IAM 2025: Showcasing Polish Culture Across the World
WE WRITE THE YEAR 2025 IN CAPITAL LETTERS — ON THE WORLD MAP AND IN THE CULTURAL CALENDAR. Twelve months, dozens of countries and cities, hundreds of meetings, premieres, exhibitions, and concerts. 2025 was an exceptionally intense time for the presence of Polish culture around the world, and although the scale of our activities defies standard descriptions, we will attempt to summarize this extraordinary year.
IAM in 2025: hundreds of events in the global cultural circulation
Together with partners in Poland and abroad, we delivered projects of unprecedented scope: the international cultural programme of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU, the first-ever bilateral UK/Poland Season 2025, the cultural programme accompanying EXPO 2025 Osaka, and the second part of the Poland–Romania / Romania–Poland Cultural Season 2024/2025.
The year began with the launch of the international cultural programme of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU, whose slogan “Culture Sparks Unity” inspired not only the pursuit of ambitious cultural goals but also the building and deepening of relationships among artists and communities from EU member and accession countries. The programme was co-created primarily by artists of a new generation. On the performing arts scene, choreographies were presented by, among others, Hana Umeda, Alex Baczyński-Jenkins, Wojciech Grudziński, and Paweł Sakowicz. Visual artists such as Marta Nadolle and Julia Woronowicz were equally strongly represented, with their works shown, among other places, at the exhibition “Lushness. Women’s Art of the 21st Century” in Chișinău. Photography was represented by various artists including Ada Zielińska and Karolina Wojtas at the exhibition “European Kinship – Eastern European Perspective” at one of Europe’s most important photography centres, the Capa Center in Budapest. In Brussels, in key spaces for the European community – the buildings of the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament – installations by Alicja Biała and Alicja Patanowska were presented under the shared title “Regeneration”, curated by Aleksandra Kędziorek. An important part of the programme also consisted of projects expressing solidarity with victims of war, such as Marta Górnicka’s performance “Mothers. A Song for Wartime”, the film programme “Solidarity on Screen”, and the “Poems in Shelters” series held in war-torn Ukraine. A platform was also given to artists from countries affected by war and repression who found a safe space for creative expression in Poland, as reflected in the exhibition “Familiar Strangers” in Brussels, curated by Joanna Warsza, and in the Identity Crisis Network debate series held across Eastern Europe.
Shortly thereafter, in March, the largest cultural cooperation programme in the history of Poland and the United Kingdom – UK/Poland Season 2025 – was launched, opening an entirely new chapter in relations between the two countries. The programme, which comprised more than 550 events across film, theatre, visual arts, design, and music, offered a unique opportunity to explore the most compelling phenomena on the artistic scenes of both countries. The Season opened with the KINOTEKA Polish Film Festival in London, and thanks to the Kinoteka on Tour programme, Polish cinema – from classics to new releases – reached independent cinemas across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Polish music was one of the strongest pillars of the Season, as demonstrated by the London edition of the Unsound Festival at the Barbican, featuring performances by Rafael Rogiński and Sinfonietta Cracovia with Mica Levi, among others. Polish artists also appeared at the EFG London Jazz Festival, Huddersfield International Contemporary Music Festival, and the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival. The “Focus on Poland” section was a real triumph at the prestigious Edinburgh International Festival – the oldest and most renowned artistic event in the UK. For the first time in the festival’s history, Polish music resonated so powerfully: from Piotr Anderszewski, the band VOŁOSI, NFM Orchestra Leopoldinum, and the Wrocław Baroque Ensemble, to interpretations of iconic works by Grażyna Bacewicz performed by the award-winning violinist Bomsori Kim, and works by Fryderyk Chopin performed by the outstanding young pianist Ryan Wang. Design and visual arts also made a strong impact with Alicja Patanowska’s installation “Ripple Effect” presented at the V&A Museum – the UK’s largest museum of applied arts, crafts, and design – and the exhibition of contemporary Polish poster art “Polish Posters Now!”. Meanwhile, the exhibition “Radical Hope”, featuring works by contemporary artists from Central Europe from the collection of the Arsenal Gallery in Białystok, added a solidarity perspective to the programme, bringing artists from the Ukrainian and Belarusian diasporas into the dialogue.
