Art Stations Foundation by Grażyna Kulczyk is the signature project of this art collector and businesswoman, well-known for her promotion of a wide variety of artistic and cultural activity.
The Art Stations Foundation by Grażyna Kulczyk was established in 2004 as the Kulczyk Foundation. The goal of the Founder, Grażyna Kulczyk, was to support the dynamic development of culture and art. The mission of popularizing culture and art, in addition to facilitating and increasing their availability to the public, was consistently accomplished through the Foundation’s various exhibition and performance projects and grants. In 2008, in connection with plans to build a museum, the Foundation changed its name to the Art Stations Foundation. From the beginning of its existence, it has been continuously operating to implement its artistic and social mission.
The Foundation was located in the heart of the Stary Browar Art & Business Centre, one of the most renowned commercial and cultural spots in Europe. The complex, a collection of nineteenth-century industrial buildings restored by Grażyna Kulczyk and declared the best shopping mall in the world in 2008, provided space for the harmonious coexistence of commercial and cultural activity through the innovative 50/50 formula. The philosophy of 50% art and 50% business provided the basis for the conscious building of an institutional program to promote knowledge about art and culture within a commercial setting, and for creating a common space in the Stary Browar for bringing these together.
Art Stations Foundation by Grażyna Kulczyk carried out two major programmes: one focused on exhibitions, the other on contemporary choreography. The major focus of the exhibition program was innovative juxtapositions of Polish and international contemporary art which illustrated the newest artistic trends, as well as those in esthetic and theoretic exploration. Many of the exhibitions drew their initial impulse and inspiration from Grazyna Kulczyk’s private Collection, as well as presented the most interesting artists of contemporary world art, either in solo and group exhibitions.The foundation’s activities were open to bold new curatorial strategies, inviting seminal curators from Polish and foreign institutions to contribute to exhibition projects thus providing fresh, original perspectives for viewing the collection and the newest history of art in its various contexts. Each exhibition was accompanied by an extensive educational program consisting of guided tours, lectures and film screenings aimed at all age groups – including various workshops for small children, schools, university students as well as meetings for adult art lovers and seniors.
Performance programme – Old Brewery New Dance – pursued a multi-level strategy of promoting, supporting the development and dissemination of knowledge in the field of contemporary choreography. Built of performances, productions, residence programmes, and educational and research projects, its primary mission was to popularize contemporary choreography and to support the professional development of young Polish artists. The ultimate aim of the programme was to create in Poznań first Polish regular dance space with an ongoing agenda of presenting avant-garde trends in dance and of creating works of contemporary choreography. One important task for the programme was to inspire ( both in artists and the public) a deeper awareness of how rich the phenomenon of contemporary choreography was. With this in mind the program has been raising and developing a discourse around the art of making dances and sparking a previously absent theoretical reflection. All in order to provide the groundwork for the art of choreography in Poland to move dynamically ahead.
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photo: Beata Wielgosz
Grażyna Kulczyk is a promoter of culture and a contemporary art collector. While still a law student she began to build her private collection, which was initially focused on Polish art. As the collection expanded, it became increasingly international in composition, providing Polish audiences with new opportunities to come face-to-face with works by some of the world’s most acclaimed artists.
For Grażyna Kulczyk collecting art is more than merely a private pleasure, it is also a public service mission. Her desire to share her collection with a wider audience gave rise to the Kulczyk Foundation, which grew into the Art Stations Foundation by Grazyna Kulczyk with the art gallery located in the heart of Stary Browar.
Stary Browar is Grażyna Kulczyk’s largest project in Poland which introduced both a dynamic commercial space and new cultural activity into the city center. It resulted from the revitalization and expansion of the historic, nineteenth-century buildings of the Hugger Brewery, and from the outset was intended as a site for artistic activity. Today, Stary Browar is a place for growing new brands in Poland, and a site for exhibitions, a performance program and educational projects involving thousands of people each year. This urban complex has received numerous Polish and international awards.
