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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WorksOpen a larger version of the following image in a popup:
Installation view. Impossible Songs, Jester, Genk, 2024. Courtesy the artist and Jester. Ph: Van den Bussche-Vanden Bossche.
Mikołaj Sobczak
Sylvin Rubinstein, 2024In collaboration with Tom Alon
Oil, print on wood, disassembled metal stand250 x 122 x 100 cm
98.4 x 48 x 39.4 inches
B-MSOBCZAK-.24-0026Further images
Recto: Sylvin Rubinstein was a flamenco dancer of Jewish descent, born either in 1914 or 1917. In the early 1930s, he saw great success on European stages with his twin...Recto: Sylvin Rubinstein was a flamenco dancer of Jewish descent, born either in 1914 or 1917. In the early 1930s, he saw great success on European stages with his twin Maria, as the duo Imperio and Dolores. After successfully escaping the Warsaw Ghetto, they received help from a German major named Werner, who remembered their performances and encouraged Sylvin to join the resistance movement to help hide Jewish children and engage in sabotage activities. According to his recollections, he threw grenades into a restaurant frequented by Nazi soldiers during one of his actions dressed as a woman. He stayed in Werner’s Berlin apartment until the end of the war, and in the 1950s, he started performing on German cabaret stages as Dolores, commemorating his sister who was murdered in Treblinka.
Sylvin is painted dancing as he would in one of his later shows, while his portrait is taken from a photo of him as a young man.
Verso: Maria van Beckum (to the right on the pyre) and her sister- in-law Ursula van Beckum (the woman on the left, who is being held), both Anabaptists are burnt at the stake, by Jan Luyken, from the "Martyrs Mirror", 1685.Exhibitions
Re/Enactments, Coulisse Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden, 2026
Mikołaj Sobczak, Le Boudoir de l'Amour, Capitain Petzel, Berlin, 2024
Mikolaj Sobczak. Impossible Songs, Jester | Flanders Arts Institute, Genk, 2024.ExhibitionsExternal ExhibitionsPressPublicationsVideoRequest more information




