Katarzyna (Kasia)
Krzykawska
Katarzyna Krzykawska (Apolinarski) is a multidisciplinary artist and an art educator with gallery exhibits and site-specific art installations in several countries, including Poland, USA, Germany, Spain, Mexico, and Taiwan. Her art practice explores the sociocultural context of landscapes exposing the contradictions of the idealistic utopian versus the pragmatic mundane.
She has been commissioned by parks, various institutions, and art festivals to make art installations (Land Art Festival, Arboretum Bolestraszyce), monuments and scenic design (Sarah Bush Dance Company for San Francisco Opera, and National Audubon Society).
Besides her art practice, she is a researcher who publishes texts about contemporary art, environment, and deathscape.
Krzykawska studied art in Poland and Spain, received a MFA (2000), PhD (2008) and postdoctoral (2017) degrees from Academies of Fine Arts in Krakow and Gdansk. She has taught art and design at universities in Poland, Mexico, Italy, and recently at the California State University.
She lives and works in the US and Poland.
Katarzyna Krzykawska (Apolinarski)
POLAND / USA
2017 Post-doctoral, Department of Sculpture and Intermedia Arts. ASP Gdańsk, Poland
2008 PhD in Fine Arts, Department of Sculpture, Academy of Fine Arts, Krakow, Poland
2000 MA Sculpture, Academy of Fine Arts, Krakow, Poland
1999-2000 Universidad Politécnica di Valencia, Spain
1998 MA Fine Arts Education. Pedagogical University of Krakow, Poland
SELECTED SHOWS AND ART PROJECTS (selection 2008 – 2026)
2026 They Depart, They Arrive, Arboretum Bolestraszyce, Poland (site specific)
2026 Forest Within, Vienna Woods Gallery, Los Angeles, USA (solo)
2026 Forest Eye, Lauderdale, (art residency), Mississippi, USA (site specific)
2025 Blue Eye, Rudnik nad Sanem, Center of Wicker Crafts, Poland (site specific)
2025 La vida es sueno, Palace of Arts, Krakow, Poland /Galeria de Saenz Lopez, Culiacan, México (curator / participant)
2025 PL_US, Krakart Group, Vienna Woods Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
2024 Land of Urlo. Ethereal Labyrinth, Pharmacy Museum, Wroclaw, Poland/ Museum of Lithuanian Literature Maironis, Kaunas, Lithuania
2024 Art Faculty and Alumni Exhibition, California State University Art Gallery, Hayward, USA
2023 The New Spirituality, Mark Rothko Art Center, Daugavpils, Latvia
2022 Honoring Life, Petaluma Art Center, CA, USA
2021 American as a Second Language, The Window Project @ machinaloci, Berkeley, USA (solo)
2018 Spirit&Bones by Sarah Bush Dance Project - scenic design, Taube Atrium Theatre, The Wilsey Center for Opera, San Francisco, USA
2018 Spirit&Bones by Sarah Bush Dance Project - scenic design, Taube Atrium Theatre, The Wilsey Center for Opera, San Francisco, USA
2017 Landscape Memory, Labolatorio de Artistas Norte 124, Metepéc, México (solo)
Paired, Arboretum Bolestraszyce, Poland (site specific)
2016 Swing, VI Land Art Festival, “Home”, Bubel Łukowiska, Poland (site specific)
2016 Borderline, Szczere Pole Gallery, Kryspinów, Poland (site specific)
2015 Horse and a Polish Case. Disinfection of Polish Romantic Landscape, V Land Art Festival, Stary Bubel, Poland (site specific)
2015 Cutting /Thunder, Arboretum SGGW Rogow, Poland (site specific)
Tears, University of Lviv Botanical Garden, Lviv, Ukraine (site specific)
2014 Cloud, Arboretum Bolestraszyce, Poland (site specific)
Red Hood, Arboretum Bolestraszyce, Poland (site specific)
2013 Confiserie Polonaise, XX1 Gallery, Warsaw, Poland (solo)
La Originalidad en la cultura de la copia, El Centro Universitario de las Artes, Ciudad Juárez, México
2012 Difficult Cases, U Piotra Gallery, Arboretum Bolestraszyce, Poland (solo)
2012 Stories, BWA Gallery, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, Poland (solo)
