Pracownia Wschodnia is an independent artist collective. We run an artist-run space unique on Warsaw's art map, built on the grassroots initiative of artists working across the visual arts.
Our foundation is two strands of activity. The first is cultural animation: organising events for a wide audience, running a gallery and art courses, publishing. The second is building a workshop base that lets local artists develop their own creative practice.
Pracownia Wschodnia is a non-profit organisation. It would not exist without the commitment and ground-up work of the people who make up the collective. Each of us has our own practice, some of us teach at various universities or work for a range of institutions, but we believe that by joining forces we can achieve more together, both for local culture and in the field of art.
Kasia Rysiak
Biography
Kasia Rysiak – a designer and visual artist. A graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź, Faculty of Textile and Fashion, and of the Faculty of Graphic Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Associated with the Pracownia Wschodnia collective since 2012. In her art projects she works in an interdisciplinary way, addressing social themes. In design she uses untapped niches to create new faces for existing projects. She co-created the clothing brand Mamapiki (2009–2016). In 2018–2019 she ran Pracownia Duży Pokój, where she co-produced the exhibition series "WystaWy" and created and coordinated the educational and artistic project FOTONY. In 2019 she presented the A00 chess set for the centenary of the Bauhaus. Since 2021 she has co-created Foto Pracownia Wschodnia at plac Hallera in Warsaw, where she carries out wide-ranging projects based on analogue photography techniques. She runs darkroom workshops as well as an exhibition series promoting artists who use photography in their artistic practice.