A guided tour of a gallery of forbidden books, four publishing premieres by RUST Publishing, an exhibition of German photobooks, and Tadeusz Rolke in two acts – a highly intense final weekend of May lies ahead, marking the halfway point of the 23rd edition of Krakow Photomonth.
The Muri Library – Guided Tour of the “Tomes, Speak Out” Exhibition
To warm up before the weekend events, a special guided tour of Annette Kelm’s exhibition Tomes, Speak Out will take place on Thursday, May 28, at 6:00 PM at MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow (4 Lipowa St.). Adam Lipszyc – a literary scholar associated with the Polish Academy of Sciences and the fictional Franz Kafka Muri University – will talk about this moving collection of photographs of book covers banned by the Nazi regime, treated as a kind of spectral library.
The Muri Library – Facebook Event
The Photobook in the Spotlight
Photobooks hold a unique position in the history of the medium as visual narratives where sequence, rhythm, materiality, and form allow for stories to be told parallel to the text. On Friday, May 29, at 6:00 PM, Potocki Palace (20 Rynek Główny) will host the Krakow premieres of four titles published by RUST Publishing: With Ghosts and Souls by Konrad Koźmiński, God’s Children by Daria Izworska, Svijet by Dominik Wojciechowski, and Pidło by Łukasz Zając. The meeting is part of the Photobook Talks series, which aims to foster reflection on the photobook as a form of literature and a carrier of meaning in an image-overloaded world. Following the discussion, the organizers invite you to the emerging photobookstore located at the festival center in Potocki Palace (2 Bracka St.).
Photobook Talks – Facebook Event
A day later, on Saturday, May 30, at 7:00 PM at the Podbrzezie Gallery (UKEN, 3 Podbrzezie St., 1st floor), the opening of a photobook exhibition will take place. In dialogue with the main program’s exhibitions under the theme “Unreal Estate,” it will provide a unique insight into the contemporary German photography scene. The exhibition, titled Common Ground, gathers nearly 50 publications – art- and photobooks – selected by the RUST Publishing team. The display will not only highlight the phenomenon of the photobook as an artistic object but will also shed light on how German artists explore regional themes related to identity, memory, landscapes, and socio-political transformations.
Common Ground Exhibition – Facebook Event
Tadeusz Rolke in Two Acts
Less than a year ago, Tadeusz Rolke – the pioneer of Polish reportage photography – passed away. On Sunday, May 31, we invite you to two special events dedicated to the master and his Polish-German chapters. At 2:00 PM at Potocki Palace, his persona and shared legacy will be discussed by Andreas Rostek – head of the Berlin-Warsaw publishing house edition.fotoTAPETA, which Rolke co-founded – and Marek Grygiel, his long-time collaborator and the legendary curator of the Mała Galeria ZPAF-CSW.
Following the discussion, at 4:00 PM, we invite you to the ZPAF Gallery (24 św. Tomasza St.) for the opening of Tadeusz Rolke’s exhibition Fischmarkt. Shot in the 1970s during the author’s stay in Hamburg, the series captures the city’s bustling fish market. These black-and-white, documentary frames showcase everything his work is most celebrated for: a deep fascination with humanity and individuality, a keen sense of humor, and an extraordinary power of observation. Returned to the gallery of the Association of Polish Artists and Designers (ZPAP) after 47 years (!), the exhibition is a co-production of Krakow Photomonth and the Krakow Film Festival, in cooperation with Le Guern Gallery.
Fischmarkt Exhibition – Facebook Event
About Krakow Photomonth
Krakow Photomonth is an international photography festival organized by the Visual Arts Foundation in cooperation with leading local and international cultural institutions. Its ambition is to present photography within its current social, political, and historical contexts, and to introduce them into public debate. The 23rd edition of the festival, held under the tagline Unreal Estate, is dedicated to Poland, Germany, and Polish-German relations within the broader context of Central Europe. The festival runs until June 14.
The event is co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund, the Municipality of Krakow, and the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation.
Listen in: MFK Artistic Director Witek Orski and Main Program Curator Krzysztof Pijarski talk about Photomonth in an episode of the Fotopolis podcast (hosted by Monika Szewczyk-Wittek).