Mateusz Kowalczyk

Born 1992 in Warsaw/Poland.

Mateusz Kowalczyk is a visual artist, performer, and activist who graduated with a master’s degree in 2020 from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. In 2024, he was admitted to the PhD program at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk/Poland.

Kowalczyk’s artistic practice is deeply rooted in collective activities, particularly in the realm of socially engaged art. He expresses his views through participation in exhibitions and actions supporting pro-democracy and anti-fascist movements, seamlessly transitioning between various media depending on the topic at hand. In recent years, he has developed an artistic language incorporating new technologies, including Virtual Reality experiences, 360-degree video, photogrammetry, site-specific installations, and post-artistic activities.

Kowalczyk’s work has been recognized with several accolades in Poland, including the Second Prize of Hestia’s Artistic Journey (2019), the Ministry of Education Award for Outstanding Students (2019), and the Art Scholarship of the City of Warsaw (2024).

For his residency at Akademie Schloss Solitude, Kowalczyk will focus on themes of liminality and health within sociocultural and ecological contexts. During his stay in Stuttgart, he intends to explore the topic of neurodiversity in relation to scientific research and new technologies, in line with his PhD work. He also plans to begin developing a Virtual Reality experience based on his long-term research into the former German spa town of Bad Oppelsdorf (now Opolno-Zdrój/Poland).