Alicja Patanowska

Visual artist, designer, potter. Combining craft and art with design, her practice is rooted in a profound respect for the material and for the creative process.

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Alicja Patanowska, photo Kuba Celej

Alicja Patanowska was born on 3 October 1983 in Starogard Gdański. She graduated in 2011 from the Faculty of Ceramics and Glass at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław. She furthered her education at the Royal College of Art in London (2012–14). In 2022, she defended her PhD degree at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław.

In her 2022 doctoral thesis, Patanowska explored embodied knowledge and the contemporary contexts of craft, pointing to its potential as a tool for reflecting on consumption. She believes that craftsmanship, through its physicality and connection to materials, can help restore balance in a world dominated by overproduction and waste. The culmination of her academic work was the exhibition Ciało prowadzi mnie krętą drogą (The Body Leads Me Down a Winding Path, 2022, BWA Galeria Dizajn, Wrocław), which shifted the focus from finished objects to the creative process. During the exhibition, the artist transformed the gallery into her studio, continuing to work on her pieces. This approach emphasised the physical nature of creation – body movement, intuition and gesture – as recorded in clay, serving as a tangible trace of emotions and experiences.

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Alicja Patanowska, "Ciało prowadzi mnie krętą drogą", photo Grzegorz Stadnik

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For Alicja Patanowska, clay, as an ‘archive of geological changes’ and a cultural symbol, serves as the perfect medium to convey narratives, both personal and collective. For her, the creative process is also a way to express the deep relationship between man, matter and nature.

The social role of design

One of Patanowska’s earliest projects was the solo exhibition Take Art/Weź Sztukę at the BWA Awangarda Gallery in Wrocław (2010), where she combined design with the democratisation of art. The artist challenged traditional perceptions of art galleries as passive viewing spaces by presenting works that blur the lines between sculpture and design. Patanowska prepared 1,000 signed and numbered ceramic forms, which were offered to visitors who wished to choose one and take it home. This interactive gesture criticised the elitism of art and emphasised the audience’s role as co-creators of the work. The response was overwhelming, with all the forms claimed in under two hours, far exceeding the planned three-day duration of the event.

As a student at the Royal College of Art in London, Patanowska created Plantacja (Plantation, 2014), an installation inspired by her observations of London nightlife. While walking along the streets of the metropolis in the early morning hours, she collected discarded glass, bottles and drinking glasses and repurposed them as vessels for hydroponic plant cultivation, incorporating handcrafted porcelain components into the design. The transparency of the glass and the soilless hydroponic system revealed the entire growth process of the plants, from their roots to their above-ground parts. The installation attracted significant interest and was subsequently developed as a commercial product. It has become a symbol of reflection on overconsumption and the reuse of resources. In 2024, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the project, Plantation was reintroduced to London as part of a programme promoting green urban planning.

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‘Of Mice and Men’ by Alicja Patanowska, photo: Alicja Kielan

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Patanowska further explored themes of ecology and interspecies understanding in the 2016 exhibition Of Mice and Men (BWA Galeria SIC!, Wrocław, 2016), highlighting the chaos of consumerism in contemporary society. The title referenced John Steinbeck’s novel, while the works were inspired by the Dutch painting tradition and the Vanitas motif. The work, which incorporates production waste from human activity, food leftovers, fruit, as well as skulls and other props symbolising transience, addresses contemporary issues such as food waste and anthropocentric narratives.

In 2017, Patanowska initiated the Zoepolis cycle (BWA Galeria Dizajn, Wrocław, 2017), within the framework of which she presented a number of works examining interspecies relationships. One piece from this series, Kompostownik (The Compost Bin), speculated on integrating the human body into the natural life cycle through composting. The artist was posing questions about how human bodies might become a source of life for the soil and other organisms, emphasising the idea of complete resource recycling. Another piece from the Zoepolis series, Woda (Water, Galeria Nośna, Kraków, 2019), portrayed water as a vital element connecting all forms of life.

Man & environmental protection

Fontanna 1. Historia o wielu splotach (Fountain 1: A Story of Many Twists, BWA Galeria SIC!, Wrocław, 2024) narrates a tale of climate catastrophe, using the water cycle as a central metaphor. This ceramic fountain incorporates symbolic elements such as ears of wheat, petroleum, mice and palm trees illustrating the consequences of human activity for nature. The installation forces viewers to reflect on the changes occurring in the context of life-sustaining water.

Another exploration of water, Przestrzeń wyobraźni dźwiękowej (Space of Sound Imagination, Survival Art Review, Wrocław, 2020), draws inspiration from the Japanese tradition of suikinkutsu. In this installation, ceramic bowls with intricate shapes function as resonators, while the sounds of falling drops of water and the acoustics of the pump hall create an acoustic environment reflecting the harmony between humanity and nature. This work received the Audience Award at the 18th Survival Art Review.

