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, 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
Mikołaj Sobczak
SUN (MAGICAL REALISM), 2025Acrylic on canvasSigned and dated verso200 x 477 cm
78.7 x 187.8 inchesB-MSOBCZAK-.25-0002Further images
'Sun (Magical Realism)', a work that confronts the aesthetic and political dimensions of magical realism. Far from an escapist fantasy, magical realism is presented here as a tool of survival..."Sun (Magical Realism)", a work that confronts the aesthetic and political dimensions of magical realism. Far from an escapist fantasy, magical realism is presented here as a tool of survival in the face of violence and systemic erasure. Sobczak assembles a vivid ensemble: a revolutionary woman drawn from communist propaganda, standing in a posture echoing the Magus of the Tarot; Goethe invoked as a beacon against reactionary romanticism, as Thomas Mann once urged; poisonous plants like mandrake and belladonna, historically employed in rebellion against feudal lords.
In SUN (MAGICAL REALISM) spannt Mikołaj Sobczak einen historischen Bogen von mittelalterlichen Bauernaufständen über die Widerstandsstrategien versklavter Menschen bis hin zu den Machtstrukturen des globalen Kapitalismus. Ausgehend von der Geschichte des versklavten Joe Kilpatrick, der Anfang des 19. Jahrhunderts auf einer amerikanischen Plantage ein Schwarzes Kind adoptierte, verbindet Sobczak historische Formen solidarischen Widerstands mit gegenwärtigen Mechanismen gesellschaftlicher Kontrolle – verkörpert sowohl durch Figuren wie Jeff Bezos als auch durch Medikamente wie Xanax, Ritalin, Concerta oder Adderall, die Aufmerksamkeit, Angst und Leistungsfähigkeit im spätkapitalistischen Alltag regulieren.Exhibitions
Mikołaj Sobczak, Moon, Sun, Mercury, Salzburger Kunstverein, 2025ExhibitionsExternal ExhibitionsPressPublicationsVideoRequest more information




