Playing with cinematic genre conventions, Podlaska often employs the comic quality. In one of the comic book depictions, Quentin Tarantino is the protagonist – he is undergoing an artistic crisis and is going on a journey to Asia in search of inspiration. In another work, the flood of blood is almost obscene. Sometimes the artist works on the process of storytelling as such – for instance in the work Lost in Translation (2011), as described by Ewa Toniak in a text for the exhibition catalogue, Lost in Translation, 2011, BWA Art Gallery in Olsztyn:
We don’t know, because each fragment of the story will be told to us by a person coming from a different country. On the face of it, those who narrate given thread of the story take the rule. But the receivers no longer recognize the verbal description coming from them (unless they know Armenian or Japanese); the images created by the artist take complete control over the narration. This picture-book also accommodates for cultural and iconographic traditions of the subsequent creators of the plot.
Inspired by numerous travels and friendships with foreigners who chose Poland as their place, Podlaska examines the lives of emigrants and the difficult process of adaptation to life in a different, frequently hostile cultural and physical space. In the works Straight on, Turn Right Past the Suits (2009) and The Last Sunday (2011) the artist registered the phenomenon of Viet Town and Jarmark Europa – the former being a line of stalls with inexpensive bars serving Asian food, the latter a bazaar with a whole range of cheap goods – which do not exist anymore; neither does the 10th-Anniversary Stadium where these were located. Alphabets (2012-2013), a series of large-scale boards, is the artist’s attempt at showing individual cases of people who exist in two cultures at once and are formed by them in a unique, distinctive way. The boards are divided into smaller windows – inside them, calligraphed letters from various alphabets are visible – sometimes a drawing replaces a photograph. They come from various languages: Georgian, Japanese, French, Chechen, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, and Romani.
During her stays in Germany or Finland, Podlaska scrutinized processes taking place in these countries with the restrained approach of a nineteenth-century ethnographer. The artist registers the customs (There and Back, 2005) and stories (Art for Coal, 2013), and pays particular attention to the situation of non-Christian emigrants during Christmas celebrations in Europe (Merry Christmas, 2013). In Korea or Japan she becomes an equal member of the community – for instance, she publishes a local newspaper, called Happy News — Seoksu Market (2010).
The potential of these works wasn’t fully appreciated by the art critics. This does not come as much of a surprise – the movement in which they can be located has not been properly recognized in Poland. Podlaska is one of the few artists who explored the ethnographic tendency in contemporary art. One of the first attempts which can be seen as movement in that direction was the cycle Courtyard (2006-2010), which Ewa Toniak described in the following way in a catalogue for the 2006 exhibition:
Podlaska follows the postulates of classical thinkers of contemporary cultural anthropology:
Her analyses marginalize both tourism and politics. Why is it so hard to notice how original this aspect of Podlaska’s work is? This could be justified in a way Anna Markowska proposed in her essay Etnograficzny zwrot w sztuce polskiej? (editor’s translation: Ethnographic turn in Polish art?):
One of the way of breaching cultural barriers is feasting. Podlaska used this motif for the first time in 2004, in a performance in Svenska Yrkeshögskolan y Nykarleby, Cooking Project. Ever since, the artist takes up various themes connected with consumption by cooking and provoking others to cook in various places and at various times (Sajgonki in Warsaw Way, 2011; Dyziu, nie baw się jedzeniem / Dyziu, don’t play with food, 2013; Sweet, Bitter, Sour 2014; Feast for Two 2014). The artist doesn’t, however, make the pleasure of eating something obvious. She intentionally makes it hard for the participants of her actions to reach – and eat – their reward: she tightly wraps them in foil, gives the participants chopsticks to eat jelly, or gives the partner of the consumer the right to choose the dish. This comes as a challenge, as the artist often presents in equally beautiful form both foods that are delicious, and those which are disgusting – repulsive, or breaking the usual eating habits. Podlaska is also a co-author of a cookbook (written together with a Vietnamese journalist and dissident Ngo Van Tuong and a cook and photographer Marcin R. Szulżycki) in which the products described serve only as a pretext to comment on history and politics.
