Intense autumn for Faculty of Art – successes, exhibitions and creative projects

The autumn at the Faculty of Art brings unique events and successes. From a sentimental journey through time with Grzegorz Hussak, reflections on nature and emotions in Maria Bitka’s art, to international awards and anniversaries of our artists.

‘Urlaub’ is a sentimental journey with Grzegorz Hussak

What is photography? What was it half a century ago? Can its value be measured, and if so, according to what criteria? Come and see Grzegorz Hussak’s exhibition, which will take you on a journey through time, where old amateur photographs and 8 mm films will become a starting point for reflection on memory, emotions and the changing nature of images.

Seemingly ordinary holiday photographs, everyday scenes and fleeting moments – once recorded on film and colour slides – are now taking on new meaning. They become a testimony to a bygone era, a vehicle for nostalgia and longing for a world that has gone.

The exhibition is an invitation to take a sentimental journey into the past – to the carefree holidays spent in places untouched by commercialism and the hustle and bustle of modern life. It is a reflection on the lost world of bygone customs, emotions and rituals, captured in a small film frame.

Not only is every photograph, every slide and every film frame an image, it is also a fragment of memory, a way of seeing and a record of an era. The exhibition will be held at Dom Sztuki Żar (Żar House of Art) at 9a Mały Rynek in Opole. The opening is scheduled for 25 October 2025.

Drzewostan [Forest stand] – exhibition for adults only

Maria Bitka’s exhibition will run from 29 October to 14 November 2025. It will be inspired by trees seen through the prism of traditional culture. Plant motifs, present in folk songs, rarely refer exclusively to nature — they usually become a metaphor for human emotions and passions.

Trees and plants lead the listener deep into the world of emotions, telling stories of love and longing, but also of violence and suffering. Listening to songs about apple trees, sycamores or oaks, one can find stories that are both beautiful and dark.

In her exhibition, the artist refers to these narratives, touching upon universal themes told through plant symbols. At the Galeria -m- (19 Powstańców Śląskich Street, Opole), she will present installations, video pieces and a performance, creating a polyphonic reflection on the place of nature in emotional and cultural memory.

Faculty of Art with successes at 8th International Trienniale of Digital Graphics

The Faculty of Art was represented by five artists from our Faculty of Art at the 8th International Triennial of Digital Graphics Gdynia/Rzeszów 2025, which was opened on 9 October. Though in the company of 72 artists from all over the world, Magdalena Hlawacz, Bartłomiej Trzos, Paulina Ptaszyńska, Bartosz Posacki and Jarosław Janas were still recognized.

The last three received nominations for the award, and Jarosław Janas’s work was awarded second prize of the Director of the Voivodeship Cultural Centre in Rzeszów. His unusual work combined minimalism with the expression of orderly linear structures, which are a record of movement in which kinetics becomes an expression of scanning space and compressing the resulting record of reality.

Jubilee exhibition of Dr Wit Pichurski

On 16 October, the Diocesan Museum in Opole hosted the opening of the exhibition ‘Flashes. Light and Matter’, presenting the work of Dr Wit Pichurski, a lecturer at the Faculty of Art. This event was unique because it was connected with the 25th anniversary of the author’s artistic work.

During the exhibition opening, numerous visitors had an opportunity to admire paintings, drawings and sculptures created over the course of a quarter of a century of the artist’s creative activity. The exhibition will run until 25 November, and a guided tour by the artist will take place on 26 October at 4 p.m.

Grzegorz Hussak wins the main prize in the Global Photography Awards 2025 competition

Grzegorz Hussak from the Faculty of Art won the main prize in the international Global Photography Awards 2025 competition in the Minimalist Photography – Architecture category. It is one of the most important international photography events, open to photographers from around the world – both professionals and amateurs.

The competition covers a wide range of categories, such as Minimalist Photography, Architecture, Fine Art or Nature. The submitted works are assessed by an international jury composed of renowned photographers, artistic directors and curators affiliated with prestigious photographic institutions. The selection process is conducted under a blind judging system, which guarantees transparency and objectivity of the results. The judges take into account originality, visual quality, content, technique and overall artistic impression.

Grzegorz Hussak’s award-winning work is part of the ‘Architecture 2.0’ project, which has been running since 2015. For years, the artist has been exploring issues of postmodern architecture, transforming it from a functional object into an autonomous artistic space, detached from its everyday context.

In his photographs, he searches for pure form, which becomes a vehicle for distinct, often abstract stories. He focuses on the interplay of light and shadow,  creating compositions that balance on the border between reality and perception.

‘Jazz is my religion’ and other successes

The Faculty of Art enjoyed another success when posters created by Prof. Bartosz Posacki were qualified for three significant national and international art events.

The poster ‘Drink water before you dry out’ was included in the post-competition exhibition ‘Work and Climate’, which was the 34th edition of the Work Safety Poster Competition. The competition was organised by the Central Institute for Labour Protection – National Research Institute, and co-organised by the Faculty of Industrial Design of the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, the Faculty of Industrial Design of the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź, and the Faculty of Design of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.

In addition, the poster ‘Roma, Citizen, European’ was selected for the international exhibition ‘Roma, Citizen, European – Through Memory to the Present,’ organised by the Roma History and Culture Centre in Oświęcim. In turn, the poster ‘Jazz is my religion’ was qualified for the 29th Polish Poster Biennale in Katowice – the oldest and one of the most prestigious poster competitions in Poland.