The artistic practice of Krzysztof Maniak (born 1990) is based on activities in the landscape. His works are usually discreet, simple gestures and interactions with nature, such as stroking moss, bark, snow, climbing trees, searching for a distance between two trees corresponding to the length of his body. The artist creates while wandering through forests, meadows and hills in Tuchów, where he lives. These places are both the background for his actions and the material for his temporary installations and the source of props used in his performances.
He is a graduate of the Faculty of Intermedia at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow; since defending his doctorate in 2018, he has been associated with the Chair of Phenomena of Intermedia Art at the Academy. He is a laureate of, among others, the 14th edition of the Hestia Artistic Travel competition, Grand Prix of the 5th Spring Salon organised by the BWA in Tarnów and the 10th edition of Views competition organised by the Zachęta – National Gallery of Art . His works could be seen, among others, in the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, SALT Ulus gallery in Ankara, BWA Katowice, BWA Tarnów, Galerii Bielskiej BWA, Biała Gallery in Lublin, MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow, and within the framework of the Post-Artistic Congress in Sokołowsko.

SELECTED WORKS

Exhibitions

SOLO

2024
At the Ground, ABC Gallery, Poznań

2023
Actions in nature, MOCAK, Cracow

2021
Stone & Tree, BWA Warszawa, Warsaw

2020
Krzysztof Maniak’s Selected Films, Photographs and Objects Between 2017-2020, BWA Bielsko-Biała

2019
Krzysztof Maniak’s Selected Films, Photographs and Objects Between 2016-2019, BWA Tarnów

2019
Pozostający cień, Gallery of the Faculty of Painting - Academy of Fine Arts , Cracow

2016
Snow Is What Comes To Mind, BWA Warszawa, Warsaw

2015
30 Seconds Of Hanging from a Tree Branch Before It Broke- exhibition within project ‚Reservation’, BWA Katowice

2014
Rysy, Dwie Lewe Ręce Gallery, Katowice
The Stopped, Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art, Witches’ Tower, Słupsk

GROUP

2024
Museum as a School, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw
Archives: found, combed threw, sewn together – a collective exhibition, Biała Gallery / Cultural Center, Lublin
THE CENTER OF WORLDS IS HERE Festival/ nature/cultivation/use/wildness, Przemyśl
ABC Gallery Collection, ABC Gallery, Poznań
STEPS, BWA Studio Wrocław, Krupa Art Foundation, Entropia Gallery, Wrocław
Letters to R. vol. 2, Wieża Ciśnień, Kalisz
We Haven’t Seen Anything That Looked the Same, Błędowska Desert (Law of the Desert Festival)
Retroversions. On the Postmodern Reconstruction of Elbląg, SARP Pavilion, Warsaw
Przedjutrze, Podbrzezie Gallery, Cracow
STRAND, Polish Institute, p_arte Gallery, Vienna
And in the Wilderness, Krupa Art Foundation, Wrocław
Primary Forms, Thailand Biennale Chiang Rai 2023, Chiang Rai, Thailand
Closest, BWA, Tarnów
From the Fish-Eye Perspective, Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art / Baszta Czarownic / Kameralna Gallery / CAT, Słupsk / Ustka

2023
Ways of Knowing, Farmynwoods Contemporary Art, Brixworth Country Park, Brixworth
Der Wald wird Chor, Kommunale Galerie, Berlin
Retroversions: Homes for Ourselves – The Old Town for the City, Art Center Gallery EL, Elbląg
Letters to R., II Clinic of Internal Medicine, Krakow (Cracow Art Week 2023)
IX Spring Salon, BWA, Tarnów
Emotional Ecology, Academic Design Center, Łódź
EkoPolEx, Podbrzezie Gallery, Kraków
TRANSITIONAL STATES, Bielska BWA Art Gallery, Bielsko-Biała

2022
Restless Souls (Open Eyes Art Festival 2022), Ogiński and Potulicki Palace, Cracow
BUJNOŚĆ. Atlas nieskończonych możliwości, State Gallery of Art, Sopot
The Fourth Nature: Dusk of the Anthropocene within the 9th Edition of the Eye Never Sleeps Festival, Ostromecko Palace / BWA Municipal Gallery, Bydgoszcz
Territories of Photography, Nowa Huta Cultural Center, Cracow

2021
Views 2021: Krzysztof Maniak Archive of walks, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw
Shadows Conceal the Earth, BWA Warszawa, Warsaw
WALK WITH ME, ASP Gallery, Cracow
Nature as a Creative Material: MOCAK Collection in Vilnius, International ArtVilinius’21, Vilnius
Contexts, Post-Artistic Congress, Sokołowsko
The Artist is Present, MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art, Cracow
14th edition of the Hestia Artistic Travel competition, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw
8th Spring Salon, BWA Tarnów

