Restoring a Presence: Krzysztof Pęciński and the Polish-Swiss Traces of His Work
A research project focusing on the artist’s work, artistic biography, and the reconstruction of a forgotten archive. The project is being carried out in collaboration with Agata Knapik PhD
The Sztuka Obecna Foundation is launching a research and documentation project dedicated to Krzysztof Pęciński, a Polish artist who has been based in Switzerland since the 1970s, whose body of work remains partially scattered today and requires re-cataloging. 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.
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.
Agata Knapik PhD, an art historian, is responsible for the substantive aspects of the project; she conducts research on the artist’s work and develops an academic framework for interpreting his body of work. Her work makes it possible to combine the documentation of a scattered archive with an in-depth reflection on Pęciński’s place in the history of Polish and Swiss art.
An important aspect of the project is its Polish-Swiss dimension. The Swiss partner in this initiative is the Polish Museum in Rapperswil, which supports the project in the areas of archival research, content development, and communication. The work is being carried out in collaboration with the artist’s family and is open-ended: its goal is not only to organize the preserved materials but also to uncover new traces, documents, memoirs, and works that may help provide a more complete 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 catalogs, 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 cataloging his body of work.
