Poland, Germany, and Polish–German relations within the broader context of Central Europe will form the central focus of the upcoming 23rd Month of Photography in Krakow. Under the title “Unreal Estate”, from 14 May to 14 June 2026, the program will include three exhibitions in the main programme, alongside a range of accompanying events – discussions, guided tours, meetings and screenings – featuring artists and experts. This year’s programme also features six exhibitions in the ShowOFF Section, aimed at young talents, and an exhibition by students from Polish and German art schools as part of the FRINGE Section.
The Visual Arts Foundation’s initiative continues to develop the festival’s format, in which photography becomes a window through which the world is revealed in its various dimensions: social, political and historical..
As part of this wide-ranging exhibition, the interior of the Bunkier Sztuki Contemporary Art Gallery will bring together artists from Poland and Germany. Artists featured will include: Paweł Bownik, Fungi (Phuong Tran Minh), Karolina Gembara, Eiko Grimberg, Jonas Höschl, Ines Schaber, Arne Schmitt, Paweł Starzec, Andrzej Steinbach and Tytus Szabelski-Różniak.
The personal photographs and poems of the German-Vietnamese artist working under the pseudonym Fungi touch upon issues of integration and growing up in Germany’s multicultural society, whilst Eiko Grimberg’s visual diary of the 2020s poses the question of whether the present moment in history can truly be photographed. To this end, the artist travels, among other places, to the eastern borders of the European Union. Ines Schaber investigates historical narratives, examining the different ways in which the 16th-century Peasants’ War was and is commemorated in the former West and East Germany. Whilst Arwed Messmer examines the very beginnings of the so-called German reunification in the landscape, Tytus Szabelski-Różniak explores how neoliberal capitalism transformed the capitals of Poland and Germany during the period of political transition.
Andrzej Steinbach explores a similar theme through “Hellingerian constellations” of consumer goods, revealing the desires, aspirations and limitations hidden within their relationships. Arne Schmitt drew inspiration from Max Frisch’s famous questionnaires and set out to explore the extent to which our relationships with cities resemble our relationships with people: at the organisers’ invitation, he created a portrait of Krakow understood as a complex network of relationships in which social values are reflected. The photographs by Paweł Starzec and Karolina Gembara, meanwhile, invite us on a visual journey through Lower Silesia – a part of contemporary Poland whose current identity has been shaped by resettlements unprecedented in general history.
Chapter II examines various arrangements of objects, bodies and spaces to explore the tangled relations between Poland and Germany, whilst also touching upon areas of shared experience.
23rd Krakow Photomonth – in a nutshell
The three exhibitions in the main programme will take place at MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow, Contemporary Art Gallery Bunkier Sztuki and the Potocki Palace Gallery. The thematic structure organised into successive “chapters” under the collective title “Unreal Estate”, will include both individual and collective presentations. They will be complemented by events organised in partnership with leading Krakow institutions, festivals and media partners. Once again, an integral part of the biennial programme will be the ShowOFF Section, in which six Krakow galleries will present projects by artists selected through an international competition. The programme will conclude with a group exhibition of works by students from Polish art academies as part of the FRINGE project.
Curator team: Krzysztof Pijarski and Anna Voswinckel
The full events calendar published shortly on the website photomonth.com.
