IAM 2025: Showcasing Polish Culture Across the World
WE WRITE 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 year for the global presence of Polish culture. Although the scale of our activities defies standard descriptions, we attempt to sum up this extraordinary year.
Together with partners in Poland and abroad, we delivered projects of unprecedented outreach: the international cultural programme of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the first-ever bilateral UK/Poland Season 2025, the cultural programme accompanying EXPO 2025 – presentation of Polish culture at the World Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, and the second part of the Romania-Poland / Poland–Romania Cultural Season 2024/2025.
It is impossible to list all the artists who marked their presence on the international stage in 2025. We have selected a number of figures and events that attracted particular attention and are worth following in the years to come.
DESIGN
Alicja Patanowska
She opened the year with a powerful gesture: the installation “We Are the Weather” at the headquarters of the Council of the European Union in Brussels. The work later travelled internationally and was presented, among others, at the Cheongju Craft Biennale in South Korea. In autumn, her project “The Ripple Effect” was shown at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Aleksandra Kędziorek
Art historian, researcher and curator who has been consistently building her international position. In 2025, she co-created the exhibition “Lares and Penates” at the Polish Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, as well as the project “Regeneration” in the spaces of the Council of the European Union in Brussels. Her co-authored project “The Clothed Home”, following its premiere at the London Design Biennale in 2021, continued its international tour and was presented this year, among others, at the Seoul Museum of Craft Art.
Katarzyna Roj
Curator, Programme Director of BWA Wrocław Galleries of Contemporary Art, and author of texts on material culture. In 2025, she curated the exhibition “A Brief Vacation” at the Polish Pavilion at Triennale Milano 2025. In January 2026, the Żyjnia gallery, initiated by Roj as part of BWA Wrocław, will open in Wrocław.
VISUAL ARTS
Julia Woronowicz
Visual artist and painter, increasingly present on the international art scene. In 2025, her works were shown, among others, in Chișinău at the exhibition “Lushness. Women’s Art in the 21st Century”, curated by Dorota Monkiewicz, as well as at exhibitions in Vienna, Mexico and Munich.
Mikołaj Sobczak
One of the most frequently exhibited Polish artists of the younger generation abroad, recipient of the Paszport POLITYKI Award (Visual Arts, 2021), and represented in permanent collections including Moderna Museet and the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw. In 2025, his solo exhibition “Moon, Sun, Mercury” was presented at Salzburger Kunstverein. His works were also shown at the exhibition “Familiar Strangers” at BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels and “Planetary Peasants” at Art Museum Moritzburg Halle.
Małgorzata Mirga-Tas
Since the exhibition “Re-enchanting the World” at the Polish Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, she has remained at the centre of international attention. In 2025, her monumental work “Sawore, sawore, Sawore” was presented at the Royal Museum of Art and History in Brussels. The artist was also awarded the Annual Award of the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
Jakub Gawkowski
Curator and art historian. Together with Monika Rosińska and Maciej Siuda, he received an award at the London Design Biennale 2025 for the exhibition “Records of Waiting” at the Polish Pavilion. He also curated the exhibition “School of Seeing” by Laila Shawa at Salzburger Kunstverein, which from 6 November has been presented at TRAFO Center for Contemporary Art in Szczecin. In 2026, together with Jara Tomanová and František Fekete, he will co-curate the Matter of Art Biennale in Prague.
ARCHITECTURE
Maciej Siuda
Architect and designer, creator of exhibition spaces and display solutions, collaborating with institutions including the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, the National Museum in Warsaw, the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art and Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. In 2025, he co-created two internationally discussed projects: “Records of Waiting” at the London Design Biennale 2025 and “Lares and Penates” at the Polish Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Ada Zielińska
Artist working with photography, video and installation. Her works were presented, among others, at the exhibition “European Kinship – Eastern European Perspective” at the Capa Center in Budapest, at her solo exhibition “Post Tourism” at La Nombreuse Gallery as part of the Photo Brussels Festival, and at Paris Photo. One of the works shown in Budapest was featured on the cover of the British Journal of Photography.
