Gifts of Friendship
Ninety artists from all over the world are donating their works to Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź. This exceptional gesture is both a reference to the history of the institution and an expression of appreciation for its tradition and unique beginnings as one of the first modern art institutions in the world, established through the cooperation and solidarity of the international artistic community.
Gifts of Friendship—it is under this slogan that the ninety artists are donating their works to the Muzeum Sztuki collection. This symbolic act harks back to the moment of the institution’s establishment in 1931, when the International Collection of Modern Art was established on the basis of artists’ gifts. The current donations come to the Museum at a particularly difficult time for many cultural institutions around the world, which are struggling with increasing ideological polarization, budget cuts, and attempts to limit artistic freedom. This gesture of solidarity symbolically restores Muzeum Sztuki’s position and significance in the art world after the crisis episode when the institution experienced a politically motivated takeover, and its mission, based on values dear to the avant-garde tradition, was disrupted.
The artists who decided to thus support Muzeum Sztuki perceive the meaning of the gift in different ways, but they agree on the significance of the gesture. “It was a revelation to be able to see the work of Kobro and Strzemiński in its natural context,” commented the British artist Liam Gillick, who first exhibited at the Museum in 1995. “I donated works to the collection on that first visit and I feel very honored to be able to do so again after thirty years. It is my tribute to these pioneers of the avant-garde.”
The American artist R.H. Quaytman emphasized Muzeum Sztuki’s unique position on the cultural map: “I wish the United States had a museum of modern art like this. It is an institution that preserves—and documents—the struggle to remember what happened and what was important in all of it.”
Donating her early photographic works to the Łódź institution’s collection, Marysia Lewandowska drew attention to the deeper dimension of the gift: “In the very gesture of gifting, the work of art enters the sphere of collective imagination through affect, supporting the ethos of the museum as a space of joint creation. The gift activates mechanisms of reciprocity and at the same time releases the potential for one’s voice to continue to resonate in a dialogue driven by contemporary and future concerns about maintaining the significance of culture.”
Commenting on her gift, Slovenian artist Jasmina Cibic directed her reflection towards the future: “Once again, we find ourselves in a time of enormous challenges for cultural production and the survival of the art ecosystem. The perpetuum mobile set in motion by the avant-garde authors of the idea of solidarity is a valuable model for the future—resistant to dark forces and preserving spaces for critical thinking.”
The first of the gifts from 2025—including Morgan Fisher’s photograph Pigmente (2019) and John Smith’s film Fan (1978)—can already be seen in the exhibition Sophie Thun: Secret Performance. Further works will be presented successively. Many of the donated works will also be included in the permanent exhibition of the Muzeum Sztuki collection, entitled Ways of Seeing, which will open on October 17.
A special exhibition dedicated to the gifts donated to the Museum is planned for 2026, which will focus on questions about sharing collections and the responsibility of a public institution. A publication is also planned, including all the works, supplemented with essays and artist statements.
The gesture of the group of artists for Muzeum Sztuki is a reminder of the ethos of the institution based on shared values—international cooperation, independence, and artistic courage.
The artists who donated their works include:
Kateryna Badianova, Alexandra Bachzetsis, Nairy Baghramian, Agata Bogacka, Monica Bonvicini, Gast Bouschet & Nadine Hilbert, Agnieszka Brzeżańska, Yane Calovski, Luis Camnitzer, Jasmina Cibic, Isabelle Cornaro, Jakub Czyszczoń, Anna Daučíková, Cian Dayrit, Cécile Dupaquier, Harun Farocki Estate, Morgan Fisher, Gelatin, Liam Gillick, João Maria Gusmão, Veronika Hapchenko, Thomas Hirschhorn, Agata Ingarden, IRWIN, Sanja Iveković, Zuzanna Janin, Eduardo Kac, Nikita Kadan, Nikolay Karabinovych, Anne Mie Van Kerckhoven, Hassan Khan, Jiří Kovanda, Paweł Kowalewski, Kitty Kraus, Susan Kriemann, Kamil Kuskowski, Katalin Ladik, Laibach, Diana Lelonek, Ghislaine Leung, Marysia Lewandowska, Zbigniew Libera, Sharon Lockhart, Kateryna Lysovenko, Marcin Maciejowski, Goshka Macuga, Antje Majewski, Yarema Malaschuk & Roman Khimei, Jumana Manna, Dóra Maurer, Verena Melgarejo Weinandt, Hana Miletić, John Miller, Haroon Mirza, Maurizio Nannucci, Deimantas Narkevičius, Katja Novitskova, Ahmet Öğüt, Wendelien van Oldenborgh, Paulina Ołowska, Tanja Ostojić, Angelo Plessas, Agnieszka Polska, Florian Pumhösl, R.H. Quaytman, Karol Radziszewski, Mykola Ridnyi, Józef Robakowski, Willem de Rooij, Aura Rosenberg, Wilhelm Sasnal, Karin Schneider, Janek Simon, Łukasz Skąpski, John Smith, Marek Sobczyk, Michael Stevenson, Hito Steyerl, Gabriele Stötzer, Katja Strunz, Iza Tarasewicz, Nahum Tevet, Suzanne Treister, Viktor Timofeev, Mona Vatamanu & Florin Tudor, Anton Vidokle, James Welling, Samson Young, Katarina Zdjelar, Tobias Zielony, Heimo Zobernig
Ways of Seeing. The Collection of Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź
Preview: October 17, 2025, ms2, 19 Ogrodowa Street, Łódź
