The Body of Art: Conversation, Exhibition, Performance

This event combined reflection on art with its direct, lived experience. During a meeting with curator Anda Rottenberg and artist Katarzyna Kozyra, participants not only heard about the breakthrough moments in Kozyra’s practice but also witnessed her latest performance.

On January 23, 2025, SWPS University in Warsaw hosted an evening dedicated to one of the most important figures of contemporary Polish art. Katarzyna Kozyra, known for her provocative and groundbreaking works on corporeality and individual freedom, and Anda Rottenberg, a renowned art historian, delivered a performative lecture titled "The Body of Art." In a personal, anecdotal narrative, they revisited key works such as Animal Pyramid and the iconic video installations Bathhouse and Men’s Bathhouse.

The evening culminated in the premiere of the performance The Beginning and the End, featuring a life-sized doll-double of the artist, the same figure that appeared in the Zachęta gallery space in 2023, standing in for Kozyra herself. The event was accompanied by the opening of an exhibition of selected works from the Friends collection, acquired by SWPS University. Once again, Kozyra’s art proved to be a space of encounter, discussion, and boundary-crossing.