2020
Purchases 2, BWA Bydgoszcz
Time and Foam, ASP Gallery, Cracow
Między-czas, Centre for the Documentation of the Art of Tadeusz Kantor CRICOTEKA, Cracow
Eureka- discovery time! The National Ethnographic Museum, Warsaw
From Matter to Data: Ecology of Infrastructures, internet platform post.MoMA.org
Komorebi - nature-inspired creative ideas for playing with children, BWA Katowice
the Penumbral Age, Art in the Time of Planetary Change, Museum of Modern Art
7th Spring Salon, BWA Tarnów
Herbarium novum. Efflorescentiae, BWA Bydgoszcz
from Peripoheries. vol II. Group Exhibition. Small Gallery, Witches’ Tower, CAT, Słupsk / Ustka

2019
Ergo Sum Journey, Biała Gallery, Lublin
After-word. XIX Łemkowskie Jerusalem on paper, Legnica
Muzeum Przyszłości, Ideal City, Małopolska Garden of Arts, Museum of Urban Engineering, Cracow
Interakcje. Przechadzki samotnego marzyciela / Marzenia samotnego wędrowca, Artistic Meetings DIALOGUES, Promocyjna Galeria ASP, Cracow
Footnotes from Ideal City - showroom, Onomatopee, Eindhoven
Nature in Art, MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art, Cracow
Opcja Ulotna, OPCJA Gallery of Intermedia, Cracow
Our Garden, ul. Czysta 15, Cracow
Pod soczystym zielonym mchem, ktoś schował białe kości, Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art, Witches’ Tower, Small Gallery, CAT, Słupsk / Ustka
6th Spring Salon, BWA Tarnów

2018
Rośl - inne, ABC Gallery, Poznań
Ziemia w Słońcu, Widna Gallery, Cracow
Ozimina, Widna Gallery, Cracow
5th Spring Salon, BWA Tarnów

2017
Trzy złote włosy, Kraków Cultural Forum / Litograf, Cracow
Polish Forest, Biała Gallery, Lublin
No Problem, Potencja Gallery, Cracow
Jednoczesność zdarzeń, CSW Toruń and Częstochowskie Museum, Toruń/Częstochowa
Lord’s favour is no inheritance, Henryk Gallery, Cracow
4th Spring Salon, BWA Tarnów

2016
Pusto, City Art Gallery, Kalisz
Love, Manhattan Gallery, Łódź
Anomalie. Poznanie – Rozpoznanie, Promocyjna Galeria i Galeria Wydziału Malarstwa ASP, Cracow
ART.eria VI, Festiwal sztuki w przestrzeni publicznej, Częstochowa
Apologia przypadkowości, Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art, Witches’ Tower, Small Gallery, CAT, Słupsk / Ustka
Wśród twarzy, National Art Gallery, Sopot
Wykrój. Miasto. Tarnów, BWA Tarnów
Hati Hati Hat, Bookstore / Exhibition, Cracow
Rozmowy z roślinami, Bookstore / Exhibition, Cracow
U Rodziny, Tatrzańskie Museum (Władysław Hasior Gallery), Zakopane
7 Jednodniowych wystaw w Krakowie przed aukcją w Warszawie, Bookstore / Exhibition, Cracow

2015
Quest for fire, Szara Kamienica Gallery, Cracow
WARM UP, Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art, Cracow
Mycorial Theatre II, Kadenówka, Rabka Zdrój
Keep Both Feet on the Ground — main exhibition of the project Reserve, BWA Katowice and BWA Tarnów
Fish Eye 8, Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art/ CAT, Ustka
Bycie i Czas, TRAFO, Szczecin
Repose, Cracow / Lanckorona / Znamirowice
8th Hestia Artistic Travel competition, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw

2014
Intermedia.mov., KinoLab, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw
Videonews, Labirynt Gallery, Lublin
Valley of Shadows, Cellar Gallery, Cracow
Into the Country, Salt Ulus, Ankara
As You Can See, Polish Art Today, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw

2013
Krótki wymiar emocji, Cinema Castle, Szczecin
Fish Eye 7, Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art, Witches’ Tower, Słupsk
Sztuka-Obiekt-Zapis 5, PREXER-UŁ, Łódź
aniMOS, Małopolska Garden of Arts, Cracow

2012
Punkty Widzenia II, Manhattan Gallery, Łódź

Publications

Filmoteka:
https://artmuseum.pl/pl/filmoteka/artysci/krzysztof-maniak
Materiał filmowy z wystawy w Bielsku Białej:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sX61HbaF1sw
Recenzje:
Kamień i drzewo:
www.dwutygodnik.com/artykul/9477-z-lasu.html
Wybrane filmy, fotografie, spacery i obiekty Krzysztofa Maniaka z lat 2016–2019:
https://czaskultury.pl/czytanki/zrobic-cos-w-co-nikt-nie-uwierzy/
Culture.pl (Wywiad z Piotrem Polichtem):
https://culture.pl/pl/artykul/krzysztof-maniak-spaceruje-coraz-wiekszymi-oplotkami-wywiad