This year also saw the World Expo EXPO 2025 in Osaka – the largest and most important cultural and economic event in the world. Poland’s participation in the Expo was accompanied by a cultural programme organised by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute under the slogan Po!land ポ！ランド, which extended beyond the national pavilions to take place in the very heart of the city. Collaboration between Polish and Japanese artists resulted in unique projects. Yuriko Sasaoka created an exhibition dedicated to Maria Skłodowska-Curie. At the Daimaru Shinsaibashi department store, designs by Joanna Hawrot inspired by Japanese court dress were presented. In the city of Ibaraki, works by Róża Litwa and Edyta Hul were shown alongside works by Japanese artists Chie Matsui and Nana Kuromiya. Musical collaboration took the form of the Polish–Japanese Sound Culture festival, featuring artists such as Klawo, Małe Instrumenty, Mitch & Mitch, and Kinga Głyk, as well as a concert tour by Sinfonia Varsovia in the most important concert halls of Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, and Kyoto.
The year 2025 also marked the conclusion of the first-ever bilateral Poland–Romania / Romania–Poland Cultural Season 2024/2025. The double musical finale of the Season took place in Kraków and Bucharest. In Poland, the orchestra of the George Enescu Philharmonic in Bucharest performed, while in Romania a joint concert by Subcarpați and Dagadana took place – a groundbreaking collaboration bringing to life the Season’s motto: “We Share a Common Language”.
What was happening in culture? — dominant trends and forecasts for 2026
Polish curators are increasingly becoming lead curators and directors of major international events. A trend observable for several years – already in 2023 Joanna Warsza co-curated the Autostrada Biennale in Kosovo – became particularly pronounced over the past year. Michał Grzegorzek and the collective Slavs and Tatars served as curators of Survival Kit 2025, Latvia’s contemporary art festival, while Tomasz Kireńczuk took on artistic directorship of Santarcangelo Festival 2025 for the fourth time. In 2026, this tendency will clearly continue: Jakub Gawkowski has joined the curatorial team of the Biennale Matters of Art in Prague, and Anda Rottenberg and Krzysztof Kościuczuk have become members of the curatorial team of Manifesta 16 Ruhr.
There is also a very clear increase in interest in Polish female artists of the 20th century: Magdalena Abakanowicz, Alina Szapocznikow, and Maria Pinińska-Bereś. In 2025, the first Abakanowicz exhibition in 40 years, “La trame de l'existence” (“The Fabric of Existence”), opened at the Musée Bourdelle in Paris. In recent years, major solo exhibitions of the artist have been presented at Tate Modern in London, the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne, and the Henie Onstad Art Center in Oslo. Works by Maria Pinińska-Bereś were shown this year at the Kunstmuseum Den Haag during the artist’s first solo exhibition in the Netherlands, as well as at the Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst in Leipzig. Next year, the artist’s first retrospective exhibition in Switzerland is planned. Works by Alina Szapocznikow were presented at the exhibition “Body Languages” at the Kunstmuseum in Ravensburg in 2025.
Fields that have recently attracted particular interest from European audiences include Polish choreography and performance. Alex Baczyński, Ewa Dziarnowska, and Wojciech Grudziński presented their works at major festivals such as the Santarcangelo Festival, the Stockholm Contemporary Art Festival, and Generation After. Showcase.
In the past year, interdisciplinary projects combining multiple art forms also predominated, as did a turn towards craftsmanship and its inclusion within the sphere of high art. In design, this trend is accompanied by a shift away from the object toward a problem-oriented approach – design thinking rather than object design and seeking solutions to the challenges of contemporary life. Technology is also playing more and more significant role – artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR) – opening new possibilities for artistic creation and for modes of presenting works. Artists and institutions are increasingly addressing themes related to the climate crisis, identity, collective memory, and social relations, while also seeking new forms of audience engagement and social participation.
