May 14, 2026, 18.00
We invite you to the debate “Memory and its Images: Where do Central Europeans come from?”, during which we will discuss how literature, photography and the visual arts co-create the past by revealing repressed histories. We will discuss new forms of expression, the multiplicity of narratives, and the figure of the Central European, whose shape is influenced by various perspectives and historical moments. The event will open the 23rd Krakow Photomonth.
Central Europe and Competing Narratives
Does Central Europe still exist? The region, once understood as a community of experience, is increasingly fracturing into competing narratives, and old languages of description are giving way to new, uncertain and tense forms of expression. Memory here is not a stable archive, but a space of constant rewriting, in which the figure of the Central European emerges not as a fixed identity, but as a construct defined by perspective and historical moment. Literature, photography and the visual arts not only document the past but also co-create it, revealing repressed histories and challenging the institutional orders that attempt to stabilize and catalog them.
Participants in the debate:
- Felix Ackermann – Professor of History at the Fernuniversität in Hagen
- Joanna Czudec – Programme Manager at the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation
- Anna Kwiatkowska – Head of the German Department at the Centre for Eastern Studies,
- and Adam Leszczyński – Director of the Gabriel Narutowicz Institute of Political Thought.
The debate will be moderated by: Bartosz Sadulski (editor-in-chief of “Herito” magazine, published by the International Cultural Centre)
The event will be held in Polish, with English translation.
Free admission
The Exchange—Critical Imaging Practices in Central and Eastern Europe
16 May 2026, 12.00
This Saturday, May 16, at 12:00 p.m., we invite you to the International Cultural Center for a presentation and discussion led by the curatorial team of the main program, Krzysztof Pijarski and Anna Voswinckel.
The panel will feature:
- Jeanette Brabenetz,
- Markéta Kinterová,
- Christin Müller,
- Lili Rebeka Tóth,
- Karolina Ziębińska-Lewandowska.<
Event in English
The event is co-funded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund, the Municipality of Krakow, and the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation.
“Unreal Estate” – on borders, entanglements and unfinished stories
The debate we will host at the ICC will kick off this year’s Krakow Photography Month. The 23rd edition of the event will take place under the theme “Unreal Estate” from May 14 to June 14, 2026, and will be dedicated to broadly defined Polish-German relations in the context of Central Europe. Three main program exhibitions are planned, along with a series of accompanying events—discussions, guided tours, meetings, and screenings—featuring artists and experts. This year’s program also includes six exhibitions in the ShowOFF Section, aimed at young talents, and an exhibition by students from Polish and German art schools as part of the FRINGE Section. For years, The Foundation for Visual Arts has consistently developed an event format in which photography serves as a window revealing the world in its various dimensions: social, political and historical.