One of the most spectacular and non-permanent objects created by the artist is also connected with food. Two parts of that work are known: Sauvity and Dispair (2008) and Chocolates — Tasty & Healthy (2014). The abdomens of dead insects stick out of the chocolates. It is hard to say what about these mini-sculptures is more appealing – the shapes and colours of the insects, tempting and beautiful like gemstones covered in chocolate, or the sweetness of this coating, so well known to all of us? This is another work about differences. In Poland these exclusive chocolates are repulsive, but in Asia tasting a silkworm is more obvious than eating chocolate (which is not popular in the region). It is perhaps an abject 9 in socially constructed perception of food norms – especially cross-cultural ones – where neoliberal racism can easily hide in camouflage. It’s also a bit of a dirty or guilty pleasure immersed in social perception of the pleasure of eating, contrasted with prohibitive standards of beauty and the pressure to have a thin body. This work also brings to mind an oneiric South-American short story in which a mysterious femme fatale feeds the main character with such chocolates. Both the chocolates the insects are filled in and the woman become a dangerous poison and an obsession to the protagonist. The piece is about toxic addictions which can take rule over any of us. We seek for comfort in food, while at the same time exhibiting ourselves to the dangerous results of indulgence. Chocolates never serve to satisfy basic nutritional needs; they are an aberration, licentious food pornography. If Dorota Podlaska is suspected of having romantic inclinations, this works serves as proof of these assumptions. But if romantic tradition indeed is the case here, it is of the sort that we have easily forgotten: perverse and fascinated with the aesthetically unpleasant.
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2014 – A Feast for Two, performance, Monopol Gallery, Warsaw
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2014 – Between Languages, Staniszów Palace, Staniszów
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2013 – Kunst gegen Kohle, Höherveg Ateliers 271, Dusseldorf, Germany
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2013 – A Matter of taste, Austria Culture Forum, Warsaw, Poland
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2012 – Lost in Translation, Akiyoshidai Artists Village, Yamaguchi, Japan
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Free Translation, Labirynth Gallery, Lublin
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2012 – Picture Cinema, Muranow, Praha Cinema, Warsaw (6th Five Flavours Asian Film Festival, Warsaw)
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2011 – Lost in Translation, BWA Gallery of Art, Olsztyn/Plocka Galeria Sztuki, Plock
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2011 – 30 film cuts, Muranow Cinema, Warsaw (5th Five Flavours Asian Film Festival, Warsaw)
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2011 – Places and People, District Museum of Bydgoszcz, Bydgoszcz
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2010 – Happy Newspaper Series – Seoksu Market, SAP Art Project, Anyang, South Korea
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2010 – Courtyard (Wroclaw), Entropia Gallery, Wroclaw
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2009 – Courtyard (Bydgoszcz, Torun), Municipal Gallery BWA – Kantorek Gallery, Bydgoszcz
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2009 – Straight on, Turn Right Past the Suits, Zacheta National Gallery of Art – Kordegarda Gallery, Warsaw
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2005 – There and Back, Le Guern Gallery, Warsaw
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2003 – Hickory Dickory Dock, Entropia Gallery, Wroclaw
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2003 – Head in the Clouds, One Foot on the Ground, Biala Gallery, Lublin
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2003 – To Where?, Water Tower Gallery, Bydgoszcz
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2002 – Dorota’s Library, BWA Gallery, Zielona Gora
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2002 – Earth is Flat, ON Gallery, Poznan
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2002 – Beginning, End and Something in-between, exhibition during the Polish Young Art Festival, Open Studio Gallery, Krakow
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2002 – Hell / Heaven, Witches’ Tower Art Gallery, Slupsk
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2000 – I Cry at the Movies, Centre for Contemporary Art – Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw
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2000 – Happy Birthday, Dorotka, My Archives Gallery, Koszalin
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1996 – More of Little Pictures, Kantorek Gallery, Bydgoszcz
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1995 – Letters, Painting exhibition, Mózg Gallery, Bydgoszcz
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1994 – Flight – Interior design, Water Tower Gallery, Bydgoszcz