2011 Stones, Arboretum Bolestraszyce, Poland (site specific)
# D4213D, XX1 Gallery, Warsaw, Poland (solo)
Libroarte, Biblioteca de la Facultat de Belles Arts in Barcelona, Spain
2010 AB Rh +, XS Gallery, Fine Arts Institute, Kielce, Poland (solo)
Wariaty, Alles wird Schoen Gallery, Hamburg, Germany (solo)
Import-Export, Exhibition in collaboration with Waldemar Sulewski and Kioer group, Essener Strasse, Hamburg, Germany
Sztuka, Positionen Polnischer Aktueller Kunst, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
2009 Private Horizontal Line, Kinetic Drawings, Meeting in Zdonov, Czechia (site specific)
Searching for EU Standards, Vilnius, Lithuania (site specific)
Geumgang Nature Art Pre-Biennale, South Korea
2008 International Tsai-mo Ecology Art Exhibition, Taichung City, Taiwan
Katarzyna Krzykawska (Apolinarski)
EDUCATION
2017 Post-doctoral, Department of Sculpture and Intermedia Arts. ASP Gdańsk, Poland
2008 PhD in Fine Arts, Department of Sculpture, Academy of Fine Arts, Krakow, Poland
2000 MA Sculpture, Academy of Fine Arts, Krakow, Poland
2000 Universidad Politécnica di Valencia, Spain
1998 MA Fine Arts Education. Pedagogical University of Krakow, Poland
SELECTED ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES 2008-2020
Teaching Experience at Universities
2022 –
The California State University, East Bay, The Department of Art and Design, CA, USA (Adjunct Faculty)
2017- 2022
The Warsaw University of Life Sciences (WULS/SGGW), The Department of Landscape Art, Warsaw, Poland (Associate Professor)
Degree program - Landscape Architecture (BA and MA studies)
2013-2017
The Warsaw University of Life Sciences (WULS/SGGW), The Department of Landscape Art, Warsaw, Poland (Assistant Professor)
Degree program - Landscape Architecture (BA and MA studies)
- Courses: Drawing, Sculpture as a Form of Expression, Environmental Sculpture and Design
- Sponsor of Bachelor and Master Graduate Diploma Works
2008 -2015
The University of Jan Kochanowski, The Institute of Fine Arts, Kielce, Poland (Assistant Professor)
Degree programs - Art Education in Visual Arts (BA, MA and PhD studies) and Design (BA)
- Courses: Multimedia, Public Space Interventions, Sculpture and Architecture – Small Forms, Fundamentals of Graphic Design
- Sponsor of Bachelor and Master Graduate Diploma Works
Invited Lectures, Artist Talks, Workshops, and Presentations at Academic Institutions
May, 2026
Beyond Taboo: The Transformation of the Funeral Landscape, NAWA Research Grant, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Poland.
Oct, 2026
Analog Meets AI: The Collage Lab, ArtCenter College of Design, Pasadena, CA, USA.
Nov, 2023
American as a Second Language, Visiting Artist Lecture Series, Sonoma State University, USA.
July, 2023
Past that Refuses to Pass Away. Individual Versus Collective in Commemorating, Global Urban
Humanities, University of California, Berkeley, USA.
Nov, 2019
American Iconoclasm and its Traces in “Techniques of Memory” at UC Berkeley, conference: Anti- Monuments, Polish Sculpture Center, Orońsko, Poland.
Sept, 2019
“Art as a Litmus Paper. The Case of the Polish Countryside”, conference: Understanding the Countryside. Rural Europe in a Post-Global World, IES, University of California, Berkeley.
Feb-Mar, 2017
Lecture series:
“Cultura Popular y Arte Contemporaneo en Polonia y Europa del Este”, La Universidad Autónoma de Estado de México.
Apr-May, 2015
"Contemporary Art in the Provices. Into the Country." Accademia di Belle Arti, Bari, Italy, Erasmus Individual Teaching Program for Teaching Staff Mobility.
Nov, 2012
Lecture series:
"Intervenciones efimeras en la naturaleza" II Encuentro Internacional de Grafica Contemporánea, El Instituto de Arquitectura, Diseño y Arte, La Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez, México.