Zofia Rydet (1911–1997)
International interest in her work continues unabated. In 2025, The Photographer’s Gallery in London opened her solo exhibition “Sociological Record”, on view until 22 February 2026. Fragments of the monumental cycle were also shown at the exhibition “Zofia Rydet: Gathering Time” at Belfast Exposed in Ireland, and her works were presented at Paris Photo 2025.
LITERATURE
Julia Fiedorczuk
Poet and writer, co-founder of the School of Ecopoetics — a workshop programme involving experts from the humanities as well as poets. In 2025, as part of the international cultural programme of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the School of Ecopoetics curated by Fiedorczuk travelled to Serbia and Ukraine. In 2026, the Serbian edition will be continued and expanded to include field trips, urban interventions, film and music presentations, visual arts and ethnography events, and a publication.
FILM
The Year of Wojciech Jerzy Has
The centenary of the director’s birth became an opportunity for an international journey through his cinema — from the United Kingdom, Spain and Germany, through Italy, to Latin America, Japan and the Republic of Korea. Has’s films were screened at leading festivals and prestigious institutions, including the British Film Institute in London, Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna, Bergamo Film Meeting, Filmoteca Española in Madrid, Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York, and Cinematheque Seoul Art Cinema.
Focus on Poland at the Odessa International Film Festival
Ukraine’s most important film event hosted a special programme dedicated to Polish directors in 2025. The programme included works by Olga Chajdas, Wilhelm Sasnal, Tomasz Wolski and Sławomir Fabicki.
THEATRE, DANCE AND PERFORMANCE
Łukasz Twarkowski
Another triumphant year for Łukasz Twarkowski, one of the most recognisable Polish directors on the international theatre scene. In 2025, the premiere of the performance “Oracle”, a co-production of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, took place at Ruhrtriennale, followed by performances at Dailes Theatre in Riga, where the production entered the permanent repertoire. International audiences also saw earlier works by the director: “The Employees” at NYU Skirball Center in New York, Southbank Centre in London and the Seoul Performing Arts Festival, as well as “Rohtko” at Barbican Centre in London and at the Holland Festival.
Focus on Poland at Santarcangelo Festival
As part of one of Europe’s most important performance art festivals, the Polish Focus programme presented works by Hana Umeda, Ewa Dziarnowska, Wojciech Grudziński, Alex Baczyński-Jenkins and the KEM collective.
Hana Umeda
Dancer, performer, choreographer and director of Polish-Jewish-Japanese heritage. Her work explores the cultural oppression of the female body and the ways it is constructed in choreography. Her performance “Rapeflower” was presented in 2025 at Bazaar Festival in Prague, SPRING Festival in Utrecht and Santarcangelo Festival in Italy.
MUSIC
Focus on Poland at Edinburgh International Festival 2025
As part of the UK/Poland Season 2025, the festival presented its first programme in its history devoted entirely to Polish music. Performers included Piotr Anderszewski, VOŁOSI, NFM Orkiestra Leopoldinum, Wrocław Baroque Ensemble, as well as Bomsori Kim performing works by Grażyna Bacewicz and Ryan Wang with a programme of music by Fryderyk Chopin.
Unsound Festival
In 2025, Unsound once again confirmed its leading position in the field of experimental and electronic music. The festival took place in collaboration with Barbican Centre in London, at BOZAR in Brussels, returned to New York, and for the first time was presented in Japan. Performers in Osaka included Antonia Nowacka, Raphael Rogiński and Keiji Haino.
Gramophone Classical Music Award 2025 for the Krasiński Codex project
The album “Krasiński Codex”, based on a medieval manuscript from the National Library of Poland, received the Gramophone Classical Music Award 2025 in the Early Music category. The award was accepted by Agnieszka Budzińska-Bennett and Marc Lewon in London. The three-disc release is one of the outcomes of the “Kras 52” project, produced by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in cooperation with Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne.
Dagadana & Subcarpați — finale of the Poland–Romania Cultural Season 2024/2025
The concert “Dagadana & Subcarpați” brought to a close several months of the Poland–Romania Cultural Season 2024/2025.
