An interdisciplinary celebration of art and a meeting place for different disciplines, languages and artistic sensibilities, taking place in Krakow for the fifth time. The motto of this year’s festival is Ocean of Drops.

According to Prof. Andrzej Bednarczyk, Rector of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków: ‘A single drop does not the rainfall make, but a storm of billions of drops can make irreversible changes. . . I firmly believe that a storm of individual drops of artistic words, sounds, gestures, shapes and colours, brought together by the mutual respect for difference, is capable - if not of outright getting rid of evil - at least of infusing us with the power of dissent against the evil lurking within each of us.’

The event is organised by the Academy of Fine Arts, alongside - as always - the GAP Foundation, the GAP Artistic Agency and the Nowa Huta Cultural Centre. The events will take place place in galleries and partner institutions throughout Krakow. The theme of the festival’s opening exhibition - OPEN ART - Fluid (bringing together student projects combining art, science and new media, which will be displayed in Wesoła, as always) is fluidity and changeability, but also fluid as energy, aura and flow between people, places and ideas. The Kopernika 21 building will also be home for Studies in Stillness, showcasing works by professors of the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, who explore the theme in contemporary art - from the body at rest to the horizontal perception of the world. One of OEAF’s flagship projects is the Space for Art series. This time, we will focus on the figure of Lilla Kulka. The Tempus Omnia Revelat exhibition in three parts (Kopernika 21, Kraków University of Economics Library, Nowa Huta Culture Centre) will showcase works by one of the most important creators of artistic textiles, who has been associated with the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow for a long time. The retrospective Andrzej Pawłowski’s Birthday Invitation, held at the Starmach Gallery on the 100th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding member of the Second Krakow Group, will feature his paintings, sculptures and photographs, alongside works by other artists who were emotionally close to him. The Museum of the Academy of Fine Arts will host the Allure of the Academy, which will offer a new perspective on the nude in the paintings by Wojciech Weiss. The Academy of Fine Arts Gallery offers the Celebration of Trauma with Kacper Dudek’s monumental, emotionally charged abstractions, Wesoła Immersive will turn into the gate to the New Era - the World in Transition, and in the Palace of Art, we will join forces with graduates of the Academy of Fine Arts to practise Mindfulness Practices, reflecting on how art can respond to the present. In addition to exhibitions, the programme will include guided tours with exhibition curators, meetings with artists, lectures, concerts and art workshops. The festival accompanies the international Open Eyes Economy Summit (18, 19 November) complemeting it artistically.