Marta Krześlak (b. 1994, PL) lives and works between Brussels and Łódź. Working across kinetic installation, site-specific intervention, and video collage, she creates environments where the experience of the moment and the shifting of thoughts are central. Her process involves collecting scraps and found objects, breaking them down into components to be reassembled into new forms. This cycle of reuse defines her practice, as she frequently takes apart her installations to build the next project.

Drawn to transparency, worn surfaces, and faded textures, Krześlak utilizes “low-rank” objects—such as kitschy holiday decor—to build immersive landscapes. Through these layered materials and subtle movement, she explores the friction between the cheap, banal object and the grand, universal stories they tell. Her constructions act as a laboratory for the senses—a space where audiences can trigger their own memories and personal reflections to fill the moment and make the experience their own.

She holds a PhD from the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków and graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź. Her work has been presented at institutions including Zachęta Project Room, Gdańsk City Gallery, Industra Art in Brno, the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, MOCA Hiroshima, and Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź. She has participated in international residency programs at the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York, MeetFactory in Prague, and Kooshk Residency in Tehran.

artist statement SECONDARY ARCHIVE

contact

krzeslakmarta@gmail.com

education

× 2018–2023, PhD degree, Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow, PL, Intermedia
× 2013–2018, Master of Arts, Academy of Fine Arts in Lodz, PL, Painting and Graphic
× 2016–2017 (two semesters), Warsaw Academy of Art, PL, New Media Art
× 2017 (one semester), École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, FR, Art

residencies

× Jul–Aug 2022, International Studio and Curatorial Program, New York City, USA
× Oct–Nov 2019, Meet Factory, Prague, CZ
× Dec 2018, Kooshk Residency, Teheran, IR
× Apr 2015, Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Dresden, DE

awards and grants

× 2026, Young Poland, Ministry of Culture and National Heritage
× 2025, National Recovery Plan for Culture Scholarship

× 2020–2023, Ministry of Science and Higher Education Scholarship
× 2020, Project Room Award, nomination, Centre of Contemporary Art in Warsaw
× 2019, I-Portunus, Goethe Institut
× 2018, First Prize, Grey Foundation Competition, Grey House Gallery, Cracow
× 2018, Grand Prix, Młode Wilki Festival, Szczecin

public collections

× Museum of Art in Lodz, purchased in 2020

solo shows (selected)

× 2026, gaze, ASAR Anderlecht, Brussels, BE, 24 – 27 Apr

× 2024, net, Foyer Arlekin Theatre, Lodz, PL, 14 Sep–30 Dec
× 2022, View from afar, Hestia Artistic Journey Pavilion, Warsaw, PL, 15 Jan–30 Mar
× 2022, Moving Things, Zachęta National Gallery Project Room, Warsaw, PL, 10 Dec–20 Feb
× 2021, Home on a windy night, Pracownia Portretu, Lodz, PL, 13 Nov–20 Dec
× 2021, Composition on wind and sun, Wolskie Centrum Kultury, Warsaw, PL, 14 Jun–14 Oct
× 2021, Ajaaoeho, Grey House Foundation, Cracow, PL, 18.02–16.05
× 2020, Aurora, Spectra Art Space, Warsaw, PL, 18.09–9.10
× 2019, Stars cry, Gdansk City Gallery, Gdansk, PL, 1.01–30.09
× 2019, Lagoon, Groszowe Sprawy & Biennale Warszawa, Warsaw, PL, 1–2.06
× 2019, Garage sketches, Temporary Parapet, Bratislava, SK, 24.05–14.06
× 2019, Party at the Artist’s Club, Centre of Contemporary Art – Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, PL, 28.03–5.05
× 2019, Fairy Tales, Industra Art Space, Brno, CZ, 6.03–4.04
× 2018, Spatial composition, video program, City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima, JP, 4.12–31.04
× 2018, Ruins of my dreams, Czynna Gallery, Lodz, PL, 28.06
× 2018, Nigdy nie widziałam takich plaż, Re:Medium Lodz City Gallery, Lodz, PL, 14.06–14.07
× 2017, Coral reef, Freedom Square, Lodz, PL, 4.12– 4.03
× 2017, Imagine that its now, Pracownia Duży Pokój, Warsaw, PL, 23.02

group shows (selected)

