About BGSW

Beata Jaworowska 

Beata Jaworowska – Deputy Director at the Department of Culture of the Marshal’s Office of the Pomeranian Voivodeship, associated with the regional government since its inception. She works with cultural institutions, artistic unions and associations, cultural organizations, and international partners in the field of culture. A graduate of film studies at the University of Łódź and of the MBA program at the Gdańsk School of Banking. Previously affiliated, among others, with the Baltic Sea Cultural Centre (Deputy Director 1993–1997). At the University of Gdańsk she teaches courses on managing artistic institutions. She is a member of advisory boards, including those of the Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre, the Baltic Sea Cultural Centre, the National Museum in Gdańsk, and the Pomeranian Film Foundation.

prof. dr hab. Anna Królikiewicz

Anna Królikiewicz – visual artist and educator at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, where she runs the drawing studio. In 2018 she was awarded the title of Professor by the President of Poland. Her artistic work includes monumental drawings and installations; since 2010 her main medium has been food, as well as writing, including a regular column in USTA magazine. She has held numerous solo exhibitions and participated in group exhibitions in Poland and abroad. For her artistic and pedagogical work she has received many awards, including the 2019 Medal of Merit for Polish Culture. Her work explores the relationship between art and food, which resulted in the co-authorship of the scholarly monograph Międzyjęzyk. Her works have been exhibited internationally, including at Kesif Gallery in Ankara, MNG Nomus in Gdańsk, and the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw.

dr Małgorzata Lebda 

Małgorzata Lebda grew up in a village in the Beskid Mountains. She is the author of seven books of poetry, including the award-winning volumes Matecznik and Sny uckermärkerów (Gdynia Literary Award 2019), Mer de Glace (Wisława Szymborska Award 2022), and Dunaj. Chyłe pola, for which she received the Kościelski Award in 2025. Her books have been translated into Czech, Italian, Serbian, Ukrainian, Slovene, Danish, and Romanian. She holds a doctorate in the humanities and audiovisual arts. She is an essayist, cultural animator, editor, scholar, and lecturer at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. She is also an ultramarathon runner—in September 2021 she ran 1,113 kilometers along the Vistula River as part of the activist-poetic project “Czytanie wody”. Her 2023 novel Łakome is her prose debut; a film adaptation is in progress. The book won the Empik Discovery Award, the Literary Award of Wielkopolska Readers, and was shortlisted for the Angelus Central European Literary Award, the Nike Literary Award, and the Conrad Award.

Joanna Rajkowska

Joanna Rajkowska – visual artist. Winner of numerous awards, including the 2007 Polityka Passport and the 2010 Great Culture Foundation Award. She studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków under Professor Jerzy Nowosielski and art history at the Jagiellonian University. She also studied at SUNY in New York. Rajkowska is best known for her public projects such as Pozdrowienia z Alej Jerozolimskich (the palm tree at Rondo de Gaulle’a in Warsaw), Pasaż Róży in Łódź, and Dotleniacz at Grzybowski Square in Warsaw. In her practice she often uses diverse elements—plants, architecture, geology, sound—creating ecosystem-like works that live and age in public space. Her work engages with the life cycles of matter, deep time, and the erosion of human memory, as in the project Morze Cechsztyńskie realized in Gdańsk at St. John’s Church. Her works have been presented at the Berlin Biennale, Frieze Sculpture in London, the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, and KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin.

dr Marianna Szczygielska 

Marianna Szczygielska – scholar and popularizer of the history of science and its social and cultural dimensions. A graduate of Central European University in Budapest and Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. Author of a doctoral dissertation on zoological gardens. In addition to environmental humanities, she works on ecology and feminist science and technology studies. She is currently employed at the Institute of Ethnography of the Czech Academy of Sciences; previously she was affiliated with the prestigious Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin. She is known for lectures that connect scientific topics with wider public debates, such as “From Ivory to Plastic: An Unnatural History of Materials”. She collaborates with visual artists on interdisciplinary projects and with natural history museums in Wrocław and Kraków, the Museum of Art in Łódź, the National Gallery in Prague, Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Author of numerous publications and a member of the editorial board of Humanimalia Journal.

Katarzyna Tomasiak

Katarzyna Tomasiak – graduate of artistic disciplines. An artist from Słupsk, educator, teacher of art subjects, ceramics instructor, and lecturer at the Pomeranian University. She works in the visual arts and collaborates on artistic actions and cultural education. A distinctive, engaged personality and a hardworking creator. She has realized many group and individual projects. She enjoys inspiring and supporting others in creative work. Author of numerous murals in Słupsk. Originator and organizer of a project promoting poetry on sidewalks. Creator of the “Alchemia Daru” project, for which she received a cultural grant. Three-time recipient of the Mayor of Słupsk’s Award for outstanding achievements in art education. Winner and honoree of two editions of the International Competition “Witkacy pod Strzechy”. Finalist of the ninth edition of the “Nauczyciel Pomorza” competition organized by the Marshal of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. She motivates young people to participate in national and international projects, including “Tożsamość w zagrożeniu”, organized in cooperation with the Museum of Central Pomerania in Słupsk. She has co-created and participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions.

Magdalena Ujma

Magdalena Ujma – art critic and art historian, exhibition curator. In 2021–2023 she served as President of the Polish Section of AICA, and she is currently its Vice President. She studied art history at the Catholic University of Lublin and cultural management at the Ecole de commerce in Dijon. She worked at the Museum of Art in Łódź and at Bunkier Sztuki in Kraków. Since 2018 she has been affiliated with the Tadeusz Kantor Museum in Kraków, and since 2021 also with the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, where she is editor-in-chief of the journal Restart. She has curated dozens of exhibitions, including recent ones dedicated to Maria Stangret, Agata Kus, and Iwona Demko. She is the author of numerous essays and academic articles. Her blog “Krytyk sztuki na skraju załamania nerwowego” is a well-known source of writing on contemporary art and one of the earliest examples of institutional critique reception in Poland.