MICHAŁ BATORY POSTER EXHIBITION
An exceptional exhibition of works by Michał Batory—one of the most important contemporary representatives of the Polish School of Poster—is presented in the spaces of the Nizio Gallery and Universum Theatre and Mind (UTU). For years, the artist has worked at the intersection of Polish and French culture. Living and working in Paris, he has developed a globally recognizable visual language based on metaphor, synthesis, and the tension between image and meaning.
The exhibition has been conceived as a dialogue—spread across two spaces and two areas of Batory’s artistic practice. At the Nizio Gallery, posters related to music and broadly understood art are presented, showcasing the artist’s distinctive approach to constructing visual metaphors. Meanwhile, the Universum Theatre and Mind space features the theatrical section—works created for opera, ballet, and theatre, in which the poster functions as an integral part of the stage experience.
Batory’s work is rooted in the tradition of the Polish School of Poster while consistently developing it within an international context. He operates through synthetic imagery, objects, and signs, creating compositions that balance humor, unease, and poetic minimalism. His posters do not illustrate—they construct autonomous worlds of meaning, engaging the viewer in the process of interpretation.
The exhibition’s curator, Karolina Kliszewska, describes Michał Batory’s work as one of the most recognizable phenomena of contemporary European poster art—an art form functioning between applied graphics, photography, and autonomous artistic expression. She highlights the artist’s exceptional ability to build evocative metaphors from everyday objects and to create images that “capture attention, provoke emotions, and leave space for interpretation.”
As the curator emphasizes, Batory has developed the tradition of the Polish School of Poster toward staged photography, surreal objects, and visually theatrical metaphors. His works are described as “poetic,” “hypnotic,” and “surrealist,” while remaining highly communicative.
She also points to the unique context of the exhibition’s location—the space at Inżynierska 3 in Warsaw’s Praga district. According to her, presenting Batory’s works within the industrial, post-industrial fabric of the city restores the poster to its original dimension—as a medium present in urban space, functioning in direct contact with architecture and social experience.
The exhibition is an attempt to capture Michał Batory’s unique creative language and to reflect on the contemporary role of the poster in visual culture. It presents the poster not only as an informational medium, but also as an independent form of artistic expression, existing at the intersection of art, theatre, and visual communication.
The opening was attended by the artist himself, who came especially from Paris for the occasion, as well as accompanied by a live music concert complementing the exhibition’s narrative.
Exhibition dates: May 22 – August 31, 2026
Visits by appointment only (email or phone):
biuro@utu.com.pl | +48 694 306 034
During the exhibition, selected posters by Michał Batory and the artist’s signed book are also available for purchase.
