Mikołaj Sobczak
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Biography
Born 1989 in Poznań, Poland
Lives and works in Amsterdam, Netherlands and Düsseldorf, Germany
Mikołaj Sobczak’s distinctive practice brings together painting, performance, and video to construct alternative histories, centering queer and marginalized figures largely excluded from dominant narratives.
His work is currently on view in the group exhibition Family Album at Kunsthuis Syb, The Netherlands (until 16 January 2027).
Sobczak’s forthcoming and recent exhibitions include Kunsthaus Zürich; MANIFESTA 16 Ruhr; Luther Museum, Amsterdam; Polish Institute, Düsseldorf; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; ROZENSTRAAT, Amsterdam; Salzburger Kunstverein; Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle; Jester - Flanders Arts Institute, Genk, Belgium; Ludwig Forum, Aachen; Kunsthalle Münster; Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; Mudam, Luxembourg; and Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw.
The artist’s works are held in the collections of Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf; Ludwig Forum, Aachen; The Perimeter, London; Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw; and The National Museum, Gdańsk, among others.
In 2021, Sobczak was awarded Poland’s most prestigious art prize, the Paszport Polityki. He was an artist-in-residence at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam, and took part in the residency program with Art Explora - Cité internationale des arts, Paris. As one of four selected artists, he was awarded the Villa Romana Prize in 2026. Turning to writing as another form of expression, Sobczak published his first book this year, Anti-Fascist Art Manifesto (currently sold out).
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Installation view: House of Nisaba: New Stories of Painting (Group Show), Moderna Museet, Stockholm, May 14 – August 30, 2026Mikołaj Sobczak
Parole, Parole, Parole, 2026Oil, acrylic and collage on canvas
220 x 590 cm
86.6 x 232.3 inches -
Together with a group of friends, I travelled to Capri to research queer resistance during the time of Nazi persecution, when the island functioned as a kind of refuge, almost a mythic sanctuary for queer lives.
– Mikołaj SobczakTo listen to the artist as he speaks about his work, click here.
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In times of political radicalization, Sobczak's art invites us to engage with the construction of history.
– Merle Radtke, Kunsthalle Münster
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News
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Works
Mikołaj Sobczak
Meeting Ancestors While Being On PrEP, 2023Oil, collage on wood and glassSigned, dated and titled verso87.5 x 22.5 cm
34.5 x 8.9 inches
Collection The Perimeter, LondonB-MSOBCZAK-.24-0010Painted on the door of an antique clock found on the streets of Paris, the work refers to an illustration for Adam Mickiewicz's Romantic poem 'Dziady', the plot of which revolves...Painted on the door of an antique clock found on the streets of Paris, the work refers to an illustration for Adam Mickiewicz's Romantic poem 'Dziady', the plot of which revolves around an ancient Slavic ritual feast that takes place on the last day of October to commemorate the dead and summon ancestors from the eternal realm. The scene depicted, Sobczak’s interpretation of the poem, portrays the spirit of an ancestor entering a house. Also visible is the artist’s self-portrait behind glass, representing a state of entrapment within the material world as a passive observer of the spiritual world.
Pieces of packaging from the HIV prevention medication known as PrEP have also been applied to the wooden door, along with an actual pill. The work is heavily inspired by conversations with Dale Harding, an Australian artist descended from the Bidjara, Ghungalu, and Garingbal peoples, with whom Sobczak spent time at the Cité des Arts residency in Paris. The two artists discussed their experiences with taking PrEP, their ancestry, and the history of HIV/AIDS activism, sharing a sense of gratitude.
In the lower part of the composition is the image of a character that Polish film historian Joanna Ostrowska had been researching and sent to Sobczak. The character, a woman named Agnieszka, had started appearing in the artist's dreams.ExhibitionsExternal ExhibitionsPressPublicationsVideoRequest more information




