„Spójnik. Twórcze Spotkania na Pradze-Północ” [Conjunction. Creative Encounters in Praga-Północ] is a series of interdisciplinary artistic and educational activities located around plac Hallera and carried out by the Pracownia Wschodnia Association in collaboration with Uśpiona Księgarnia.

The overriding aim of Spójnik is to create a space of integration, creative activity and social and cultural dialogue in which both artists and residents of the district will find their place.

Over the six months of the project (April–September), together with Uśpiona Księgarnia we carried out a range of varied artistic and educational activities:

• a series of photography-related (cyanotype and darkroom) and screen printing workshops for 40 people of different ages;

• the group exhibition “Okolica” [Neighbourhood], featuring artists connected with Praga-Północ. The exhibition ran for a month and was enriched by accompanying events such as curator's tours. More information about the exhibition here: Okolica exhibition

• a series of three music events at Uśpiona Księgarnia, each accompanied by a small opening of works by participants of the screen printing workshops.

Our key partners in the project, our friends from Uśpiona Księgarnia, organised three wonderful concerts, featuring: STOP (Stefan Kornacki, Tomasz Januchta, Michał Bryndal), Zuzanna Wrońska SUPERSTAR and Maniucha Bikont.

The activities culminated in events centred on the Plac Hallera Festival: the closing event of the “Okolica” exhibition at the Pracownia Wschodnia Gallery, a window exhibition by the SITO Studio, a live screen printing demonstration and a neighbourhood meal organised at Pracownia Wschodnia.

As part of the project, a dedicated zine, “POST: Okolica”, telling the story of the exhibition, was designed and printed. It contains photographic documentation of the works, descriptions and texts around the exhibition. The publication was printed in 500 copies and is also available as a PDF here:

POST_Okolica_PDF to read on Yumpu

POST_Okolica_PDF to download

All the activities were carried out by the individual Departments of Pracownia Wschodnia: the Pracownia Wschodnia Gallery, the Sito Screen Printing Studio and Foto Pracownia Wschodnia, in collaboration with Uśpiona Księgarnia.

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 About Uśpiona Księgarnia:

Uśpiona Księgarnia is an intimate literary and cultural space in Warsaw's Praga-Północ, combining the functions of a bookshop, a gallery and a meeting place. It specialises in independent publishers and organises art events, concerts and author meetings, supporting local artists and neighbourhood initiatives.

ul. Stalowa 1/4, 03-425 Warsaw (Praga-Północ).

 Księgarnia Uśpiona

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ORGANISERS:

Paulina Mirowska

A visual artist, educator and activist. A graduate of the Faculty of Multimedia Communication at the University of the Arts in Poznań, in Photography and in Graphic Design and Visual Communication. Together with Dr Mariusz Filipowicz she runs the 2nd Photography Studio at the Faculty of Graphic Arts of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. For years she has taken an active part in independent group and individual activities, combining analogue photography, sculpture, printmaking and self-publishing. She has co-authored many installations and community events. At the Pracownia Wschodnia Gallery she is an exhibition curator, technician and organiser of intimate concerts with visuals by invited artists. Together with Łukasz Zembaty and Michał Żabko-Potopowicz she runs the PHU Sitex collective, which carries out unusual screen printing commissions for many galleries and museums. A member of Grupa JEST. She collaborates with many cultural institutions, foundations and galleries, including the Zachęta National Gallery of Art, the National Museum, the Museum of Warsaw, the POLIN Museum, the Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw, the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, the Inna Przestrzeń Foundation, BWA Warszawa, Galeria Leto and Galeria Foksal.

Kasia Rysiak

An artist, craftswoman, designer and cultural animator. 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, mainly using photography and painting. She comments on environmental themes and also tackles questions in the field of abstract art. 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 2020 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 traditional photography workshops as well as an exhibition series promoting artists who use photography in their artistic practice. A member of the HYDROZA collective.

A scholarship holder of the Mobilni w Kulturze 2021, Praga Praca 2022 and KPO 2025 programmes. A participant in the Nikon-NOOR Academy Warsaw 2022 masterclass and the Jastrzębie School of Documentary Photography 2025.

Aneta Zdziech

A visual artist and designer. She specialises in editorial graphic design. A graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, where she received her degree with the Rector's distinction at the Faculty of Graphic Arts. She works in a multidisciplinary way; her projects are grounded in research and complex storytelling. Socially engaged, she likes asking questions. A project coordinator; she was an assistant in the Book and Digital Publication Design Studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. She currently collaborates with the Centre for Community Archives. Co-founder of the travelling printing collective poważnedziewczyny123; at Pracownia Wschodnia, as a member of the SITO studio, she creates and organises events.

Natalia Łajszczak

A graphic designer and educator with an activist streak. A graduate of Polish Philology at the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University and of the Faculty of New Media at the Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology. She works, among other places, at PJATK, where she runs the screen printing studio and classes in publication prototyping.

In her everyday professional practice she designs publications and visual identities and works in animation. She organises and runs screen printing and zine workshops for various cultural institutions.

At Pracownia Wschodnia she is a member of the Screen Printing Studio, where (besides printing) she co-coordinates events and the studio's joint initiatives.

The project was funded by the Office of the City of Warsaw – Praga-Północ District as part of the competition: Cultural education classes 2025.