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 will be presented in Family Album at Kunsthuis Syb, The Netherlands (17 October 2026 – 16 January 2027). Sobczak‘s forthcoming and recent exhibitions include Kunsthaus Zürich (opening spring 2027); 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.
Sobczak’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
It’s 10pm. Do you know where your children are?, 2019Performance with Nicholas GrafiaCommissioned by Dortmunder KunstvereinFurther images
The performance “It’s 10PM. Do You know where your children are?” by Nicholas Grafia and Mikołaj Sobczak consists of a collage of texts like news, goodbye letters, family conversations, memories,...The performance “It’s 10PM. Do You know where your children are?” by Nicholas Grafia and Mikołaj Sobczak consists of a collage of texts like news, goodbye letters, family conversations, memories, as well as statistics and research finds on POC (and) LGBTQ individuals’ social environment and psychological developments. Within the performance, stories of different families are being intertwined. Intergenerational and personal dynamics, tension between parent figures and their designated offspring, as well as notions of love, hate, desire and regret are negotiated within the duration of the action. The choreography and costumes used in the performance are furthermore inspired by images of figures, known from folklore, oral tradition, film and art history. The focus here lies on narrations and images depicting characters that fought in various public and intimate settings of social resistance. The narratives in the performance circulate and partly loop, building the core of the action and are being mediated by two “satellites”, represented by the performers.Exhibitions
Gallery Weekend Festival, Berlin, September 2023
Bergen Konsthall, Bergen, March 2022
Open Studios, Rijksakademie, Amsterdam, 2022
KW Institute for Contemporary, Berlin, Juni 2021
Dortmunder Kunstverein, June 2019
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