As one door closes, another opens: The Closing Weekend of Kraków Photomonth and the Grand Opening of the Photographic Bookstore at the Potocki Palace
The 23rd edition of Kraków Photomonth reaches its grand finale over the weekend of 13–14 June. Simultaneously, the Potocki Palace—which is celebrating its 5th anniversary in its current format—will welcome a brand-new photographic bookstore, launched jointly by the Foundation for Visual Arts and the Rust Publishing collective. On Saturday, 13 June, at the Foundation’s headquarters (2 Bracka Street), you will have the chance to meet photobook authors, festival guests, and the Photomonth team, as well as join a guided curatorial tour of the collective exhibition Uwarstwienia | Shifting Strata at the Palace Gallery. We also have great news: this exhibition, along with another collective presentation, Możliwy układ | A Possible Arrangement at the Bunkier Sztuki Gallery, will remain open to visitors until the end of August!
Photographic Bookstore: Foundation for Visual Arts x Rust Publishing
The Foundation for Visual Arts and RUST Publishing are joining forces to open a specialized photographic bookstore at the Potocki Palace. Located in a space with a prominent storefront in the side wing of the Palace (accessible from 2 Bracka Street, with direct entry to both the palace gallery and the courtyard), the store will showcase the absolute best of Polish and international photography. You will find publications from friendly indie publishing houses, artbooks, selected editions of classic works, a limited-edition collection of Kraków Photomonth merchandise, and other well-designed design items. The bookstore at the Foundation’s headquarters is envisioned as a vibrant space for encounters and community integration for everyone passionate about visual culture in its broadest sense.
The bookstore officially opens its doors to visitors on Saturday, 13 June, from 12 PM. Between 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM, you will have the opportunity to meet the creators behind selected publications (including Paweł Szypulski, author of Pozdrowienia z Auschwitz / Greetings from Auschwitz), consult your own ideas for a book or an exhibition, learn how the photobook publishing market operates, and experience various paper weights and typefaces firsthand.
Curatorial Tour and the Last Chance to See All Exhibitions
On the same day, from 5:00 PM to 5:30 PM, we warmly invite you to an open curatorial tour of the collective Polish-German exhibition Uwarstwienia | Shifting Strata at the Potocki Palace Gallery—the third chapter of the Kraków Photomonth main programme, held under the overarching theme “Unreal Estate.” The tour through the Palace’s underground spaces will be guided by Krzysztof Pijarski, curator of the main programme, and Witek Orski, the festival’s Artistic Director. All Kraków Photomonth exhibitions, including presentations by debuting artists in the ShowOFF Section and the collective student exhibition of the FRINGE Section in the former university hospital, will be open throughout the weekend. This is your final opportunity to experience the entire mosaic of contemporary photography presented in this year’s festival edition!
Detailed exhibition opening hours for the closing weekend can be found at www.photomonth.com. And although the main event is drawing to a close, we have more good news—two main programme exhibitions at the Bunkier Sztuki Gallery and the Potocki Palace Gallery will remain open until 30 August!
5th Anniversary of the Potocki Palace
The closing weekend of Kraków Photomonth coincides with the 5th birthday of the Potocki Palace, a multifunctional cultural center whose space the Foundation for Visual Arts has the pleasure of co-creating. The organizer, KBF (Kraków Festival Office), has planned a diverse, polyphonic programme for the occasion, bringing together everything this address stands for: creative energy, a vibrant festival atmosphere, and the belief that culture can be experienced in a multitude of ways. The programme includes intimate Sacrum Profanum concerts and a one-poem vernissage previewing the Miłosz Festival. Further details and free tickets are available for download at www.palacpotockich.krakow.pl.
About Krakow Photomonth
Kraków Photomonth is an international photography festival organized by the Foundation for the Visual Arts in cooperation with leading local and international cultural institutions. Its ambition is to present photography within its current social, political, and historical contexts, integrating these perspectives into public debate. The 23rd edition of the festival, themed Unreal Estate, focuses on Poland, Germany, and Polish-German relations within the broader context of Central Europe.
The festival runs from 14 May to 14 June.
The event is co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund, the Municipality of Kraków, and the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation.