Mikołaj Sobczak
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Biography
Born 1989 in Poznań, Poland
Lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany
Sobczak studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw in Miroslaw Balka's Studio for Spatial Activities, was a scholarship holder at the Berlin University of the Arts, and graduated as a Masters student in 2019 at the Kunstakademie Münster.Mikołaj Sobczak’s recent exhibitions include 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.
Sobczak’s works are held in the collections of Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-West- falen, 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 Polityk. He was an artist-in- residence at the Rijksakadmie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam and took part in the biannual residency program with Art Explora - Cité internationale des arts in Paris. As one of four selected artists, he was recently awarded the prestigious Villa Romana Prize for the year 2026.
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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
Mikołaj Sobczak, Le Boudoir de l'Amour, Capitain Petzel, Berlin, 2024
"Mikolaj Sobczak. Le Boudoir de L'Amour", Capitain Petzel, 2024.
"Mikolaj Sobczak. Impossible Songs", Jester | Flanders Arts Institute, Genk, 2024.ExhibitionsExternal ExhibitionsPressVideoRequest more information