Melusines from the Blocks. Fashion and Music in the 1980s

Poland’s 1980s told through fashion and pop: six female stars, from Kora to Izabela Trojanowska, and how they built their stage personas. The show opens at the History Meeting House gallery on 8 October 2026, runs until 21 February 2027, and admission is free.

The History Meeting House on the exhibition:

Melusine is a fantastic figure - a mermaid, a water nymph - a symbol of all that is mysterious and unusual; an embodiment of seductive femininity, as in Małgorzata Ostrowska’s song from the ‘The Travels of Mr. Kleks’ directed by Krzysztof Gradowski - a famous Polish film from 1986.

The titled characters of the exhibition ‘MELUSINES FROM THE BLOCKS. Fashion and Music in the 1980s’ are famous Polish pop singers of the 1980s decade: Kora, Majka Jeżowska, Anna Jurksztowicz, Wanda Kwietniewska, Małgorzata Ostrowska, and Izabela Trojanowska.

What to expect

This is a show about image, not a discography. The curator, Karolina Sulej, is a writer and researcher of the anthropology of fashion. She reads the decade through lifestyle: how these singers invented their pop personas and what lay behind the stage image. The History Meeting House (DSH) is staging it for its 20th anniversary, together with the Museum of Polish Song in Opole.

What to look out for, going by the curator’s description on the museum’s page:

• Kora - avant-garde new-wave black, eyeliner or dark glasses, a boyish crop.
• Majka Jeżowska and Małgorzata Ostrowska - two extremes: loud colour and tulle skirts against leather jumpsuits, a blonde, rocker bob and heavy make-up.
• Izabela Trojanowska - dressed like a dandy, in shirts, ties and tailored suits.
• Anna Jurksztowicz and Wanda Kwietniewska - suit jackets, puff-sleeved dresses and backcombed hair next to leggings, oversized jackets and trainers.

The museum publishes no object list or number of exhibits, and does not say whether original period costumes will be shown. The credits list costume designers, drawn portraits of the singers, a photo selection and video. There is a catalogue with texts by the curator (DSH, ISBN 978-83-66068-66-7) and a family guide.

No reviews or press previews yet - checked on 23 September 2026, two weeks before the opening.

Context

The title sets two worlds side by side. Melusine is a water spirit of European legend, one literary version of which Jean d’Arras wrote down in the late 14th century. “Wielka płyta”, the large panel, is the prefabricated concrete housing block that shaped Polish cities under communism. The curator places her singers between the fairy tale and the housing estate, as colour against a grey decade.

Three of the six are tied to bands: Kora fronted Maanam, Małgorzata Ostrowska sang with Lombard, and Wanda Kwietniewska led Wanda i Banda. Izabela Trojanowska performed with Budka Suflera in 1980 and released her debut album “Iza” a year later.

The partner, the Museum of Polish Song in Opole, was founded in 2007 in the city that has hosted the National Festival of Polish Song since 1963. Its permanent exhibition includes performers’ stage costumes.

Tickets and time

• Dates: Thursday 8 October 2026 to Sunday 21 February 2027.
• Where: DSH gallery, ul. Karowa 20, in the city centre just below the Royal Route (Krakowskie Przedmieście). From Nowy Świat-Uniwersytet station on metro line M2 it is about a 7-minute walk.
• Admission: free, as the museum states on the exhibition page. No ticket or booking needed.
• DSH opening hours: Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 10:00-20:00, Thursday 10:00-21:00, Saturday and Sunday 12:00-20:00. Closed on Mondays.
• How long: the museum does not say. For a show built around six singers, allow about an hour; with “The ’80s Look at Us” as well, 90 minutes to two hours.
• Dogs: welcome on a lead; the Karowa café keeps a water bowl.
• Best time: 8 to 14 October. In that week one visit covers both gallery shows and DSH’s outdoor show on the Workers’ Defence Committee at the corner of Karowa.
• English on site: DSH states that its exhibitions carry English texts, and the show’s credits list a translator and an English proofreader. No audio guide or English tours are announced.

Who it is for: anyone who grew up with Polish pop videos of the 1980s, visitors interested in fashion and social history, and families, thanks to the family guide. The show itself is not a concert but a story of style and image, though the festival puts on a Majka Jeżowska concert on 10 October. If you want political history, the neighbouring show covers the decade’s politics through women’s eyes.

Events

• 11 October 2026, 14:00 - curator’s tour with Karolina Sulej.
• 11 October 2026, 13:00 - curators’ tour of the neighbouring show “The ’80s Look at Us”. The “Melusines” tour starts an hour later, so you can see both shows with their curators in one afternoon.
• 10 October 2026, 20:00 - concert by Majka Jeżowska, one of the six singers in the show, at DSH.

All three come from the programme of the Heroines Festival 2026 (Festiwal Bohaterek, 8-18 October, slogan “Wolność to my!”, “Freedom is us!”), of which the show is part. The festival page gives no prices or booking terms: festival programme (Polish).

See also

• The ’80s Look at Us - DSH’s second show on women in the 1980s, in the same gallery on the same dates: women photojournalists and artists on family, Church and state. Seen together, the two give a fuller picture of the decade.
• The Workers’ Defence Committee. Strength in Unity - DSH’s outdoor show on Krakowskie Przedmieście at the corner of Karowa, open until 14 October 2026.
• What Is This Queue For? The Polish People’s Republic in a Musical Mirror - Polish History Museum, until 6 December 2026: communist Poland through its pop music, with objects linked to Kora among the memorabilia.
• History Meeting House - the Oral History Archive, a bookshop and a café at the same address.

Museum profile: History Meeting House.