The Art Stations Foundation by Grazyna Kulczyk was committed to the goal of continuously enriching the artistic life in the heart of the Stary Browar, arranging encounters and providing the public with opportunities for contact with the work of many prominent Polish and international artists. The realization of these plans includes bringing art to the public in commercial spaces, examples of which include the artworks from the GK Collection exhibited within Stary Browar public spaces as well as in being part of the whole complex the Blow Up Hall hotel, and dance performances in the park and outside the gallery building.
Since 2007, every autumn Stary Browar has held the Art & Fashion Festival – an innovative initiative by Grazyna Kulczyk featuring an Open University formula that combines the art, creativity and handicraft displayed by the creations of today’s fashion industry and students of fashion design. The festival’s educational program included workshops for young artists and fashion theorists (in areas such as Fashion Design, Fashion Drawing, Writing Fashion, Jewelry Design, Fashion Photography, and Fashion Video), as well as numerous (and open to the general public) lectures and meetings with artists and designers.
Grazyna Kulczyk is known for her bold and original projects, as well as for her commitment and utmost consistency in carrying them out. She is not afraid to take risky decisions or to experiment, which are valuable qualities in a collector of contemporary art. Her involvement and promotion of culture and art reach far beyond Poland’s borders, as evidenced by her support of the Kunsthalle Zurich and memberships in the Tate Modern Russian and Eastern Europe Acquisition Committee as well as in MoMA’s Modern Women Fund Committee. All Grazyna Kulczyk’s investments combine business and art in a creative, yet highly rational way. “50 50” – this simple equation describes the way in which her modern style of doing business and her social involvement intersect with the promotion of culture.
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Board of the Foundation
Grażyna Kulczyk (2003-2021)
Jan Kulczyk (2003-2017)
Jaromir Jedliński (2003-2004)
Dominika Kulczyk (2006-2017)
Magdalena Sobaszkiewicz (2017-2021)
Maciej Chorążak (2017-2021)
President of the Board
Andrzej Jarocha (2003-2004)
Lechosław Olszewski (2004)
Agnieszka Sumelka Miśkowiak (2004-2010)
Paulina Kolczyńska (2010-2011)
Justyna Buśko (2011-2016)
Maciej Struski Member of the Board (2016-2021) liquidator (since 2021)
Program council of the foundation
Prof. Andrzej Banachowicz 2004-2007
Prof. Jan Berdyszak 2004-2007
Wojciech Makowiecki 2004-2007
Prof. Piotr Piotrowski 2004-2006
Dr. Justyna Ryczek 2005-2007
collection’s manager
Agata Mazur (2007, 2009-2010)
Tamara Sztyma-Knasiecka (2008)
Marta Kabsch (2011-2015)
Marta Królikowska (2015-2018)
exhibition programme office
Agata Mazur office assistant, educational program curator (2005-2006), exhibition program coordinator (2009)
Marika Zamojska office assistant (2007-2009)
Małgorzata Badorek office assistant / production coordinator (2009-2010)
Ewa Stawowa production coordinator (2010)
Małgorzata Szyk production coordinator (2011)
Kamila Woynicz production coordinator (2012-2016)
Ewa Dziewolska-Kawka office and promotion coordinator (2010-2016)
Roman Soroko project realization coordinator (2004-2009)
Karol Kamiński project realization coordinator (2009-2010)
Piotr Witkoś project realization coordinator (2010-2011)
Grzegorz Ciamciach project realization coordinator (2012)
Kacper Czyczyło project realization coordinator / graphic designer (2013-2014)
Michał Ciesielski project realization coordinator / graphic designer (2015-2016)
performative programme office
Joanna Leśnierowska curator
Łukasz Kędzierski technical manager (2008-2021)
Natalia Draganik production (2007-2009)
Agata Wittchen-Barełkowska production (2009-2011)
Mikołaj Maciejewski production (2012-2019), foundation’s plenipotent (2016-2019)
Marta Lewandowska-Harasimowicz project coordinator (2012-2021), foundation’s plenipotent (2019-2021)
Agata Kołacz promotion (2013-2014)
Hanna Kanecka promocja (2015)
Agnieszka Różyńska promotion (2016)
Natalia Gorzelańczyk production, promotion (2019-2021)
Michał Łuczak graphic designer (2006-2021)
ATF Partners accounting
Maria Żuk-Piotrowska archivist (2004-2007)