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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Installation view, Mikołaj Sobczak, Moon, Sun, Mercury, 2025. Commissioned and produced by Salzburger Kunstverein and co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Republic of Poland. Courtesy of the artist. Ph: kunst-dokumentation
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Installation view, Mikołaj Sobczak, Moon, Sun, Mercury, 2025. Commissioned and produced by Salzburger Kunstverein and co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Republic of Poland. Courtesy of the artist. Ph: kunst-dokumentation
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Installation view, Mikołaj Sobczak, Moon, Sun, Mercury, 2025. Commissioned and produced by Salzburger Kunstverein and co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Republic of Poland. Courtesy of the artist. Ph: kunst-dokumentation
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Installation view, Mikołaj Sobczak, Ancora, Capitain Petzel, Berlin, 2026. Courtesy the artist and Capitain Petzel. Ph: GRAYSC
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Installation view, Mikołaj Sobczak, Ancora, Capitain Petzel, Berlin, 2026. Courtesy the artist and Capitain Petzel. Ph: GRAYSC
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Installation view, Mikołaj Sobczak, Ancora, Capitain Petzel, Berlin, 2026. Courtesy the artist and Capitain Petzel. Ph: GRAYSC
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Installation view, Mikołaj Sobczak, Ancora, Capitain Petzel, Berlin, 2026. Courtesy the artist and Capitain Petzel. Ph: GRAYSC
Mikołaj Sobczak
MOON (PROPAGANDA), 2025Acrylic on canvasSigned and dated verso200 x 477 cm
78.7 x 187.8 inchesB-MSOBCZAK-.25-0001Further images
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'Moon (Propaganda)' plunges into a field of disorientation. Here, Sobczak stages a collision between capitalist iconography, fascist grotesques, and present-day humanitarian crises. The “Knight of Capitalism,” drawn from Luc Boltanski..."Moon (Propaganda)" plunges into a field of disorientation. Here, Sobczak stages a collision between capitalist iconography, fascist grotesques, and present-day humanitarian crises. The “Knight of Capitalism,” drawn from Luc Boltanski and Ève Chiapello’s analysis of capitalism's evolving legitimations, is transformed into a monstrous amalgam of George Grosz’s fascist caricatures and contemporary technofeudal motifs. Sobczak’s Iron Man figure locks a broken barrel labeled “capitalism” into a fascist ring, visualizing the transition from capitalist deregulation to authoritarian closure described by theorists like Przemysław Wielgosz.Exhibitions
Mikołaj Sobczak, Moon, Sun, Mercury, Salzburger Kunstverein, 20251of 33ExhibitionsExternal ExhibitionsPressPublicationsVideoRequest more information
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