Aleksandra Wałaszek

It’s been a wild art marathon. Now it’s time to reflect—or not. Thank you to everyone who came to the closing over a week ago, shared with truly wonderful human beings: Maya Nguyen and Kat Bawden ❤️‍🔥🔔

*🏁 Dear Friends please join us for the official closing of the exhibition 𝘒𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘞𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘒𝘯𝘰𝘸, this Saturday April 4, 4-6pm at Compound Yellow. Two very special guests will be joining us: Kat Bawden and Maya Nguyen, who will perform their new pieces: 🥕 Maya Nguyen: 𝘗𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦 & 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘴 at 4:30pm a text-based performance of disordered words, meanings, and moods. 🔔 Kat Bawden: 𝘌𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘺 𝘉𝘦𝘭𝘭 at 5:00pm a performance about disaster, control, and bells. Please join us for an evening of conversation, refreshments, and bites. Warmly, Ola & Sam

* The folding security gates have been relocated from the artist’s studio to Compound Yellow in Oak Park. One is seamlessly attached to its entry door (𝘚𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘰 𝘎𝘢𝘵𝘦), while another, reflected in lumen prints, is mounted inside (𝘚𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘰 𝘎𝘢𝘵𝘦 (𝘊𝘰𝘱𝘺)). These sun-drawn impressions barely recall the aged steel of an expandable door gate. A late nineteenth-century invention, the folding security grill remains a common feature on Chicago storefronts, including the former Belmont Cragin tailor shop—now our studio. Forged from heavy-duty metal, such gates mark the city's hostile interventions. Their unchanged presence signals something ambiguous: perhaps bad times are unavoidable, or perhaps the gates have simply dissolved into the landscape. Too familiar to notice. Made in collaboration with Sam Stevens ⚓ at @compoundyellow 🟡 Ty @mickiewicz_institute #reside 🔴 📸 Laura Schaeffer

* 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘥 (𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘒. 𝘞𝘢ł𝘢𝘴𝘻𝘦𝘬’𝘴 𝘈𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘏𝘶𝘳𝘵), 2026 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘥 (𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘍𝘭𝘢𝘨 𝘚𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘺), 2026 aluminum, dye sublimation on fabric, fringe There is a sense of waiting—for things to pass, for things to calm down. A ceremonial suspension, gleaming white flags on poles twisted into anthropomorphic poses. One echoing K. Wałaszek’s "Always Hurt" captures emotional ambiguity. The other one: "Untitled (White Flag Study)" is holding a blank space, quietly suggesting that it might be the right time. Together they form a visual language that registers the (dis)comfort of numbness.  The question is not the aesthetics of resistance, but the aesthetics of its absence. /Co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland. Merci/ . . . @compoundyellow @mickiewicz_institute #reside @walaszek.asp

Know what you want to know Aleksandra Wałaszek Samuel Stevens March 07- April 04 At Compound Yellow New works trace how accidents and external forces become part of personal realities. Landscapes and bodies mutate into algorithmic instructions – mediated or lived, aligned to shifting social logics, with reality scaled to fit. The artists ask through collage and video, weaving and carving: What is a promise never kept, an armistice of gazes, an ignored apology? The exhibition is informed by times of unrest, and unseen forces; they consider that an invitation to exit requires rehearsing the welcome again. Wałaszek received an MFA in Fiber and Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2024) and an MA in Media Arts from the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław (2011). She is a recent recipient of the Fulbright Graduate Student Award, and ReSide Award. Her works have been exhibited nationally and internationally at various venues, and has participated in artist residencies. Her practice examines the coexistence of beauty and crudeness, hospitality and hostility, references architecture, and sources archives. Stevens holds an MFA in Sculpture from the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Art and Design, Wrocław (2020) and a BFA in Painting from the Kansas City Art Institute (2016). He is the co-founder, with Wałaszek, of Forma Otwarta, an artist-run space in Oleśnica, Poland, where he curates exhibitions and collaborative projects. His practice embraces site-specificity and experimental making, weaving together elements of craft, architecture, and ephemeral encounters to reimagine our relationship to space and objects. Co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland. *This project was realized within the frame of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute’s ReSide program.

⤾ “Problem N Ciał” 26.09 - 29.11. 2025 | Oleśnica Wystawa otwarta jest w każdą niedzielę od 12:00 do 16:00. Forma Otwarta Rynek 26, Oleśnica Kościół św. Jerzego, Matejki 18, Oleśnica ► ENG “N-Body Problem” September 26 - November 29, 2025 | Oleśnica The exhibition is open every Sunday from 12pm to 4pm at: Forma Otwarta Rynek 26, Oleśnica Kościół św. Jerzego, Matejki 18, Oleśnica 📸 Katerina Kouzmitcheva

ü Vernissage: 29.08.2025, 19-21 Uhr Finisage: Sonntag 31.08.2025, 19-21 Uhr Öffnungszeiten: Samstag 30.08.2025 12-14 Uhr ✶ Sam Stevens, Aleksandra Walaszek und Jonas Müller-Ahlheim präsentieren eine aktuelle Werkserie, die sich um den Buchstaben „ü“ bewegt. Zwischen Buchstabe und Figuration – spielt die Ausstellung mit der Abhängigkeit von Bedeutung gegenüber Körper und Kontext. Sam, Aleksandra und Jonas haben sich in Chicago kennengelernt und sind seither Künstlerfreund*innen. ENG Sam Stevens, Aleksandra Walaszek, and Jonas Müller-Ahlheim are presenting a recent series of works circulating around the letter ü. Between letter and figuration – the show plays with the reliance of meaning on body and context. Sam, Aleksandra, and Jonas met in Chicago and have since then been artist friends . . 🔗 jonasmueller-ahlheim.de 🔗 sam-stevens.com 🔗 awalaszek.com