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1993 – Textiles and painting, ‘85 Gallery, Bydgoszcz – outdoor installation on the 70th anniversary of the Leon Wyczółkowski District Museum in Bydgoszcz
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1992 – Exhibition of textiles, Trytony Club, Bydgoszcz
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1992 – Exhibition of textiles, Arche Gallery, Museum of Archeology, Gdansk
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1992 – Textiles and painting, Municipal Gallery BWA, Bydgoszcz
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1992 – Enchanted Castle, exhibition of Dorota Podlaska and Stanislaw Stasiulewicz, Kantorek Gallery, Bydgoszcz
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1991 – Voyage. Exhibition of textiles, Sculpture Gallery BWA, Warsaw
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1991 – Voyage. Exhibition of textiles, courtyard of the Voivodeship Conservation Office, Bydgoszcz
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1990 – Sail Power Museum. Exhibition of textiles, Kantorek Gallery, Bydgoszcz
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1989 – Travel. Exhibition of textiles, Author’s Gallery of Jan Kaja and Jacek Soliński, Bydgoszcz
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2016 – New Illustration, Arsenal Gallery, Bialystok
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2016 – Daily and Festive Rituals, Arsenal Gallery, Bialystok
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2015 – Austeria, BWA Sokol, Nowy Sacz
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2015 – Order out of Chaos, Le Guern Gallery, Warsaw
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2015 – Prose of the City, Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw
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2014 – Adoration of Sweetness, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw
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2014 – It a Bitter Taste - Polishness, BWA Gallery, Jelenia Góra
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2014 – Midnight Show, BWA Gallery, Wrocław
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2014 – Let’s Talk about Art and Life, LET programme, CSW Zamek Ujazdowski Warszawa
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2013 – Houses Silver like Tents, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland
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2013 – Frohefest, Polnish Institut, Dusseldorf, Germany
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2013 – The Matter of Taste, Austria Culture Forum, Warsaw, Poland
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2012 – Occupy Art - Open Museum - workshops in Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw
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2011 – Being on the Move. Reflections on Migration, 2011, Litmus Community Space Ansan, South Korea
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2011 – Collection- New Accquisitions, - Open Museum - workshops in Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw
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2011 – It Will be Better and only Better - BWA Gallery of Art, Olsztyn
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2010 – Happy Newspaper Series – Seoksu Market, SAP Art Project 2010, Anyang, South Korea
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2010 – The Truest Love Stories. Allegories of Love in the Contemporary Polish Art, National Museum, Szczecin
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2010 – Big Up 5, Anglet, France
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2009 – The Truest Love Stories. Allegories of Love in the Contemporary Polish Art, District Museum of Bydgoszcz, Bydgoszcz
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2009 – Gallery of Modern Art, District Museum – Red Granary, Bydgoszcz
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2009 – Collections. International Collection of Contemporary Art – Centre for Contemporary Art – Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw
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2008 – Reisefieber, Rondo Art Gallery, Katowice
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2008 – Suavity and Despair, Wozownia Gallery, Torun
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2007 – Come, I'll Tell You a Story, Manhattan Gallery, Lodz
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2006/2007 – 21st Century Painting, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw
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2006 – Love Will Forgive You All, or a Short Exhibition About Love, Gallery DLA ..., Torun
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2006 – In Poland, What Does It Mean?, Centre for Contemporary Art - Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw
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2006 – In Between, Woo Lim Gallery, Soeul (South Korea)
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2006 – Nomads of Nowadays, Laznia Gallery, Gdansk
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2005/2006 – Acquisitions of 2004, District Museum, Bydgoszcz
