Krzysztof Pęciński: The Artist Who Is Both Present and Absent. A Polish-Swiss research project dedicated to his work, artistic biography, and the reconstruction of a forgotten archive
Agata Knapik, PhD in art history – concept originator and initiator, author of the research framework and research lead
from 2026
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The Sztuka Obecna Foundation is launching a research and documentation project dedicated to Krzysztof Pęciński, a Polish artist who has been associated with the movement since the 1970s. with Switzerland, whose body of work remains partly scattered today and requires re-cataloguing. Krzysztof Pęciński was born in 1940 in Warsaw. He studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, and in 1976 he emigrated to Switzerland. He was active in the Swiss art scene, participating in exhibitions both in Switzerland and abroad. He died in 2003 in Winterthur.
After emigrating to Switzerland, the artist became involved with the Winterthur art scene. He has exhibited in Switzerland, Poland, Italy, the USA and Australia. His presence in Winterthur is evidenced by both gallery exhibitions and works in public spaces and municipal buildings. The most distinctive area of his work consists of pieces referred to as Ferroxides. Source descriptions indicate the use of water, paper, iron dust, iron oxide and a dispersion. The oxidation process introduces time, unpredictability, a material trace and a rusty intensity of colour into the work.
On an iconographic and interpretative level, the work features recurring figurative and abstract symbols, hybrid figures, archaic motifs, arrows, circles, birth, death, chaos, order, love, aggression and struggle. For the project, it is worth avoiding the simple description of an ‘emigrant painter’; a stronger narrative is: an artist of signs, matter and scattered memory.
The project by the Sztuka Obecna Foundation aims to reconstruct Pęciński’s artistic biography, identify and digitize scattered archival materials, locate his works, and lay the groundwork for the first comprehensive study of his oeuvre. Activities include research, interviews with witnesses, gathering documentation, analyzing his body of work, and developing a concept for a future publication and retrospective exhibition.
Dr Agata Knapik, an art historian, is responsible for the substantive aspects of the project; she is conducting research into the artist’s work and developing an academic framework for interpreting his oeuvre. Her work brings together documentation from a scattered archive with an in-depth examination of Pęciński’s place in the history of Polish and Swiss art. An important element of the project is its Polish-Swiss dimension. The Swiss partner in the project is the Polish Museum in Rapperswil, which supports the project in the areas of archiving, content and communication. The work is being carried out in collaboration with the artist’s family and is open-ended: its aim is not only to organise the surviving materials, but also to uncover new traces, documents, memoirs and works that may help to provide a fuller understanding of Krzysztof Pęciński’s oeuvre.
We are asking for information about Krzysztof Pęciński
The Sztuka Obecna Foundation is reaching out to individuals, institutions, galleries, collectors, and anyone else who has information about Krzysztof Pęciński. We are specifically looking for: the artist’s works, photographs, exhibition catalogues, invitations, correspondence, archival documents, press articles, memoirs, and information about exhibitions, artistic contacts, studios, and places associated with his life in Poland and Switzerland. Every clue may prove important for reconstructing the artist’s biography and further cataloguing his body of work.
Project Partners
