Zorka Wollny
Born 1980 in Krakow, Poland. Lives and works in Berlin, Germany.
Her works function at the boundary between music and visual arts and are strictly related to architecture. She collaborates—in a director-like mode—with musicians, actors and dancers and every time with members of local communities too.
She has presented her projects at the Chicago Architecture Biennial (2019), Steirischer Herbst Festival (2019), Hebbel am Ufer Theatre in Berlin (2018), CTM Festival in Berlin (2020, 2018, 2015), Savvy Contemporary in Berlin (2017, 2016), De Appel in Amsterdam (2017), Heroines of Sound Festival in Berlin (2017), International Studio&Curatorial Program in New York (2017), Tartu Museum of Art (2017), Edith-Russ-Haus für Medienkunst in Oldenburg (2016), Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London (2014), Jazz and Experimental Music Festival in Istanbul (2014), Akademie der Künste in Berlin (2013), Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst in Leipzig (2012), Abteiberg Museum in Muenchengladbach (2012), Turner Contemporary in Margate (2011), Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade (2011), Carrara International Sculpture Biennale (2010), Z33 in Hasselt (2010), Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich (2009), Royal College of Art in London (2009), and The Fourth World Social Forum in Mumbai (2004)
Her works have been exhibited also at the most prestigious contemporary art institutions in Poland: Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw, Museum Sztuki in Łódź, Wyspa Institute of Art in Gdańsk, National Museum in Krakow, National Museum in Gdańsk, National Museum in Szczecin, Wrocław Contemporary Museum – and form part of their art collections.
She works as an associate professor at Stettin Art Academy.
Performances and sound installations:
Five Songs by Pet The Poet
Alliance Française de Mombasa,
Sports Ground Kilifi, KE 2023
Black Land
Neuen Museum, Berlin DE 2022
East-West
Hellerau Theater, Dresden DE 2022
Midnight Mixtapes
Divadlo X10, Prague CZK 2022
Singing Machine
Zeche Hannover, Bochum DE 2022
The Ruins of Empire
(with Psychedelic Choir)
Apartment Project, Berlin DE 2022
Things I Don’t Tell You
Heart of Glass, St Helens UK 2022
Eviction Songs
sound installation
Skulpturenpark Berlin-Zentrum, Berlin DE 2021
I Love You, Goodbye!
(with Kalle Enkelmann)
sound installation
Nowy Teatr, Warszawa PL 2021
Clockwork
(with Jasmine Guffond)
Cathedral of Engelskirchen DE 2020
Let’s Make Noise Sisters!
Komuna Warszawa Theater, Warszawa PL 2020
Seismograph, Butterfly Effect, Birds, The Bug
sound installations
Trafo Center for Contemporary Art, Szczecin PL
Voicers. Oratorio for Five Speakers and a Listening Crowd
Steirischer Herbst, Graz AT 2019
Overtone Hive
(with Jasmine Guffond)
sound installation
Overtone Primary, Chicago US
Polyphonic Manifesto
POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews
Biennale Warszawa 2019
Quiet Rush. Concert for the Gold Mine
Gold Mine, Banska Stiavnica, SK 2019
The Ceremony
(with Loïc Koutana and NSDOS)
Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, BR
Things of no Significance
(with Psychedelic Choir)
K.u.l.e Ev Berlin DE
Lullabies to Wake Up
(with Christine Schorkhuber)
Humboldt University, Berlin DE
Knoll Gallery Vienna AT 2018
Dissent
Hebbel am Ufer Theater, Berlin DE 2018
Tartu Art Minuet
Tartu Art Museum, EE 2017
Impossible Opera
Edith-Russ-Haus für Medienkunst, Oldenburg DE 2017
Sound Seances
(with Hans Castrup)
Edith-Russ-Haus für Medienkunst, Oldenburg DE 2017
The Kantor Concert
(with Anna Szwajgier)
Tadeusz Kantor Museum, Kraków PL 2016