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2005/2006 – Merry Christmas, Arsenal Gallery, Bialystok
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2005 – Dorota Podlaska & The Randomroutines. Live 2005, Vasa Konsthall, Vasa (Finland)
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2005 – Impulse. Contemporary Art from Poland, Polish Institute, Düsseldorf, Germany
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2005 – Egocentric, Immoral, Outmoded. Contemporary Images of Artists, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw
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2005 – Regional Collection of Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Art – National Museum, Szczecin
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2004 – Les vents de la Drome, Bell Atelier, La Roche sur Grane (France)
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2004 – Bustle II, Avant Garde Art Gallery BWA, Wroclaw/BWA, Zielona Gora
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2003 – Collection part II. Polish Contemporary Art from collections of Leon Wyczółkowski District Museum in Bydgoszcz, Red Granary, Bydgoszcz
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2003 – Supermarket of Art, Artists‘ House Gallery, Warsaw
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2003 – Odra II Oder, Tabakfabrik, Vierraden/2yk Galerie, Kunst Fabrik, Berlin/ Amfilada Gallery, Szczecin
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2003 – A Woman for a Soul, Manhattan Gallery, Lodz
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2003 – GARBa (art workshops), Montescaglioso (Italy)
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2003 – Biennal I Maleri, Vasby Kunsthalle, Vasby (Sweden)
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2003 – Habitat, National Museum, Szczecin
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2002 – Apator Loves Polonia, Gdanska Street, Mill Island, Bydgoszcz
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2002 – GARBa (art workshops), Montescaglioso (Italy)
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2001/2002 – Oikos, 6th edition, Leon Wyczółkowski District Museum of Bydgoszcz, Bydgoszcz
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2001 – Bustle, Avant Garde Art Gallery BWA, Wroclaw
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2001 – Masquerades, Centre for Contemporary Art Inner Spaces, Poznan
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2001 – Apator Loves Polonia, Torun
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2001 – Brain in Frost, or Cold Lettuce, Mozg Gallery, Bydgoszcz
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2001 – The Brain at BWA Zielona Gora, BWA, Zielona Gora
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2001 – Lending a Brain, Club OdNowa, Torun
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2001 – Earth, Air, Heaven, Leon Wyczółkowski District Museum of Bydgoszcz, Bydgoszcz
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2001 6th European Artists Meeting, Borne Sulinowo
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2000 – Construction in Process. This Earth Is a Flower, Lubostron
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2000 – Lagadian Stories, Polish Sculpture Centre, Oronsko
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2000 – Oreste (art workshops), Montescaglioso (Italy)
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1999 –‘Na Piętrze’ Gallery, Toruń
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1998 – Oikos, 4th edition, Leon Wyczółkowski District Museum of Bydgoszcz, Bydgoszcz
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Meitheal / Together, Manorhamilton (Republic of Ireland)
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1998 – 3rd European Artists Meeting, Borne Sulinowo
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1998 – A Short Description. Painting exhibition, TPS Dworek Sierakowskich Gallery, Sopot
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1998 – Pictures for the Well-behaved and the Naughty, ZPAP Okop Gallery, Olsztyn
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1998 – Dorota Podlaska, Podlaska Gallery, Biala Podlaska
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1998 – Women, Men and a Few Moments of Agreement Between Them, Water Tower National Art Gallery, Konin
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1995 – Polish Impression, a competition realized by Poland-Japan Foundation, Warsaw
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1991 – The Diary, Kantorek Gallery, Bydgoszcz
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1990 – Painting, graphic arts, textiles, Kantorek Gallery, Bydgoszcz
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1990 – The Pentagon, the exhibition of visual art of the group Yach-Film, Author‘s Gallery of Jan Kaja and Jacek Soliński, Bydgoszcz
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1989 – Critics about us, BWA, Sopot
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1989 – The Dungeons of Manhattan, Lodz
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1988 – To Every Time Its Own Art. Young Artists National Exhibition Arsenal ‘88’, Hala Gwardii, Warsaw