A number of eye-catching murals found themselves introduced to Poland’s urban landscape in 2024, but none could match the creativity of a project in Gdynia and Gdańsk.

Seeking to raise awareness of the artworks that were looted from the region during WWII, the 13 murals presented depictions of lost masterpieces inside frames more commonly associated with ‘missing’ posters, or digital ‘page not found’ notices.

“Actions like this bring these lost works to a wider audience and disseminate knowledge about them,” said Marta Cienkowska, the deputy culture minister. “This helps in our search for them.”

Fairy tale ending

Of the more unusual additions to Poland’s cultural map, the OKO Interactive Fairy Tale and Animation Center in Bielsko-Biała garnered praise for a beautiful architectural concept that seamlessly merged a renovated 19th-century villa with a minimalist modern building spliced into parkland.

Yet beyond its exquisite aesthetics, OKO also commanded attention for the inclusion of an independent cinema specializing in animated films, and an interactive permanent exhibition detailing the city’s pivotal role in Poland’s animated film industry.

Confronting the past

Poland’s first queer museum—and only the fifth of its kind in the world—opened in Warsaw with large crowds gathering for its first full weekend of operation in December.

Seeking to document the history and culture of the country’s LGBT+ community, the small but powerful QueerMuzeum was created on the initiative of Lambda Warszawa, Poland’s oldest LGBT+ association, and has won praise for the way it has tackled a subject that many Poles continue to dismiss, ignore or treat with outright disdain.

The big discussion

No Polish cultural institute faced as much scrutiny as Warsaw’s long-awaited Museum of Modern Art.

Opened in October following numerous delays and setbacks, the primary talking point has not been the art within—the core exhibition will only open in early 2025—but its outward aesthetics. Likened to a logistics warehouse by some, and a cargo container by others, public feedback has been largely negative with many decrying it as an oversized eyesore.

However, if the facade has scandalized Poles, the interior has had the opposite effect, wowing all with its white-on-white colors and striking Escher-like double stairwell.

“I want visitors to understand that this is a building where the magic happens inside the box,” said architect Thomas Phifer.

Unfinished business

The last, unfinished play by the renowned Polish writer and artist Stanisław Witkiewicz was completed by AI in a project that aimed to map a new path for theater in the digital age.

The play, ‘So-Called Humanity in Madness’ was staged by Kraków’s Teatr Słowackiego in autumn, and was billed as “a pioneering endeavor” that sought to set “new standards for what theater can achieve in the digital age.”

Witkiewicz, also known as Witkacy, began writing the piece in 1938 but left it incomplete after killing himself shortly after the Soviet Union invaded Poland the following year.

Doomsday AI

Not all AI experiments were successful. Regional station OFF Radio Kraków triggered a barrage of criticism after firing most of its staff and replacing them with AI hosts.

Compounding matters, the station then aired an AI generated interview with the deceased poet / national treasure Wisława Szymborska.

Such was the ferocity of the backlash that the station dropped its AI ‘experiment’ after a week. “We are pioneers, and the fate of pioneers can be difficult. They are criticized, ridiculed. We have had to deal with such reactions in recent days,” lamented the station’s editor, Marcin Pulit.

The scent of da Vinci

Proving technology has no bounds, researchers from Kraków were able to extract the scent from the city’s most famous painting, Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘The Lady with an Ermine.’

Using specialist equipment, the scientists were able to extract the odor lingering around the painting as part of a Polish-Slovenian project aimed at creating “a library of scents” of historic objects. Among other things, staff at the Czartoryski Museum—where the painting is housed—say the initiative stands to attract visually impaired visitors.

“It definitely smells of the walnut board on which it is painted, and also of the paints that were used—oil and tempera—as well as varnish,” said Elżbieta Zygier, the chief conservator of the National Museum in Krakow.

“But because it's been repainted in parts, many smells have accumulated. For me, though, it is a pleasant citrus that is the most dominant,” she added.

Hot off the shelves

Few books were as eagerly anticipated as ‘Rozdroże Kruków’ (Crows’ Crossroads), the latest instalment of The Witcher series. Exploring the early years of the chief protagonist, Geralt of Rivia, the book has earned rave reviews from both critics and the public.

The work of author Andrzej Sapkowski, ‘The Witcher’ series has become one of Poland’s best-known contemporary cultural exports with five novels and 15 short stories selling over 15 million copies in 37 languages. Famously, the book has also been turned into a hit Netflix series and a video game series that has shifted tens of millions of copies.