Vox Populi
(with Andrzej Wasilewski)
sound installation
Narracje “Kingdom 60,8 m a.s.l.”, Gdańsk PL 2016
Mirangula
One Caucasus Festival, Tserakvi, GE 2016
Kaddu Ndar,
Waaw Gallery, Saint Louis (Senegal) 2016
All the Names,
Bunkier Sztuki Gallery Krakow PL 2015
Composition for 12 Actors and Lido Manufacture
Museum of Art, Lodz PL 2015
Five Tides
Lo Spasimo Cathedral, Palermo IT 2015
Order
(with Teresa Stroetges)
Teutonic Castle Ruins, Świecie PL 2015
The Birds
(with Jasmine Guffond)
Midnight Sow/New Horisons Film Festival Wrocław PL 2015
Songs of Resistance,
Taxim district, Istanbul TR 2014
Maspindzeli Songs
Institut of Contemporary Arts, London UK 2014
The Hearing Trumpet
Studio Theatre, Palace of Culture, Warsaw PL 2014
Resonance Assembly. Composition for Factory
Malzfabrik, District Berlin DE 2014
Ophelias. Iconography of Madness
Muzeum Sztuki Lodz 2012, Museum of Contemporary Art Wroclaw PL 2013
Forest
(with Artur Zagajewski)
Zachęta National Gallery, Warszawa PL 2013
The Museum Theatre
(with Anna Szwajgier, Magdalena Przybysz)
Abteiberg Museum, Moenchengladbach, February 2012
Oratorio for Orchestra and Warsaw Citizens’ Choir
(with Anna Szwajgier, Artur Zagajewski)
Warsaw Autumn – International Festival of Contemporary Music, September 2011
Song at Work
(with Anna Szwajgier)
Wyspa Institute of Art, Gdansk PL 2011
Blackbox Forest Storytelling
(with Anna Szwajgier)
Blackbox Gallery, Basel 2011
Songs of the Sublime
(with Anna Szwajgier)
Turner Contemporary, Margate UK 2011
Sonate of Erosion
(with Anna Szwajgier)
Postmonument Sculpture Biennale, Carrara IT 2010
Body in the Library
Design Gallery Wrocław, University of Warsaw, PL 2010
Music from the White Cube
(with Anna Szwajgier)
Sierra Metro Gallery, Edinburgh, UK 2010
Unhum for 23 musicians and 52 passers-by
(with Anna Szwajgier, Artur Zagajewski)
Focus Łodź Biennale, PL 2010
Summer Solstice
(with Anna Szwajgier)
Malta – International Theatre Festival, Poznań PL 2010
Six Silhouettes on the Background of the Collection
Museum of Art, Łódź PL 2009
Ballad for the Zacheta Gallery
(with Anna Szwajgier)
Zachęta National Gallery, Warsaw PL 2009
Polish Walk for the Collection of Art of 20th and 21st Century
Museum of Art, Łódź PL 2007
Museum
National Museum, Kraków PL 2006
Concert For Landesmuseum
(with Anna Szwajgier)
Landesmuseum Muenster DE 2005
I live in Ikea
Ikea Kraków, September 2004
Concert for High Heels
(with Anna Szwajgier)
Jagiellonian University, Krakow 2004
All exhibitions, solo projects and awards:
2023
DUOS Festival, Kilifi/Mombasa KE
SPIKR live (with Psychedelic Choir) Oslo, NR
2022
Black Land – Performing Memory, Neues Museum Berlin DE
ŠŠŠŠŠŠ Festival (with Psychedelic Choir), Kutna Hora, CZK
Nordost Sudwest, Kunsthaus Dresden/Robotron Kantine DE
Chromatic Wednesdays (with Psychedelic Choir) Appartment Projects Berlin DE
We Are All Emotional!, Divadlo X10 Prague CZK
FUTUR 21 / Kunst Industrie Kultur, Ruhr Gebiet DE
awards: award by Die Stiftung Kunst und Musik für Dresden for the artistic achievements
record: Lullabies To Wake Up (with Christine Schorkhuber) Inexhaustible Editions
2021
Borsing Amp Festival (with Psychedelic Choir), Museum Kesselhaus Herzberge Berlin DE
Let’s Make Noise, Sisters! Edith-Russ-Haus for Media Art, Oldenburg DE
DUOS Festival (curating) Kilifi KE
Skulpturenpark Berlin-Zentrum, ZKU Berlin DE
Generation After 5. SHowcase, Nowy Teatr Warszawa PL
We Insist! (solo show) MOS Gorzow, PL
TAG DER CLUBKULTUR : CLUBCOMMISSION X CTM FESTIVAL
(with Psychedelic Choir) HKU Berlin DE
2020
The 12th Mercosul Biennial, Porto Allegre
Sound Scene Festival; UnSeen, Washington D.C.
