Hidden Meanings. The Motif of Interiors in Polish Art from the 19th to the 21st Century | National Museum in Poznan & Poznan Design Festival

October 26 – The National Museum in Poznan and the Poznan Design Festival invite
you to two events accompanying the exhibition “Hidden Meanings. The Motif of
Interiors in Polish Art from the 19th to the 21st Century”:

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Lecture: “Psychology and Neuroscience in Interior Architecture Design. How Space
Affects Our Emotions, Behavior, and Well-Being”
Led by: Marta Wierusz

3:15 PM – 4:15 PM
Curatorial Tour:
“Hidden Meanings. The Motif of Interiors in Polish Art from the 19th to the 21st
Century.”
The Woman’s Place – A Question of One’s ‘Own Room’
Led by: Dr. Agnieszka Skalska

Both events will be translated into English (a limited number of headsets available).
Headset reservations: https://forms.office.com/e/Ha6LPm5NaU
Venue: National Museum in Poznan, 9 Marcinkowskiego Avenue – Spanish Hall
Tickets: 25 PLN (regular), 15 PLN (discounted – students under 26)
Tickets available at the museum’s ticket office before the event.

More information:
Psychology and Neuroscience in Interior Architecture Design. How Space Affects Our Emotions, Behavior, and Well-Being “We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.” – Winston Churchill
The lecture explores interior architecture through an interdisciplinary lens, combining
psychology, neuroscience, and design. Topics include:

♦ The role of psychology and neuroscience in understanding how we consciously
and unconsciously perceive space.
♦ Elements of space that most influence our emotions, behavior, and well-being.
♦ Multisensory perception of space – moving beyond visual dominance in
architectural design.
♦ Research findings and professional experience that can guide the design of
interiors supporting users’ overall well-being.
♦ The psychology of interior design from the 19th and 20th centuries to today.
♦ The role of art in interiors – how it affects our perception and emotions, and
conversely, how space influences our experience of art.

Marta Wierusz – architect and interior designer, APA Wojciechowski, SWPS
University, School of Form. She is the Lead Interior Architect at APA Wojciechowski, with over 20 years of
experience in architecture and 16 years leading high-profile commercial, residential,
and public interior projects. Her key works include interiors of the Powiśle Power
Plant complex in Warsaw (shopping gallery, office and residential buildings), Barcelo
Powiśle Hotel, Skyliner Office Building, and Polonia Palace Hotel. She specializes in sustainable, universal, and inclusive design, with a focus on spaces for neurodivergent people and the elderly. Lecturer at the School of Form and at postgraduate studies at SWPS University in
Warsaw. Member of the SARP Committee for Accessibility and Inclusive Design.
Graduate of the “Business in Women’s Hands” program by the Women’s
Entrepreneurship Foundation.

Curatorial Tour

“Hidden Meanings. The Motif of Interiors in Polish Art from the 19th to the 21st
Century”
The Woman’s Place – A Question of One’s “Own Room”
Accompanying event of Poznań Design Festival 2025

Many of the paintings presented in the exhibition depict portraits of women:
Biedermeier representations in elegant interiors, realist scenes of peasant life, and
symbolic or atmospheric compositions of the Young Poland period.
The positioning of female figures shifts throughout successive historical and artistic
periods, mirroring stylistic transformations and reflecting broader social issues –
themes often explored through feminist art analysis.
The tour will look at the exhibition through the lens of artistic strategies of
representing femininity, women’s personal spaces, and their modes of being within
these interiors.

Led by: Dr. Agnieszka Skalska – curator of the Gallery of Polish Art from the Late
18th Century to 1945 at the National Museum in Poznań, certified senior curator.
Previously worked at the Museum of Art in Łódź and Foksal Gallery.
Author and co-curator of numerous 19th- and 20th-century art exhibitions and
catalogues, including Overlooked (2010), Illness as a Source of Art (2019), and The
Avant-Gardist: Maria Nicz-Borowiakowa 1896–1944 (2022), as well as publications
on artists such as Olga Boznańska, Katarzyna Kobro, August Zamoyski, and Maria
Nicz-Borowiakowa.

About the Exhibition

Dates: September 12, 2025 – January 18, 2026
Curators: Dr. Maria Gołąb, Dr. Agnieszka Skalska
Organizer: The National Museum in Poznań
Address: 9 Aleje Karola Marcinkowskiego, 61-745 Poznan