Art Warsaw to stage roaming fair in Cold War-era British Embassy

Art Warsaw will hold its next edition at a former British Embassy in central Warsaw, continuing a format that shifts between locations rather than using a permanent site.

Co-founded by Joanna Witek-Lipka—longtime director of Warsaw Gallery Weekend—and gallerist Michał Kaczyński, the fair will take place May 20–24 at Villa Róż, a 19th-century palace that later served as the British diplomatic mission. More than 50 galleries are expected to participate, organizers said.

Art Warsaw has staged recent editions in different buildings, including in the abandoned dental hospital of the Medical University of Warsaw. Organizers said they plan to keep moving the fair rather than anchor it to a single venue.

“We’re keeping things flexible and not defining it too rigidly at this stage,” Joanna Witek-Lipka and Michał Kaczyński said in joint responses to questions from Urgent Matter. “We will most likely want to stage Villa Róż again next year, but it won’t become a permanent venue—we intend to keep moving.”

Witek-Lipka and Kaczyński said that what they value most about Art Warsaw is its character as “something on the threshold between an exhibition and an art fair,” adding that new buildings and changing contexts are inspiring for participants and the audience.

“We believe that stepping outside the white cube expands the field of imagination and creates a more engaging context for experiencing art,” Witek-Lipka and Kaczyński said.

The current edition builds on earlier “Villa” projects organized by Warsaw gallery Raster, which began placing gallery presentations in different buildings in Warsaw and other cities around 20 years ago.

“In a way, we see ourselves as inheritors of that idea of exchange between galleries, rooted in a spirit of experimentation and discovery,” the organizers said. “While we are gradually evolving toward a fair format, we hope to preserve that spirit.”

Villa Róż was built in 1876 as a private residence designed by architect Józef Huss, in what is now a central district of Warsaw near Ujazdowski Park and other major cultural sites.

It later served as the British Embassy in Poland during the Cold War, when Warsaw was part of the Soviet-aligned Eastern Bloc. Its reuse as a cultural venue comes as Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine continues to heighten regional tensions and refocus attention on Eastern Europe.

Organizers said in a news release that the villa contains “a maze-like system of office spaces” and still houses an armory, reinforced safe-rooms, and other “mysterious” spaces and equipment.

“We believe that this multilayered setting stands as a vital and enriching backdrop for the exhibited works, providing an intriguing experience for visitors exploring the palace filled with relics of history, political isolation, and the mechanisms of control,” they said.

When asked whether any artists or presentations directly engage with Villa Róż’s history as a former British Embassy, organizers responded that all presentations “are carefully placed within specific rooms.”

“In many cases, the existing features and layered histories of these spaces play an important role in shaping how the works are experienced, helping to bring out their strongest possible resonance,” they said.

 “These are not literal references to the building’s past; rather, the particular rooms are used to construct a more subtle but compelling narrative.”

Dominika Olszowy, for example, is creating a multi-day, looped performance that uses the former embassy infrastructure, including the guardhouse and the building’s entrance. The organizers called it “a kind of micro-theater piece.”

“In the representative ballroom, textile banners by Charlotte Johannesson will hang from the ceiling like national flags,” Witek-Lipka and Kaczyński said. And in the former armory, Piktogram will present a video by Alexandra Bachzetsis, which engages with the room’s “inherently claustrophobic character.”

The list of participating galleries is anchored heavily in Warsaw, with a large share of participating galleries based in the city or elsewhere in Poland, including long-established local spaces and newer commercial galleries.

That local core is supplemented by a strong Central and Eastern European presence, with galleries from cities such as Prague, Bucharest, Riga, Tartu and Tbilisi, along with participants from Kyiv and Almaty, reinforcing the fair’s regional focus.

At the same time, the lineup includes a layer of established Western European and international galleries from Berlin, London, Vienna, Milan and beyond, as well as participants from the United States and Asia.

“We are, of course, working together with the galleries to attract the interest of professionals and collectors from across the region. We already have our own network of contacts and several years of experience in building and strengthening it,” organizers said.

“We also have a large local community of artists from CEE, particularly from Ukraine and Belarus, which further reinforces this regional dimension.”

Witek-Lipka and Kaczyński said that, so far, there are “no indications of such issues this year,” when asked if any participating galleries—particularly from Ukraine or the region—faced logistical or financial challenges in getting to Warsaw.

“We hope everything will proceed smoothly. The cost of participation in our fair is relatively modest and adjusted to the realities of our region,” the organizers said.

“We also maintain an ongoing dialogue with all participating galleries to ensure that their involvement is as smooth as possible. If any problems do arise, we address them collaboratively and work together to find solutions.”

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