Environment. The Future Rerospective (retrospective exhibition) Trafo Art Gallery, Szczecin
Let’s Make Noise Sisters! musical, Komuna Warszawa PL
Interstitial Spaces, Kunstraum Bethanien, Berlin
Nach dem Beaufsichtigen der Maschinen – Was bedeutet Artbeit heute? Engelskirchen DE
DIGITAL CULTURES FESTIVAL; The Sound Intervention Service, Warszawa/London
Naduzycia, Contemporary Museum Wrocław PL
SURVIVAL 18/ WASTELAND (with Christine Schorkhuber) Wrocław PL
2019
Novas Frequencias Festival, MAM, Rio de Janeiro
Jemp Festival, Arts Territory, London
Steirischer Herbst Festival, Graz (opening concert)
Chicago Architecture Biennial, Chicago
When Artists Enter Factories, BAT, New York
Change Choir Church Concert (solo work), Standards, Milan
Ouiet Rush (solo exhibition) Jozef Kollar Gallery, Banska Stiavnica
Instalakcje Festival, Teatr Nowy, Warszawa
Biennale Warszawa, Warszawa
The Palace of Ritual, Palazzo Donà Brusa, Venezia
Rosa, Curated Affairs, Dusseldorf
We all Meet at the Same Place, BWA Wrocław
From Breath to Matter, Kunsthaus KuLe, Berlin
awards: Senat Berlin Research Grant
for the series of sound sculptures
2018
Dissent – concert premiere, Hebbel am Ufer Theater, Berlin
– CTM Festival opening concert,
Uncanny Valleys of Possible Future, Kunstraum Bethanien, Berlin
Blick Wendungen, Landesmuseum fur Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt (Oder)
The Anonymus Song – concert, Liebig 12, Berlin
Fluesterpost – concert, Landesmuseum fur Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt (Oder)
Montag Modus, Collegium Hungaricum Berlin
Powolność/Slavness, TRAFO Center for Contemporary Art, Szczecin
[Insert Title], Kleine Humboldt Galerie, Berlin
Speak in Order that I May See You…Christine Koenig Gallery, Vienna
Zeitgeistlos (Curated by), Knoll Gallery, Vienna
publication: Ptaki/Birds (cd) Audio Art Festival, Krakow
research residency: Arts Territiry/Pejman Foundation, Tehran, Iran
Pwani University, Kilifi, Kenya
Longlisted for Preis der Nationalgalerie 2019
Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin
Longlisted for the 2018 Frieze Artist Award at Frieze London
2017
Everything is getting better. Unknown Knowns of Polish (Post)Colonialism, Savvy Contemporary, Berlin
Amsterdam Art Week (Impossible Opera) De Appel, Amsterdam
Vox Populi. The Unwelcome (concert), TRAFO, Szczecin
The Witching Hour (concert), ISCP, New York
Heroines of Sound Festival, Radialsystem Berlin
Museum Choreography, Tartu Museum of Art
The Collective City: Artists as actors of urban change,
conference, Folkstheater, Frankfurt Oder
Experimental Cinema: Zorka Wollny, LAB1 Cinema, Eindhoven
Polenbegeisterungswelle, Kunstquartier Bethanien, Berlin
Awangarda. Sen Paradoksalny, Museum of Sopot
Gentle Distractions – duo exhibition with Keren Shalev, Flugwerk Berlin
Sound Seances, Edith-Russ-Haus für Medienkunst, Oldenburg
Unmögliche Oper/Impossible Opera, Edith-Russ-Haus für Medienkunst
awards: Minister of Culture and National Heritage RP project grant (Impossible Opera)
International Studio& Curatorial Program, New York – artist in residence
publication: Impossible Opera (dvd) Contemporary Lynx Magazine
2016
Unlearning the Given, Savvy Contemporary, Berlin
Kaddu Ndar, Waaw Gallery, Saint Louis (Senegal)
Sic! Four Seasons, Warszawa
Wunderbar Worterbuch Wedding, Wedding Gallery, Berlin
Narracje “Kingdom 60,8 m a.s.l.”, Gdańsk
One Caucasus, Tibilisi, Georgia
International Shakespeare Festival, Gdansk
Warsaw under Construction, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw
Koncert na Cricotekę, Tadeusz Kantor Museum, Kraków
Zakon/Order, Hilbert Raum Gallery, Berlin
