Opening hours of The Clinic of Collective Representations exhibition
Thursdays and Fridays: 11:00 AM–7:00 PM / free admission

2026 Exhibition projects Public space

exhibition: Clinic of Collective Representations

26.06.2026–25.06.2027

Venue	44 Bujwida Street, Wrocław – former Department of General Chemistry, Wrocław Medical University

Open	Thursdays and Fridays from 11.00 AM to 7.00 PM

Artists	Karolina Balcer, Ewa Dąbkowska, Małgorzata Mycek, Joanna Pawlik, Iza Rutkowska, Anastasia Rydlevskaya, Kuba Stępień, Agnieszka Wolny-Hamkało
Curators	Magdalena Basak, Michał Bieniek

Organiser	Art Transparent
Partner	Wrocław Medical University

Patrons of honor	Rzecznik Praw Dziecka oraz Kuratorium Oświaty we Wrocławiu

Exhibition The Clinic of Collective Representations reflects on the ways communities are built through care, empathy, and mutual understanding. Bringing together diverse human experiences, the featured artworks invite audiences to see the world through the eyes of others and to consider what binds us together across our differences.

Curatorial Tour

Full Curatorial Statement – „The Clinic of Collective Representations”

The Clinic of Collective Representations is an attempt to examine the shared representations that determine our perception of the world and our understanding of others. They are formed through archetypes conveyed by stories, images and symbols in the broadest sense, all of which circulate within culture. Through them, we develop a sense of community and learn to interpret reality. Yet these same archetypes can also reduce others to simplistic categories, reinforce exclusion and perpetuate inequality.

The exhibition takes as its starting point a catalogue of selected social perceptions – and stereotypes – concerning individuals and groups particularly vulnerable to stigmatisation: older people, neurodivergent people, those who have experienced mental health crises, people with disabilities, migrants and members of minority communities. The works explore, among other issues, how deeply ingrained assumptions and conceptual frameworks affect everyday relationships, shape language and institutional practices.

Fairy tales, myths and folk stories provided an important point of reference in developing the exhibition. Over the centuries, these narratives have shaped shared interpretative codes and reinforced particular social roles. The Clinic of Collective Representations approaches them as living structures of meaning, continually revised and transformed. In this way, the exhibition invites reflection on how communities are constituted, whom they include or exclude, and what representations of humanity we wish to pass on to future generations.

Wejście do budynku, fot. Małgorzata Kujda

Workshops for kids

An important part of the project is a free educational programme for children and young people aged 7–18. Developed by the Art Transparent Foundation in collaboration with cultural educators and experts, the workshops use contemporary art as a tool for fostering empathy, building relationships, and strengthening a sense of community. Over the course of a year, more than 6,000 children and young people from Lower Silesia will take part in the programme.

Getting There

Location: 44 Bujwida Street, Wrocław
Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Pwcd8ezGSdzdf8yV7

The exhibition takes place in the former Department of Psychiatry and Neurology at 44 Bujwida Street in Wrocław. After World War II, the building that now houses the gallery was home to the Department of General Chemistry.

The venue is easily accessible by tram. Take lines 9, 12, or 13 and get off at Grunwaldzka stop on Sienkiewicza Street, next to the Kredka and Ołówek student residence halls.

You can also arrive by car, although parking spaces in the area may be limited. The nearest designated accessible parking space (P-20) is located at 5/9 Czerwonego Krzyża Street.

Curatorial Team

Magdalena Basak and Michał Bieniek

Michał Bieniek – artist and curator, President of the Board of the Art Transparent contemporary art foundation, initiator and general curator of the SURVIVAL Art Review, head of the Mieszkanie Gepperta contemporary art gallery. He has studied at the Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław and at the Royal College of Art in London. From 2013 to 2016, he was the Visual Arts Curator for the European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016. In 2011, as part of the European Culture Congress in Wrocław, he ran the Polish edition of Thierry Geoffroy’s Emergency Room format. In 2012, he curated the exhibition and symposium Active Poetry. Art in Public Space in Poland at Shoreditch Town Hall and the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. Curator of the exhibition The Germans Did Not Come at Wrocław Contemporary Museum (2014) and Kunsthaus Dresden (2016), as well as Dispossession, shown as part of the 2015 Venice International Art Biennale. During the ECOC Wrocław 2016, he was responsible for more than a hundred projects – exhibitions, educational activities, interventions in public space and others. He organised the Wrocław presentations of exhibitions such as Eduardo Chillida. Sounds at BWA Wrocław (2016) or Summer Rental. Marx Collection in Wrocław at the Four Domes Pavilion, a branch of the National Museum in Wrocław (also 2016). Curator of the project “Wrocław – Backyard Entrance,” i.e. a series of dozens of large-scale artistic and social interventions in the public space of the city. Two-time recipient of the scholarship of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage (in 2006 and 2010), winner of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship Marshal’s Award in 2004. In 2010, he received the WARTO award from the Gazeta Wyborcza daily. Winner of the “Young Poland” scholarship in 2011 and the “Emotions!” award from Radio Wrocław Kultura (2016). In 2017, the F5 magazine ranked him first among cultural activists changing Wrocław for the better. Winner of the Merito de Wratislavia award, presented by the Mayor of Wrocław in recognition of his meritorious service to the city.

Magdalena Basak is a curator, cultural studies scholar, and strategist specializing in the promotion of cultural and artistic events. She has been associated with the Art Transparent Foundation since 2021. She has also collaborated with institutions including the Tadeusz Różewicz Museum (Ossoliński National Institute), Krupa Art Foundation, Gdańsk City Gallery, and Wrocław University Press. She co-develops the programme of the International Short Storie Festival.

In 2025, together with Katarzyna Młyńczak-Sachs, she curated the exhibition There’s Nothing to Be Afraid Of for IMPACT’25. The exhibition explored how symbolism rooted in fairy tales enables the continuity of meaning across cultural differences and disparities in social capital. That same year, she curated two solo exhibitions at Capitol Musical Theatre in Wrocław: Mine by Emose Uhunmwangho and Look, Look Until You Disappear into Looking by Katarzyna Pietruska.

Also in 2025, she developed the curatorial project Tell Me Poland, which resulted in a repository of short stories documenting everyday life in Poland between 2015 and 2025. The stories were also presented as a series of performative readings. For this project, she invited director Zdenka Pszczołowska and writer Adam Kaczanowski, who was responsible for the selection and editing of the stories.

Magdalena Basak describes everyday life as the central focus of her practice. She believes that careful attention to the ordinary makes it possible to recognize the phenomena that, over time, shape society and culture—or emerge from them.

Rather than seeking answers solely in grand narratives or spectacular events, she is interested in how people navigate their everyday lives: what fosters their sense of safety, trust, and agency, and what undermines it. Since people do not exist in isolation, she is particularly drawn to the relationships we build, the everyday choices we make, and the seemingly ordinary situations that often go unnoticed.

This attentiveness forms the basis of her curatorial and research practice. Observing everyday life guides the books she reads, the phenomena she seeks to understand, and the themes she explores through art. She is interested in tracing the origins of intentions, beliefs, and patterns of behaviour in order to better understand how we collectively shape the reality we inhabit.