WRO Art Center

What to expect

The WRO Art Center is Wroclaw’s address for media art: it has worked on ul. Widok since 2008, and behind it stands a foundation that has organised the WRO Media Art Biennale (Międzynarodowe Biennale Sztuki Mediów WRO) since 1989. At the centre admission is free, and this applies to all exhibitions, events and publications.

One exhibition is shown at a time. According to the programme for November and December 2026, Mira Boczniowicz’s “T.h.n.k.n.g Screens”, with material from the WRO archives, runs until 15 November, and from 20 November to the end of the year the space is taken over by the sound installation “Sonar WRO”. The WRO archives and collection go back to the beginnings of media art in the 1960s and 1970s.

All the works on show have descriptions, and the films in the current exhibition have Polish subtitles. At every exhibition you will meet the Art Guides (Przewodniczki i Przewodnicy Sztuki), from volunteers to the curators and the directors, who talk with visitors as they go round. With video and sound art, which does not always explain itself, this is the place’s greatest strength.

Visitors rate the centre highly: on Google Maps it has 4.6 out of 5 from 179 reviews, and on Facebook 100% of 32 reviews recommend it (read on 4 November 2026).

Who it suits: anyone curious about video art, sound and new media. It also works with children: on Sundays the Pracownia Małego WRO (Little WRO Studio) runs, and the building has a lift, a place to rest and a baby-changing table.

Who should skip it: if you are looking for a permanent collection of painting and sculpture, you will do better at the National Museum in Wroclaw , whose collections are mainly painting and sculpture. WRO shows one temporary exhibition at a time, and between exhibitions there is sometimes a break while the display is changed.

How long: allow about an hour: that is what one exhibition with a conversation with an art guide needs. On Sunday the centre is open for the shortest time (on Sundays 12:00-14:00), so for an unhurried visit pick a day from Wednesday to Friday.

Tips

• Wednesday to Friday for longer. The days from Wednesday to Friday give you the most time (on Wednesdays 12:00-18:00, the same on Thursdays and Fridays). Do not come at the start of the week: closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
• Check November and December. In this period the centre takes a break between exhibitions to change the display, and in December it welcomes visitors only up to a set day before Christmas. The exact dates are in the programme on the centre’s website.
• Talk to a guide. The Art Guides are at every exhibition and are there for visitors; ask about the context of a work before you walk away from the screen.
• Sunday with children. The Pracownia Małego WRO (Little WRO Studio) runs workshops for children, parents and friends all year round. The Sunday sessions take place every week.
• Infodesk on the second floor. This is where you find out about the current exhibition and the programme. On the same floor, behind the main exhibition hall, there is a toilet for people with disabilities.
• Accessibility. There is one entrance to the centre, from the square on ul. Mennicza; the building has a lift and no barriers for wheelchairs on any of its three floors. There are no induction loops and no sign-language interpreter; you can enter every room with an assistance dog or a guide dog.
• Next: art in a shelter. If after WRO you want more contemporary art, you can go on to the Contemporary Museum Wroclaw in a former air-raid shelter on pl. Strzegomski, with a display from the ground floor up to the fifth level. There you pay for a ticket, although there is free admission on Thursdays.

Getting there

• Address: ul. Widok 7, 50-052 Wrocław; entrance from the square on ul. Mennicza.
• Tram: the centre names “Świdnicka” and “Opera” as the nearest stops. According to the timetable in the open data of Wroclaw City Hall (Urząd Miejski Wrocławia), “Opera” is about 85 m from the centre (trams 6, 7 and 17), “Świdnicka (Dom Europy)” about 93 m (trams 7 and 18) and “Świdnicka” about 111 m (trams 3, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 18).
• Bus: according to the same timetable, the express line K also runs from the “Świdnicka” stop.
• By car: a vehicle with a disabled parking card may park on the square in front of the entrance after arranging it by phone in advance (tel. 71 343 32 40).

Background

The building on ul. Widok where you see the exhibitions today is the restored interior of Otto Stiebler’s former coffee roastery; before 1900 the Siehdichfür malt house stood here.

WRO is older than this home. According to culture.pl, it began at the end of the 1980s as an independent initiative: in 1989 Violetta Kutlubasis-Krajewska, Piotr Krajewski, Zbigniew Kupisz and Lech Janerka organised the first festival, the Festiwal Wizualnych Realizacji Okołomuzycznych WRO (WRO Festival of Music-Related Visual Works).

Since 1989 the WRO Media Art Centre Foundation (Fundacja WRO Centrum Sztuki Mediów) has organised the WRO Media Art Biennale, and the centre has worked in Wroclaw as an institution since 2008, as culture.pl and Wikipedia both state. It is funded mainly from local-government and public sources, Polish and international, and has the status of a public-benefit organisation.