Polish Cultural Institute New York

𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘏𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘎𝘶𝘯, 𝘐’𝘥 𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘋𝘰𝘸𝘯 unfolds as an intimate, unflinching walk through contemporary wartime , examining both the physical architecture of a city under siege and a psychological landscape of memory, resistance, and survival.⁠
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Through its seamless fusion of live staging, documentary cinema, and atmospheric sound and music, the stage becomes a volatile meeting point between two distinct realities: the relative safety of an American theater and a city living.⁠
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Written and with video by Piotr Armianovski
Director/co-creator Paul Bargetto
Performer/co-creator Michael Rubenfeld
From FestivALT and Teatr Trans-Atlantyk
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Saturday, June 20 at 7:00 PM⁠
Bohemian National Hall
321 East 73rd Street, New York, NY, 10021⁠
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We’re pleased to partner with the Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival to support If I Had a Gun, I’d Take Them All Down. This project is also made possible with support from the Adam Mickiewicz Institute (Instytut Adama Mickiewicza) and with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.

Tickets are free, but please RSVP. → Visit our website toto learn more: https://bit.ly/4ftWueM

is organized by the Vaclav Havel Center and Bohemian Benevolent & Literary Association.

On Sunday, June 21 🇵🇱 Jazztopad Festival New York presents leading percussionist in avant-garde music, Hamid Drake alongside indie-folk group River Sisters!

The American edition of the Jazztopad Festival is organized by the National Forum of Music in Wrocław (Narodowe Forum Muzyki) in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute New York and Adam Mickiewicz Institute Culture.pl

— at Rizzoli Bookstore listen to Hamid Drake & River Sisters

Exhibition ’Anna Barlik: Flags of Non-Existent Countries’ opens Saturday, May 23, 2026 at 3-5pm at KODA House 407b on Governors Island, New York. Join us!

The artist’s new series lending title to the exhibition is a series of formal compositions that engage the visual codes of nationality while critically reinterpreting them. The starting point is the flag, as one of the most recognizable symbols of unity, identity and political belonging.

In Barlik’s work, such order becomes destabilized — colors that are assigned to certain countries or places become re-ordered, deconstructured, and reconfigured, creating visual marks, or speculative emblems, for countries that have never existed.

→ Visit our website to learn more: https://instytutpolski.pl/newyork/2026/05/04/anna-barlik-flags-of-non-existent-countries/

What does it mean to become “the conscience of a nation”?

In our newest episode of Encounters with Polish and Ukrainian Literature, David A. Goldfarb talks with Stephanie Kraft, translator of Żeromski’s novel The Homeless (1899), about this deeply humane portrait of a doctor confronting the emerging field of public health and struggling to convince fellow physicians that they must advocate for people living in unsanitary conditions and for workers facing environmental hazards.

→ Visit our website to learn more about Stefan Żeromski and to watch the episode: https://instytutpolski.pl/newyork/2026/04/28/stefan-zeromski-with-stephanie-kraft-encounters-with-polish-and-ukrainian-literature/

Paweł Pawlikowski, the director of 𝐈𝐝𝐚 and 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐖𝐚𝐫, has been honored in Cannes for the second time, sharing the Best Director award ex aequo for 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 at the 79th Cannes Film Festival.

The film tells the story of German writer and Nobel laureate Thomas Mann’s return to postwar Germany in 1949. The central focus of the film is the relationship between Mann and his daughter, Erika Mann, an actress, writer, and political activist.

Pawlikowski previously received the Best Director award at Cannes in 2018 for the film 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐖𝐚𝐫.

Congratulations to the director, and the entire team!

Photos:
Press materials from Festival de Cannes
A still from “Fatherland” by Agata Grzybowska

From our screening of 𝑻𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒔: 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒆, followed by a Q&A Julie Delpy at The Egyptian Theatre - LA
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A chapter in the Krzysztof Kieślowski Retrospective in Los Angeles, unfolding through memory, chance, and quiet moral tension, across documentaries, 𝑫𝒆𝒌𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒈, 𝑻𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒔, and beyond.⁠
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Some films don’t conclude. They echo.⁠
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→ Join us until July 12. Full program on our website: https://instytutpolski.pl/newyork/2026/04/16/krzysztof-kieslowski-an-american-cinematheque-retrospective/
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Presented in partnership with the American Cinematheque

Photos:
@ Jonathan Gonzalez for American Cinematheque at Egyptian Theatre
© Mina Rhodes for American Cinematheque at Egyptian Theatre

, one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Polish poetry, arrives for international audiences in a new episode of Polish Poetry Unites.⁠
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“Ryszard Krynicki is a poet, a translator, an editor, and a publisher,” says Edward Hirsch in his foreword – “He is one of the true people of letters in Polish literature. He’s also one of the last true living heirs to Zbigniew Herbert.

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Krynicki’s taken Herbert’s challenge and written a poetry of high seriousness. His poems are very short and feel as if they’re engraved in stone.⁠
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Essential, and unforgettable. → Click link to learn more about the episode and watch it on YouTube: https://instytutpolski.pl/newyork/2026/05/11/ryszard-krynicki-a-poet-of-suffering-a-poet-of-joy/

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘞𝘢𝘳 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝟷𝟻𝚝𝚑 𝙰𝚗𝚗𝚞𝚊𝚕 𝙿𝚑𝚘𝚝𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚎 𝙵𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚊𝚕, 𝙽𝚎𝚠 𝚈𝚘𝚛𝚔⁠
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Thank you to everyone who joined us this weekend for the opening and curated tours of the exhibition presenting the work of Polish photographers documenting Russia’s war against Ukraine.⁠
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On view at Photoville
Emily Warren Roebling Plaza, Brooklyn Bridge Park⁠ through May 30.

Author of the exhibition text: Magdalena Rigamonti

Featuring:⁠
Marek M. Berezowski
Wojciech Grzędziński
Agata Grzybowska
Kuba Kamiński
Tomasz Lazar
Maciek Nabrdalik
Jędrzej Nowicki
Maciej Stanik
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Curated by: Ewa Meissner ⁠

Exhibition producer: Jarosław Włodarczyk

This exhibition is presented by Press Club Polska and Photoville Festival, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland and the Polish Cultural Institute New York.