Nowe Ilustracje/ New Ilustrations, Galeria Arsenał, Białystok
Dzikie Pola. Historia awangardowego Wrocławia,
Museum of Contemporary Art Wrocław
award: Impossible Opera – Stiftung Niedersachsen Stipendium
– Edith-Russ-Haus für Medienkunst, Oldenburg (DE)
publication: „Seven Minatures on El Hadji Sy” (record),
Center of Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warszawa
2015
CTM Festival, Berlin
What’s Plain Invites Pattern, Palermo
Satellite Affects and Other Lines of Flight, District Berlin
Midnigight Show, BWA Design, Wrocław
Zakon/Order, Theutonic Castle, OKSiR Świecie
Transgresje – Art in Public Space, Torun
Endospores, Bunkier Sztuki, Kraków
Współprace/Collaborations (solo show), Galeria Manhattan, Łódź
publication: „The Greatest Hits” (tape), Super, Łódź
publication: „Resonance Assembly. Mix” (record), Altanowa Press, Lublin
publication: „Zakon/Order” (cd) Ośrodek Kultury i Rekreacji w Świeciu
2014
Foreignness of Sound, Instytut of Contemporary Art, London
Jazz and Experimental Music from Poland, Istanbul
600 Steps (dance project), Warsaw – Istanbul
FF – Temporary Authonomus Zone – Studio Theatre, Warsaw
Collaborations (solo show) Platan Gallery, Polish Institute, Budapest
Body/Mind International Dance Festival, Warsaw
Festiwal WarSoVie, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw
New Horizons – International Film Festival, Wroclaw
Manifestacje romantyczne, BWA Nowy Sacz
W stronę instytucji krytycznej/Towards Critical Institution,
Galeria Arsenał, Poznań
Grassowanie, Galeria Miejska, Gdansk
Stendhal Syndrome, Zona Sztuki Aktualnej, Szczecin
award: District Berlin studio grant 12.2013 – 06.2014
publication:„Resonance Assembly. Composition for Factory”
(cd) District, Berlin
2013
Re.act.feminism – a performing archive, Akademie der Künste, Berlin
No Woman No Art Festiwal, Poznan
Dźwiękowiska CSW Łażnia, Gdansk
International Shakespeare Festival, Gdansk
Dzień jest za krótki/A Day is not Enough, Contemporary Museum Wrocław, BWA Jelenia Góra, Galeria Arsenał Poznan
Wolny Strzelec/Freelancer, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw
2012
Ophelias. Iconography of Madness (solo project), Muzeum Sztuki, Lodz
The Museum Theatre (solo project), Abteiberg Museum, Moenchengladbach
usstellung Cage 100: Opening Spaces for Action, Galerie für Zeitgenössische
Kunst Leipzig
Czarna seria/Black series (solo show), Zona Sztuki Aktualnej, Szczecin
Relokacje, Bydgoszcz
Macierzyństwo/Maternity, Warsztaty Kultury, Lublin
Mixer Festival, Belgrade
Follow the White Rabbit, Dortmunder Kunstverein
Medialny stan wyjątkowy, National Museum, Szczecin
award: Polish National Centre for Culture project grant
publication: Zorka Wollny „The Museum Theater”, Abteiberg Museum, Moenchengladbach
2011
International Festival of Contemporary Music – Warsaw Autumn (solo project: Oratorio in collaboration with Zachęta National Gallery of Art ) Warsaw
Dialogues With Polish Art- Zorka Wollny, Sculpture Workshop, Edinburgh
Interpunctie, Frans Masereel Centrum, Kasterlee
Alternativa International Contemporary Visual Art Festival, Wyspa Institute of Art, Gdansk
Politisticoi Camping -Theatre Festival, Heraklion
Blackbox Rolling Residency, Bazel
You are here, Turner Contemporary, Margate
Solidarność Camp, Gdańsk (Wyspa Institute of Art), Brussels (Royal Flemish Theatre), Madrid (Matadero)
Young Polish Artists on Tour, Madryt (Espacio Trapezio), Berlin (Wedding)
For Kids and Adults, BWA Wrocław oraz Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade,
Dyfuzje współczesności, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw
