AT THE BACK OF THE MIND

Monographic exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Art Kraków, 2025

Dorota Mytych’s monographic exhibition at MOCAK – the Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków – brings together a selection of works that explore the fragility, erosion, and transformation of social and political systems. Through painting, drawing, sculpture, video, and installation, the exhibition traces the subtle processes by which dominant narratives dissolve and shift over time.

Located on the site of Oskar Schindler’s former factory, MOCAK is one of Poland’s leading institutions for contemporary art. Its programme combines exhibitions with research, publishing, and education, with a focus on art’s relevance to current realities and its connection to postwar avant-garde traditions.

Many of the works in the exhibition are grounded in Polish history and cultural memory, yet speak to broader structures of power, visibility, and complicity. The exhibition’s title refers to the persistence of images that live in the subconscious—those that remain hidden at the back of the mind until they demand resolution. In Mytych’s work, that resolution takes the form of precise and deliberate artistic acts. Across media, she draws our attention to what is often overlooked, resisting fixed interpretation and inviting sustained, critical looking.

The exhibition was curated by Martyna Sobczyk, with coordination by Aleksandra Żelichowska. The Australian Embassy in Poland was the Honorary Patron of the exhibition.