it. This rapid pace is a feature of the centre, the strength of a creative polyphony. The waves are short, fast, and turbulent — some ideas are not yet settled, while others are just emerging, and others are already beginning to fade. It is the result of the number of people involved, their education, their access to global art, but also of genuine diversity: in terms of nationality, gender, and ideology.
Recently, all of this has been greatly intensified, and we have become more metropolitan. People walk fast, with purpose and spring in their step, and many works of art are being created in various languages. Intellectuals, collectors, and artists are simultaneously fostering diverse sensibilities, drawing more and more new people into this world. I think this is a beautiful direction.
Villa Róż inside, Warsaw.
SK: How is art being collected in Warsaw today? Who are the collectors shaping the scene — and what has actually changed in their expectations or behaviour in recent years?
JW & MK: For a long time, a group of collector-enthusiasts has been growing in Poland — it was relatively small, often with limited resources, but deeply committed and collecting in close collaboration with galleries and artists. Around the time of the pandemic, there was a rapid increase in the number of collectors, but this was often quite superficial and quantitative in nature. The market quickly “swelled,” then deflated, and now we find ourselves in a more normal, but also more mature situation, including on the economic level.
Contemporary collectors are becoming increasingly professional, and their capabilities, ambitions, and ideas go beyond the mere accumulation of art. They think more and more about broadly understood patronage. They collaborate with institutions, are actively involved in supporting them, and also consider opening their collections to the public or even establishing private institutions. Furthermore, they frequently publish books, set up online platforms or social media initiatives, and co-fund artistic ventures.
This is a relatively recent phenomenon in Poland, but one that is clearly on the rise.
Mega-fairs gathering hundreds of galleries in identical halls in various parts of the world are a concept that is very ruthless toward art, and often monotonous and difficult for audiences to engage with. Excess, repetition, and reducing the experience to its purely economic dimension constitute a major problem for large, global fairs.
SK: Art Warsaw operates in a format that moves between locations, currently unfolding at Villa Róż — a space layered with political and architectural history. What does this site-specific model allow you to do that a traditional fair format cannot?
JW & MK: Our project is an evolution of the former Villa Raster, which was launched exactly 20 years ago and subsequently toured the world for many years, setting a pioneering example of this kind of exchange between galleries: exhibitions curated by galleries and galleries hosting one another at their respective venues. The idea was later taken up by various groups around the world, such as Condo. Today, we are indeed a fair, but the spirit of cooperation between galleries and gallerists creating an event for other gallerists is still very much alive and necessary.
Mega-fairs gathering hundreds of galleries in identical halls in various parts of the world are a concept that is very ruthless toward art, and often monotonous and difficult for audiences to engage with. Excess, repetition, and reducing the experience to its purely economic dimension constitute a major problem for large, global fairs.
For us, it is the uniqueness of the buildings, their character, and the boutique scale of the event that determine the quality of Art Warsaw and the audience’s continuous lively interest. When art meets the history of a place, it creates new contexts, and over the years, galleries have learned to structure their presentations to make the most of this. It is always an interesting experience and a creative challenge for artists, galleries, and the audience.
Villa Roz, Warsaw
VILLA RÓŻ in Warsaw is the latest edition of the international art fair set to take place in a 19 th-century palace at Aleja Róż 1 in Warsaw.
PREVIEW DAYS
VIP Preview: 20 May, 6pm–10pm
Press Preview: 21 May, 12pm–4pm
PUBLIC OPENING HOURS
21 May, 4pm-7pm
22 May, 12pm–7pm
23 May, 12pm–7pm
24 May, 12pm–7pm