Inspiracje Festival, 13 Muz Gallery, Szczecin
Efekt pasażu, Otwarta Pracownia, Krakow
award: Atelierstipendium der Stadt Moenchengladbach 09.2011 – 02.2012
2010
Postmonument Sculpture Biennale, Carrara
Nepotists, oportunists, freaks, friends and strangers intersecting in a grey zone, Z33, Hasselt
East goes East, Outpost Gallery, Norwich
Music from the White Cube: episode 1, Sierra Meteo, Edinburgh
Słopiewnie (solo project), Jelenia Gora
Summer solstice (solo project) with Magdalena Przybysz (choreographer), Malta International Theatre Festival, Poznan
Follow the White Rabbit, Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow
Focus Łodź Biennale, Lodz
Body in the libary, Design Gallery, Wroclaw
Spoken movies, Wro Art Center, Platan Gallery Budapest
2009
Six Silhouettes…(solo project), Museum of Art, Łodz
Take a look at me now, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich
The ever mass land, Nadine Studios, Brussels
The friends of divided mind, Royal College of Art, London
Points d’Impact, Mottatom, Geneve
Spojrzenia, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw
Piekło rzeczy/ Hell of things, Kronika Gallery, Bytom
International Guerilla Video Festival, Dublin
Void Academy of Visual Arts, Vienna
award: Minister of Culture RP grant 2008/2009
Nomination for the Zacheta and Deutsche Bank Award for the best Polish emerging artist.
2008
Poland Street Underground, London
Flee the frame (solo show) Starter gallery, Poznan
Museum (solo show), CSW Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw
Moja matka nie jest boska, Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow
Establishment’, CSW Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw
5TM The Young Triennial, Centre of Polish Sculpture, Oronsko
Award from Minister of Culture and National Heritage, 8th Geppert Competition
2007
Open Studio Cittadellarte Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella
In Loco, private place, Florence
Points d’Impact, Mottatom, Geneve
Lighthouse Ankara, Ankara – City space
Malarstwo – prad zmienny, BWA, Wroclaw
Mechaniczna Pomarancza/Clockwork orange, Sektor I, Katowice
Tralogo Festival, Teatro Franco Paverti, Milan
We like it a lot!, Nettie Horn Gallery, London
Wideokonotacje/Videokonnotationen, Krakauen-house, Nurnberg
LadyFest, Klub NRD, Torun
Nieproduktywnosc, Dla Gallery, Torun
award: Italian Ministry of Culture scholarship
Cittadellarte Fondazione Pistoletto – residence
2006
Museum (solo project), National Museum, Krakow
Imhibition – panel prac, National Museum, Krakow
Museum as a luminous object of desire, Museum of Art, Lodz
Models for a Fictional Academy (with fundation 36,6), HUFA, Budapest
Obrazy jak malowane, Bielska Gallery, BWA 2006
Architektura intymna, architektura porzucona, Kronika Gallery, Bytom
Wiedzma Ple ple, Dla Gallery, Torun
Jezyki obce, BWA Wroclaw
2005
Sabanci (solo show) Fait Gallery, Krakow
SFX publicznosc, Kunstverein Muenster
Roaming VILLES ANCIENNES – ART NOUVEAU, Quebec
award: Minister of Culture RP grant, 2004/2005
Socrates Erasmus scholarship, Sabanci Universitesi, Istanbul
2004
Concert for High Heels (solo project), Jagiellonian University, Krakow
I live in Ikea (solo project) Ikea Krakow
The workshop of thinking (with fundation 36.6), The fourth World Social Forum, Mumbai
Eastern Lights, Motorenhalle, Drezden
Nowa Huta, Kunstverein, Muenster
The grey zone, Polish Institut Budapest
Ladnie o ladnym, Krakow Podgorze
Domowa atmosfera, Krakow
BHP, Instytut Sztuki Wyspa, Gdansk
Dialog Loci (with fundation 36.6), Kostrzyn nad Odra
SFX(with fundation 36.6) – prolog Prószków, Proszkow