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‘Fontanna 1. Historia o wielu splotach’ by Alicja Patanowska, photo: Alicja Kielan / courtesy of BWA Wrocław

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In 2024, to commemorate the Polish presidency of the Council of the European Union, Patanowska created We Are the Weather (Justus Lipsius, Belgium, 2024). In this installation, cobalt ‘water catchers’, fountains and ceramic tiles combine to form a narrative about water as a resource requiring protection. The project highlights the interconnectedness of species and underscores water’s symbolic role as a unifying element for all living organisms. At the same time, the work addresses pressing global challenges linked to climate change, urging viewers to contemplate humanity’s responsibility in protecting the environment.

Art & technology

An important social issue explored in Alicja Patanowska’s work is the fight against fake news. For Patanowska, technology serves as a tool to examine processes that are at first glance invisible, whether in the digital or in the physical realm. In collaboration with scientist Marcin Sawiński, she created a kinetic sculpture titled Fake news. Archiwum (Fake News: Archive). This industrial printer, stripped of its casing, prints corrections to fake news discovered online by a specially programmed computer, all in real time before the viewer’s eyes. Just as clay retains the gestures of the creator, technology captures and transforms data, revealing their hidden dynamics. In both cases, the artist emphasises the importance of the process and invites the audience to engage in deeper reflection. This work is part of a trans-regional project implemented in Poland, Ukraine and Armenia aimed at fostering media literacy and a critical approach to disinformation and fake news.

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‘Przestrzeń Wyobraźni Dźwiękowej’ by Alicja Patanowska, photo: Grzegorz Stadnik

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Patanowska has earned numerous awards and distinctions in Poland and internationally. These include the Artifake: Art Invades Fakes Award (2021), distinction in the Must Have! Najlepsze polskie wdrożenia (Best Polish Implementations) plebiscite at the Łódź Design Festival (2016 and 2021), the Audience Award at the 18th Survival Art Review in Wrocław, the FRANZ Rising Star Project Award (2019), the Mazda Design Award (2018), the Gazeta Wyborcza WARTO Award (2017) and the Highly Commended Award at the British Glass Biennale (2015), among others. Alicja Patanowska has showcased her works in over 100 exhibitions both in Poland and abroad, including in Great Britain, Denmark, Ireland, Korea, Germany, Azerbaijan, Sweden, Finland, China and Brazil. In 2019, she participated in the two-month FRANZ Rising Star Project residency in Jingdezhen, China. In 2022, she took part in the two-month International Design Expedition residency programme in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Her works can be found in the collections of the Glass Museum in Shanghai (China), the National Museum in Kraków, the Regional Museum in Stalowa Wola, and the art collection of Hotel Europejski in Warsaw. Patanowska’s design pieces are also available for purchase at the Tate Modern in London, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Shanghai Museum of Glass and the Manchester Art Museum.

Selected solo exhibitions:

2022 – ‘My Body Leads Me Down a Winding Path’, BWA Galeria Dizajn, Wrocław
2022 – ‘The Auditory Imagination Space’, Teatr Łaźnia Nowa, Kraków
2016 – ‘Of Mice and Men’, BWA Galeria SIC!, Wrocław

Selected group exhibitions:

2024 – ‘How to Talk to the Weather Demons: An Exhibition on Water, Weather, and Climate’, BWA Galeria SIC!, Wrocław
2024 – European Ceramic Context. Bornholm Triennials for Contemporary European Glass and Ceramics, Bornholm
2024 – 15th Westerwald Prize Ceramics of Europe, Höhr-Grenzhausen, Germany
2023 – ‘Looking Through Objects’, NOMUS, National Museum in Gdańsk, Gdańsk 2022; ‘From the oven’, International Design Expedition, Embassy of France, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2022 – ‘Looking Through Objects’, Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design in Tallinn, Estonia
2020 – ‘Map and Territory’, Philosophical Symposium, Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, Wrocław
2019 – ‘Zoepolis: Design for Weeds and Pests’, Nośna Gallery, Kraków
2019 – ‘Emerging Lines # 2’, Berlin, Wrocław, Riga, Studierenden Werk Berlin Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2018 – ‘The Other Side of Things: Polish Design after 1989’, National Museum in Kraków, Kraków

2017 – ‘Roundabout Baltic’, Design Museum Riga, Latvia

2016 – ‘Prospero’s Charm: Art to Enchant’, Joanna Bird Gallery, London, UK
2016 – ‘Design Dialogue: Poland – Brazil’, Museum of Recent Art in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2015 – ‘Duality of Function’, Galway Arts Centre, Ireland
2015 – ‘Synergy’, Peter Layton London Glassblowing Gallery, London, UK
2015 – ‘Polish Table’, Expo 2015, Polish Pavilion, Milan, Italy
2015 – ‘From Waste to Art’, QGallery, Baku, Azerbaijan
2015 – ‘Keep it Glossy II’, Shanghai Museum of Glass, Shanghai, China
2015 – ‘59° Biennale Premio Faenza’, International Museum of Ceramics, Faenza, Italy

polish design

contemporary art

polish art after 2000

female artist

pottery