From now on "Loss for Words" is available at the Joan Flash Artists' Book Collection in Chicago✨ It's a story about distance, grief, and interpretation that gives new contexts. ➴ᡣ𐭩 [May 1 is a great day to die. That’s what paramedics told my grandmother when she called for an ambulance for her husband. My grandfather died on May 1, 2023. His heart stopped, after tripping. It felt spontaneous but honest. After he slipped away, my grandmother wished he had lived longer. However, May 1 is a great day to die, she said to me. Just think about it: Labor Day and the Feast of st. Joseph the Worker. That fits your grandfather. I flew to Poland on April 14, 2024 to say goodbye to her. I was not sure how one does it, so I told her what the weather was like. I knew she always wanted to be updated. I also told her that I love her and she should not be afraid. She couldn’t speak. She died on April 19 at 3 pm. It was St. Expeditus day, patron for procrastinators. In December 1986, my father took this family picture at his mother’s house. His father wasn’t a part of it, that year he was working in Chicago. I brought the photo back from Poland. I showed it to a few people and asked them to interpret it without knowing the context]. ❤️‍🔥Interpreters: Jessica Abshire Francesca Bayegan Michał Dzitko Max Guy Shinji Lee Kaiser Brianna Perry Chris Reeves Rio Usui Elżbieta Janczak Wałaszek Lori Waxman Adama Yaye Ka Katie Zazenski Sharon Zhang

I just wanted to share some truly wonderful news. Together with Sam Stevens we just received a DCASE grant! And yes, we are incredibly grateful for it! Speechless in fact. Eight months of our work in Belmont Cragin/ Portage Park, with all its turns, surprises, languages, and stories, feels now even more accomplished. Thank you for having us Chicago ♡ . . #chicagodcase #dcase #chicagoart #chicagogrammers

Hold still. June. A few days after strawberry Moon, the world grows increasingly chaotic. It’s warm and rainy at the farm. The last full Moon of spring, the first of summer, marks the peak of the nesting season for migratory birds in Wisconsin. The demons that were sitting on our chests are now sinking into the soundscape of Arena. We are here temporarily, held in the green unfolding around us. Louder than fear. *A mare () A malicious entity in Germanic and Slavic folklore that sits on people's chests while they sleep, bringing on nightmares. ~ Pictures are from a disposable 35 mm camera; the 1st one from the Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin; near Spring Green, WI: Visitor Center, originally designed as a restaurant; the others are from the farm. {Spring Green is where Svetlana Iosifovna Alliluyeva later known as Lana Peters, the youngest child of Joseph Stalin had settled after marrying architect William Peters, an apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright.}

🪶Summer Murmuring🪶 Murmuration is expanding its artist residency to a two-week-long program at the Bawden family farm in Arena, Wisconsin 🌾 Three artists have been invited to participate in the inaugural residency session, making work that is inspired by this place and to explore the possibilities for expanding this residency program. The inaugural Murmuration Artist Residency cohort is Aleksandra Walaszek, Madison Mae Parker, and Mariana Noreña G @framesforwords @madisonmaeparker @mariana.norena.g ✨🌸 Meanwhile back in Chicago, Alan Huck will be the studio-gallery’s Summer Artist-in-Residence, developing a solo exhibition for 2026 @alanrh 🏔️

[EN below]🌎W lutowym naborze #KulturaMobilna2025 zgłosiliście w sumie imponującą liczbę 37 wniosków, dzieląc się z nami tegorocznymi planami na realizację swoich zagranicznych inicjatyw. Spośród nich po burzliwych obradach komisja wybrała finalnie 7 propozycji mobilności.💥 ✈️W marcu Kamila Mróz weźmie udział w Międzynarodowej Konferencji Flameworkingu w NY, a Marta Sieczkowska wyruszy na Targi Wydawnictw Niezależnych w Madrycie. Wiosną Natalia Drozd premierowo zaprezentuje spektakl choreograficzny w Göteborgu, a Marta Falkowska wyjedzie na wizytę sieciującą w ramach Międzynarodowego Festiwalu Komiksu w Sztokholmie. Wrocławska Orkiestra Improwizowana już w czerwcu wyruszy na poświęcone muzyce improwizowanej sympozjum w niemieckim Colditz. Jesienią Aleksandra Wałaszek odbędzie rezydencję studyjną w berlińskim Institut für Alles Mögliche, a Małgorzata Maternik weźmie udział w Międzynarodowym Biennale Sztuki Ceramicznej w portugalskim Aveiro. Uff, to by było na tyle… aż tyle!💨 👀Więcej o planowanych projektach realizowanych ze wsparciem Kultury Mobilnej przeczytacie na naszej stronie – link w bio. / 🌎In February #CultureOfMobility2025 open call, you submitted a total of 37 applications in. After heated deliberations, the committee selected 7 mobility proposals.💥 ✈️In March, Kamila Mróz will take part in the International Flameworking Conference in NY and Marta Sieczkowska will go to the Independent Publishing Fair in Madrid. In the spring Natalia Drozd will premiere a choreographic performance in Gothenburg, later Marta Falkowska will go on a networking visit as part of the International Comics Festival in Stockholm. In June Wrocław Improvised Orchestra will go to a symposium on improvised music in Colditz. In the autumn, Aleksandra Wałaszek will take part in a study residency at Berlin's Institut für Alles Mögliche, while Małgorzata Maternik will take part in the International Biennale of Ceramic Art in Aveiro, Portugal.💨 👀Read more about the planned projects carried out with the support of Culture of Mobility on our website - link in bio.