"Inspiraciones: cultura visual de época comunista en diseño y arte contemporánea en Polonia", El Instituto de Arquitectura, Diseño y Arte, La Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez, México.
Oct, 2012
"La Bienal Báltico", 7 Foro Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo, La Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Facultad de Artes, México.
Mar, 2012
"The Song of Two Songs. Some Words about Contemporary Polish Art", Teaching Program for Teaching Staff Mobility, Accademia di Belle Arti, Bari, Italy.
Apr, 2010
“Between natural and artificial. The Summary of Contemporary Space Realizations in Poland ", Umeni Academy in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia.
Selected texts published (2009-2026)
Krzykawska Apolinarski, K. (2026). From Cemeteries to Ecological Memorial Landscapes: The Rise of Green and Conservation Burial Grounds and Its Opportunity for Urban Planning. Acta Sci. Pol. Architectura.
Dlugozima A., Kosiacka- Beck E., Krzykawska K. (2025). Multiuse Cemetery Paradigm: Cemetery as a Multifunctional Place of Social Significance – Reshaping a Cemetery in the Urban Space of Eastern Europe. Cities, Elsevier, online: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2024.105556).
Dlugozima, A., Kosiacka Beck, E., Krzykawska, K. (2025). Cemetery as Multifaceted Space with Leisure Uses in the Urban American and Western European Context. Leisure Studies (Taylor & Francis), pp. 1-18, https://doi.org/10.1080/02614367.2024.2428344
Krzykawska K. (2022). Land. Art. Trip. Z okna samochodu w: Geografie Sztuki, Kwartalni Rzeźby Polskiej Orońsko, s. 9-13
Krzykawska K. (2021). O akademii, sztuce i młodzieży wychowaniu, w: Artysta wobec instytucji, in: Kwartalnik Centrum Rzeźby Polskiej w Orońsku, s.60-65
Krzykawska K. (2021). Na śmietnisku. in: Rzeźba w poszukiwaniu miejsca, w: Kwartalnik Centrum Rzeźby Polskiej w Orońsku, s. 23-28
Krzykawska K. (2020). Pomnikowy lifting historii. Przypadek amerykański w: Wiadomości ASP/92, ASP Kraków, s.12-17
Krzykawska K. (2020). The Struggle with Memory in Memorialisation. American Iconoclasm and its Traces in “Techniques of Memory” at UC Berkeley. Sculpture Today IV. Anti- Monuments, Polish Sculpture Center, Orońsko, Poland, pp.99-106.
Krzykawska K. (2019). A Landfill Penisula as an Experimental Use Space. A Case Study of Albany Bulb. Acta Sci. Pol. Architectura 18 (4) 2019, pp. 51-60.
Krzykawska K. (2017). Jugar, crear, ver, saber. El espacio para experimentar, jugar, descubrir y aprender, La Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez, México, pp. 99-119.
Krzykawska, K. (2016). Intervenciones Efimeras en la Naturaleza. Intervenciones Efimeras en el Espacio, La Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez, México, pp. 15-26.
Krzykawska, K. (2015). Greenery in the City. The Projector Cultural Magazine, Kielce ISSN 2353-1037 No.3 / 2015; pp. 6-13; http://www.projektorkielce.pl
Krzykawska, K. (2015). To see, to Know, to Feel and to Design. Seeing the Landscape: The Garden and the Landscape Art, Special edition, pp. 142- 156, ISSN 2084-6150.
Krzykawska, K. (2013). Monuments Will Not Save Us. The Projector Cultural Magazine ISSN 2353-1037 No.5 / 2013; pp. 10-15; http://www.projektorkielce.pl
Katarzyna, K. La Bienal Báltico. 7 Foro Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo, La Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Facultad de Artes, México, pp. 177-188 ISBN 978- 607- 422- 488- 7.
Holewiński, M. and Krzykawska, K. (2011). Park Directory System and a Small Architecture Catalog of Forms in Holy Cross National Park. Architecture Mountain Region yesterday-today-tomorrow, the International scientific conference of the Institute of Architecture and Urban Planning. Podhale State Vocational College in Nowy Targ, Poland 2011 ISBN 978-83-60621-15-8.
Krzykawska, K. (2009). Between the Natural and the Artificial. Polish Sculpture Annals. Volume XIII, Polish Sculpture Center, pp. 159-161.