Barbara Kozłowska was a forerunner of performance art in Poland and a participant in the Wrocław avant-garde scene – one of the most vibrant and progressive places on the region’s map at that time. Although she graduated from the Faculty of Ceramics (with a degree in architectural painting), she quickly abandoned traditional media in favour of more ephemeral activities.
Kozłowska was born in Tarnobrzeg (Poland), where her family had been relocated at the outbreak of World War II. The war would leave a deep imprint on Kozłowska’s life. In 1940, her father was murdered in the Dachau concentration camp, and one of her brothers, who was involved in opposition activities, was also imprisoned there. The artist was always mindful of the tragic nature of her early years. Tragedy would continue into the post-war years, when she herself became aware of how an impervious political system could crush the life of an individual. She ended up rebelling against the communist regime, a system that restricted her ability to move freely.
Kozłowska identified travel with freedom. This axiom informed her entire conceptual activity, and translated into the work Border Line (1967–1990), which unfolded over decades. From 1967 onwards, Kozłowska began marking points on the globe, drawing an imaginary line that she intended to run across the world, and all the way to the Moon. This was her way of overcoming the formal and political difficulties of her reality. In order to make the concept more concrete, she visited various places, including the former Yugoslavia, where she made cones out of sand. She would travel further afield to beaches around the world, where she stacked stones or simply documented her presence.
Although Kozłowska explicitly distanced herself from feminism, her works are among the most distinct contributions of Polish art. They offer critical perspectives on gender and art that present us with new possibilities for interpretation today.
Exhibition curator: Marika Kuźmicz
Curator of the Polish performance art program: Agnieszka Chodysz-Foryś
Curators of the Slovenian performance art program: Ana Grobler, Sebastian Krawczyk
Program associates: Iva Kovač, Hana Čeferin
Coordination: Marharyta Rubanenko, Adam Parol
Graphic design: @grupaprojektor
Organizer: Culture and Art Centre in Wroclaw – Cultural Institution of the Government of the Lower Silesian Region
Co-organizers: MGBS, City of Women, The Cultural and Artistic Association Mreža (KUD Mreža), Arton Foundation
Partner: Embassy of the Republic of Poland
This project is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland.
Honorary patronage: Marta Cienkowska – Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Łukasz Paprotny – Chargé d'affaires a.i. of the Republic of Poland to the Republic of Slovenia
Public programme
Saturday, 4 October 2025, 11 am – Guided tour of the exhibition Places for Deliberation
Saturday, 4 October 2025, 12 pm – Anna Kalwajtys: Line. Performance
Thursday, 16 October 2025, 6 pm – Lučka Centa: ved'ma. Performance
Thursday, 23 October 2025, 5 pm – Iva Suhadolnik Gregorin: The Tape. Performance
Thursday, 30 October 2025, 5 pm – Anita Wach: 68 Toasts to a Flawed Heart. Performance
