Ambiguous. Phenomena of Warsaw - exhibition at the Museum of Warsaw

“Wieloznaczna. Fenomeny Warszawy” (Ambiguous. Phenomena of Warsaw) is an exhibition at the Museum of Warsaw that shows the city in six multilayered pictures. It was made in a participatory process: the museum’s team prepared it together with experts and its public. It runs 29 October 2026 - 25 April 2027.

The Museum of Warsaw on the exhibition (our translation):

Warsaw can be seen through the prism of different experiences. For some, history and places will matter; for others - people and their everyday practices. Wieloznaczna. Fenomeny Warszawy (Ambiguous. Phenomena of Warsaw) is an attempt to look at the city from several different perspectives and an invitation to join the conversation about what sets it apart today. The exhibition will be on show from 29 October 2026 to 25 April 2027 at the Museum of Warsaw, Rynek Starego Miasta 32, Warsaw.

What to expect

This is an exhibition about the city seen from several perspectives at once. The museum divides it into six thematic areas: “Tożsamość” (Identity), “Forum pamięci” (Memory Forum), “Różnorodność” (Diversity), “Prestiż” (Prestige), “Spoiwa” (Bonds) and “Więcej niż miasto” (More than a City). The exhibition fills six halls.

In the “Forum pamięci” (Memory Forum) section, the starting point is Piłsudski Square. Through it, the museum looks at memory as a space of conflict and negotiation: at ceremonies, demonstrations, and changing names and monuments.

In the “Różnorodność” (Diversity) section, the curators give a voice to particular residents. Their stories are set beside the museum’s collections and beside works by artists and by participants in the process of making the exhibition.

Forty curators worked on the exhibition: people connected with the Museum of Warsaw and residents of the city. The concept of the exhibition is by Anna Duńczyk-Szulc, the concept of the participatory process by Beata Nessel-Łukasik, the process was coordinated by Aleksandra Kresowska, and the exhibition was designed by Aneta Faner. The museum also quotes the co-curator Aleksandra Sołtan.

The list of artists runs to more than fifty names, among them Paweł Althamer, Rafał Milach, Teresa Murak, Chris Niedenthal and Jana Shostak. Lenders include the National Museum in Warsaw, the Museum of the Second World War, the National Film Archive - Audiovisual Institute (Filmoteka Narodowa Instytut Audiowizualny), the Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź and the Museum of Sport and Tourism in Warsaw.

Context

The exhibition grows out of the Museum of Warsaw’s jubilee programme for 2026, which announced it as a project created together with residents and drawing on the results of a contest and public vote run with the newspaper “Gazeta Wyborcza”. The “Fenomen Warszawy” (Phenomenon of Warsaw) contest was organised by the City of Warsaw, the Museum of Warsaw and “Gazeta Wyborcza”; participants named more than a hundred phenomena of the city, and the vote ran until 12 September 2025.

Piłsudski Square, where the Memory Forum begins, is itself a good example of contested memory. It began as the courtyard of the Saxon Palace, rebuilt in 1712-1727 by Augustus II the Strong. It was later named, in turn, Saxon Square, Piłsudski Square, briefly Adolf-Hitler-Platz, Victory Square after 1946, and Piłsudski Square again after 1989.

Tickets and time

• Where: at the Museum of Warsaw in the Old Town, in the exhibition’s six halls; the museum does not say on which floor. The tours for which the museum gives a meeting point start at the temporary exhibitions’ ticket desks. Directions are on the museum profile.
• When: the exhibition runs 29 October 2026 - 25 April 2027.
• Ticket: the exhibition has its own temporary-exhibition ticket; its prices, the Thursday one included, are in the practical information box.
• Hours: the exhibition has its own opening hours. The museum lists them separately on its visit page, as the temporary exhibition’s hours.
• Best time to go: Thursday, when entry is cheapest and the exhibition is open longest.
• How long: the museum gives no visiting time. By our editors’ estimate, it is worth allowing at least an hour for six halls with works by more than fifty artists.
• Who it’s for: people who want to see Warsaw through the eyes of its residents, not only through its history and monuments. Also families with babies, for whom the museum has prepared a separate tour, and schools, which it invites to lessons on Warsaw’s diversity, civic engagement and the city’s identity. Visitors can use an activity sheet.
• Who can skip it: anyone looking for a chronological story of Warsaw’s past or for a single-artist exhibition. This exhibition is arranged by theme, in six pictures of the city, and combines works by more than fifty artists with residents’ stories.
• In English: the museum has an English page for the exhibition under the title “Ambiguous. Phenomena of Warsaw”, and its credits list a translation into English; it does not say directly whether this covers the labels in the halls. The tour in English is listed in the Events section.

Events

During the exhibition the museum announces Sunday tours with curators and authors, workshops and debates. Below are the dates the museum has already published.

• 8 November 2026, 16:00 - a tour with the curators of all six halls; included in the exhibition ticket; meeting point: the temporary exhibitions’ ticket desks, Rynek Starego Miasta 32.
• 15 November 2026, 14:00 - a guided tour in English with Agnieszka Pogorzelska, curator of the “Forum pamięci” (Memory Forum) hall; included in the exhibition ticket; meeting point: the temporary exhibitions’ ticket desks, Rynek Starego Miasta 32.
• 15 November 2026, 16:00 - a Sunday curator’s tour with Maciej Adam Markowski, curator of the “Tożsamość” (Identity) and “Forum pamięci” (Memory Forum) halls; the event page gives a price of 20 PLN regular, 15 PLN reduced.
• 20 November 2026, 12:00 - a tour for parents of babies, about an hour long; included in the exhibition ticket; meeting point: the temporary exhibitions’ ticket desks, Rynek Starego Miasta 32. The museum announces the next one for January 2027.

See also

• Museum of Warsaw - the profile of the museum in whose building the exhibition is: directions and the permanent exhibition.
• 90/90. Around the Museum - another temporary exhibition at the same museum.

Museum profile: Museum of Warsaw.