Home / Activity / Artistic and Research Projects

Art(Work) Studio, or how to work creatively in Warsaw in diverse ways

Łucja Staszkiewicz
Miranda Zarzycka
Related entry
Artistic, Collective, Metropolitan. Warsaw art studios as micro-institutions
Every year, over 200 people graduate from art schools in Warsaw. To continue their artistic practice, they need a place to work, however, access to spaces and tools that would enable creative work is limited. New spaces to create art are becoming increasingly rare in Warsaw. That is why we at the Warsaw Observatory of Culture (WOK) are looking for solutions and new ways of thinking about the role of art studios–and artistic work–in the urban environment. In collaboration with the Puszka Foundation, we are running research and mentoring activities aimed at developing new ways of thinking about artists' studios and models of creative work, bringing together stakeholders and providing young artists with the knowledge they need to practice their art without restraints in Warsaw.

The Art(Work) Studio is a two-part project. The first part, scheduled for May and June 2025, is a mentoring programme aimed at recent art graduates (within the last three years) living and working in Warsaw. During these mentoring sessions, with mentors working in different art disciplines, the mentees selected will visit their mentors’ studios and gain hands-on knowledge about how they work and obtain funding for their artistic practice. The open call for mentees will be launched in mid-April.

The second yet equally important component of the project is to research the needs and resources of three stakeholder groups regarding studio rental models. These groups include art professionals, officials from the Property Management Agency (ZGN), and representatives from cultural institutions that provide space for artists to work.

Industry workshops, interviews and service design workshops are planned for the second half of 2025. The research part of the project aims to design new models for managing city-owned art studios. The process will be preceded by a study of the mechanisms at work in other Polish and European cities, the results of which will contribute to the design of new operating models based on proven ways of managing this important resource.

The activities will be summarised in a publication and an interactive map of artistic initiatives, which will be released  in November 2025.

 

Aleksandra Litorowicz

(she/her)
I am the director of the PUSZKA Foundation for Urban Action and Research, a cultural scientist, researcher and curator.
alitorowicz@fundacjapuszka.pl

Share this

Facebook | Twitter | Linkedin
for artists