“Open Archive”. Archival duty in the Zachęta reading room Zachęta – National Gallery of Art The reading room is located on the upper level of the exhibition halls. Standing at the very top of the main stairs, facing the “Gladiator,” head right to the end of the corridor. 📅 25.07.2025, Friday, 12–8 PM 📅 8.08.2025, Friday, 12–8 PM 📅 12.09.2025, Friday, 12–8 PM Admission included in the exhibition ticket. “Every participant moving freely within this composition automatically became a co-creator of the artwork” – Wojciech Fangor, Stanisław Zamecznik, Manifesto of Spatial Art, 1960, typescript / from the collection of the Documentation and Library Department of Zachęta. During the exhibition “Spaces,” we are opening our archives and warmly inviting you to explore the resources of the Documentation and Library Department of Zachęta. In the reading room, you will find on-duty archivists and carefully selected materials from our extensive archive – photographs, press clippings, invitations, brochures, catalogs, and unique documents obtained directly from artists. We want to show how we document exhibitions presented at Zachęta and how we continuously monitor Polish artistic life after 1945. Share your discoveries and insights from your encounter with the archive. Since 1962, Zachęta has been continuously collecting and providing access to documentation related to exhibitions and artistic phenomena in Poland. Our archive contains documentation of 2,313 exhibitions organized by Zachęta, as well as 41,299 folders documenting artistic activities in Poland. Photo: Karolina Vyšata – Head of the Documentation and Library Department / photo by Kuba Celej
