Kreative Talks with Marta Kolwalewska: Textile Art

How did 1960s Polish textile artists redefine craft into contemporary art and influence a generation of artists? Join Marta Kowalewska, Chief Curator of CMWŁ, as she shares her story behind curating some of the most revolutionary Polish artists, featuring Magdalena Abakanowicz and Barbara Levittoux-Świderska. Learn how fibre, weaving, and fabric became powerful tools for immersive sculpture, avante-garde installation, and materially driven abstraction that launched textiles into international museums and galleries.

The afternoon will feature
• Exclusive talk with Marta Kowalewska including a question and answer session
• Informal networking reception to meet the creatives in the gallery after the talk

Biography
Marta Kowalewska is an art historian and critic, and Chief Curator at the Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź (CMWŁ), Poland. She curated the 16th, 17th, and 18th International Triennial of Textiles in Łódź, as well as exhibitions including Magdalena Abakanowicz. Everything is made of fiber (2025), Wojciech Sadley. Sacrum Profanum. Contemporary Discourse (2025), Antoni Starczewski. Moulding the Ideas (2024), and Metamorphism. Magdalena Abakanowicz (2017-18).

Kowalewska has published over 70 articles, essays, professional interviews, exhibition catalogues, and contributed to both Polish and international institutions in Zacheta Warsaw, TATE Modern, Muzeum Susch/Hatje Cantz, and Musée Bourdelle. She co-authored From Tapestry to Fiber Art: The Lausanne Biennials 1962-1995 (2017) and has edited several books including Textile Textures. Multithreaded narratives (2024), Antoni Starczewski. The Idea of Linear Notation (2022), Magdalena Abakanowicz. Metamorphism (2018), and Splendour of Textiles (2013). She is a board member of the European Textile Network, chairs the Supervisory Board of the Marta Magdalena Abakanowicz-Kosmowska and Jan Kosmowski Foundation, a member of AICA, co-founded Textile Culture Net project, and served on several international juries for textile art.

In partnership with
art'otel London Hoxton | Polish Cultural Institute in London | Richard Saltoun Gallery | RIBA London | Evelyn Glennie