Manifesta purposely strives to keep its distance from what are often seen as the dominant centres of artistic production, instead seeking fresh and fertile terrain for the mapping of a new cultural topography.
Mikołaj Sobczak, PL
Die Spinne (The Spider), 2026. Installation, painting, video, sound.
Mikołaj Sobczak lives and works between Amsterdam and Düsseldorf and explores how identities, myths and power relations are staged and reproduced. He works across painting, video, installation and performance and treats history as a speculative and affective field, focusing on lives and experiences erased from dominant narratives, particularly queer and emancipatory histories. Drawing on archival research and collaboration, he creates surreal, collaged images in which past and present meet. Large-scale paintings often expand into installations, shaping the viewer’s movement like scenographic structures. His performances function as a “living archive” activating unwritten and oral histories through bodies, speech, and duration.