× 2026, How to talk to weather demons, Pragovka Gallery, Prague, CZ, 23 Jan–30 Apr

× 2025, Ball on a Squere, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, PL, 13 Sep
× 2025, Urszula Broll. Landscapes of a distant down, Rondo Sztuki, Katowice, PL, 26 Sep–10 Jan
× 2025, They sold us a dream, then took away our sleep, Fondazione Pastificio Cerere, Rome, IT, 1 Oct–22 Nov
× 2025, Chiaroscuro, Dětská galerie Lapidárium, Broumov, CZ, 18 Apr–7 Jun
× 2024, Radical pleasures, Italian Cultural Institute, Warsaw, PL, 29 Nov–8 Jan
× 2024, Festiwal nad rzeką, Warsztaty Kultury, Lubin, PL, 1 Jun–30 Oct
× 2024, Kto to wymyślił, Kamienica Hilarego Majewskiego, Lodz, PL, 15 Feb–10 Mar
× 2023, Czułe punkty, Narracje Festival, Gdansk, PL, 17–18 Nov
× 2023, Second skin: Encounters, KODE Lysverket, Bergen, NO, 14 Oct–26 Nov
× 2023, Second skin, Central Museum of Textiles, Lodz, PL, 19 May–3 Sep
× 2023, 499 sekund, Art Walk, Warsaw, PL, 8 Dec–31 Mar
× 2022, Time out of joint, Museum of Art, Lodz, PL, 3 Jun–18 Sep
× 2022, Secondary Archive, The National Gallery, Manifesta 14, Prishtina, XK, 22 Jul–30 Oct
× 2022, Pyramide de Ponzi, Galerie Valerie Delaunay, Paris, FR, 30 Jun–23 Jul
× 2020, Time and Foam, Cracow Art Week, Cracow, PL, 21 Oct–26 Nov
× 2020, Something in common, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, PL, 2 Oct–13 Jan
× 2020, Wasteland, Survival Art Festival, Wroclaw, PL, 10–13 Sep
× 2019, Honey we built Chernobyl or: a cigar-shaped shelter, Henryk Gallery & Unsound Festival, Cracow, PL, 9 Oct–27 Oct
× 2019, From The Belly Of A Circle Comes Out A Square, Matca Art Space, Kluż-Napoka, RO, 29 Mar–13 Apr
× 2019, Obrzeża i bocznice, 18A Gallery, Warsaw, PL, 24–31 Jan
× 2019, Czekając aż pstryknie, A- Kumulacje Kaliskie Biennale Sztuki, Kalisz, PL, 7–28 Feb
× 2018, Gradient, Grey House Fundation, Cracow, PL, 8 Dec–5 Jan
× 2018, Best Graduation Diploma, Gdansk, PL, 4 Aug–9 Sep
× 2018, M3, Wschodnia Gallery, Lodz, PL, 10–24 Jun
× 2018, A la Flamande 3- Landscape, Propaganda Gallery, Warsaw, PL, 24 Mar–14 Apr
× 2017, Changes in perspective – The 16th Hestia Artistic Journey, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, PL, 27 Jun–9 Jul
× 2017, 18 May–11 Jun, Biennale WRO 2017 Draft Systems, Centrum Sztuki Wro, Wroclaw, PL, 18 May–11 Jun
× 2016, (Nie)obecność, Labirynt Gallery, Lublin, PL, 18 Nov–18 Dec
× 2016, Second hand, Wschodnia Gallery, Lodz, PL, 28 May–5 Jun
× 2015, The war is over, not for everyone, Institute of National Remembrance, Warsaw, PL, 4– 31 May
× 2015, Drezno/Łódź Schools of Art, HfBK, Dresden, DE, 16 Apr–17 May

press

Interview, March 2019, PL https://culture.pl/pl/artykul/marta-krzeslak-caly-wszechswiat-da-sie-zrobic-z-papieru-i-wikolu-wywiad

July 2018, PL https://miejmiejsce.com/sztuka/nie-odnajdzie-wiecej-was-ta-sama-chwila

Interview, March 2020, PL https://miejmiejsce.com/sztuka/niech-zyje-bal