Seal of approval

Nobel Prize winning author Olga Tokarczuk found herself returning to the spotlight after one of her books was lauded by Dua Lipa. Appearing on an American chat show, the pop princess revealed her admiration for Tokarczuk’s novel ‘Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead,’ describing it as “fantastic” and “a must-read.”

“It’s kind of a crime novel, but it has a bit of philosophy and astrology peppered into it,” she opined on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. “The author is actually a Nobel prize laureate for literature... reading this book will really show you why,” she continued.

Masterpiece enters pop culture

Dua Lipa wasn’t the only global megastar advancing Polish culture. In September, Lady Gaga sparked a frenzy among her Little Monsters after featuring, among other things, a painting of a Polish Renaissance-era court jester on the back sleeve of her album, ‘Harlequin.’

Painted by the acclaimed 19th-century artist Jan Matejko, the picture depicts a morose jester called Stańczyk slumped in a chair while carefree aristocrats cavort in the background.

With Gaga’s album released in tandem with the new Joker film, her fans were quick to draw parallels between the troubled enigma portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix, and the brooding Pole. While Matejko’s work is widely considered one of Poland’s most iconic masterpieces, the painting’s cameo on Gaga’s LP earned Matejko a fresh wave of Gen Z fans.

Festival tittle-tattle

Torun’s Camerimage film festival made international news when the Oscar-winning British director Steve McQueen pulled out after being angered by “misogynistic” comments made by the event’s head, Marek Żydowicz.

Żydowicz had published an op-ed in the festival’s program arguing that filmmakers should be judged on talent rather than gender.

The festival also drew attention for hosting the premiere of ‘Rust,’ a Western that first hit the headlines in 2021 when Alec Baldwin accidentally killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on set.

Whilst Baldwin did not attend the opening, director Joel Souza did and he spoke frankly about the incident, telling TVP World: “I honestly didn't know if I was even ever going to make movies again at all, if I wanted to do it anymore.”

City of culture

Champagne corks popped in Lublin back in September when the city was selected as Europe’s 2029 Capital of Culture.

Writing in the city’s bid, Mayor Krzysztof Żuk said: “Being ‘a city in-between’ enables the observation of ideas as they flow, on one hand, and on the other it allows us to be a force binding diverse communities, a building block in a contemporary, creative civil society, and a bridge spanning various spheres of life.”

According to EU criteria, candidate cities must demonstrate the ability to prepare “a cultural program with a strong European dimension,” and one capable of having “a lasting impact that contributes to the long-term development of the city.”

‘A love letter to Poland’

Jesse Eisenberg’s ‘Holocaust / road journey / buddy film’ hit screens to wide acclaim in 2024—now, having wowed audiences, it could yet be catapulted into wider consciousness having been tipped by some to scoop “best picture” at both the Oscars and the Golden Globes.

Starring Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin as his sidekick, the film follows the pair as they travel Poland in the footsteps of their Jewish grandmother.

Since its premiere at the 2024 Sundance Festival in January, the film has been named by critics as “one of the best Sundance movies ever,” with the review site Rotten Tomatoes describing it as “a powerfully funny, emotionally resonant dramedy that finds writer-director-star Jesse Eisenberg playing to his strengths on either side of the camera.”

The film was shot entirely in Poland and has been described by Eisenberg as his “love letter” to the nation.

'The Olympics of piano’

A documentary following the lives of young pianists competing in Warsaw’s Chopin Competition snagged an International Emmy Award for “artistic programming” in November.

Titled ‘Pianoforte,’ the film follows the rollercoaster fortunes of five contestants as they compete in what has been described as “the Olympics of piano”.

Hollywood glory?

Two Polish co-productions will be gunning for Oscar glory after being shortlisted for the 97th Academy Awards.

The first, ‘The Girl with the Needle’ was directed by Magnus von Horn, a graduate of the Łódź Film School, and tells the heart-wrenching story of Karoline, a factory worker in post-WW I Copenhagen grappling with an unwanted pregnancy.

The second, ‘A Bear Named Wojtek’ has been shortlisted in the Best Animated Short Film category and regales the remarkable true tale of Wojtek, a Syrian brown bear who was adopted by Polish soldiers during WWII and served alongside them as they fought their way through the Middle East and Italy.

Viral sensation

Katowice-born director Weronika Tofilska received a Primetime Emmy nomination for her work on the fourth episode of ‘Baby Reindeer,’ a disturbing drama that became arguably Netflix’s most talked about show of 2024.

The controversial series—based on the real-life campaign of harassment endured by the comedian Richard Gadd—became the must-watch of Spring with Tofilska directing a total of four of ‘Baby Reindeer’s’ seven episodes.