KAFKA – International Mail Art

 

KAFKA – International Mail Art

A global art project honouring an author whose imagery continues to resonate

In 2024, the centenary of Franz Kafka’s death was commemorated. A hundred years later, it is more evident than ever how inexhaustibly his work inspires artists around the world. Kafka’s texts—marked by psychological acuity, radical imagination, and a form that is both simple and immensely powerful—remain an open archive of human existence.

His world is a cosmos of images that unsettle and move us, at once familiar and strangely distant. Those who share a similar sensitivity recognise in it the beauty and the unease of life, tightly interwoven.

A project that transcends borders

For many years, the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków has been developing artistic projects inspired by Kafka’s aphorisms from “Reflections on Sin, Suffering, Hope, and the True Way.” Within the framework of the 2024 programme “Freedom – Boundaries of Identity,” a new impulse emerged: an international mail art call that quickly evolved into a global dialogue.

The response was remarkable: Over 400 submissions from around 200 artists across 33 countries reached Kraków. The result is a polyphonic collection that weaves together personal artistic languages, cultural perspectives, and diverse creative strategies.

Among the participating artists are: Maks Dannecker, Judith Sturm, Roberto Scala, Susanne Schumacher, Lars Schumacher, Andreas Streicher, Pedro Bericat, Horst Tress, Keiichi Nakamura, Ryosuke Cohen, Hugo Pontes, Zbyněk Janáček, Suzlee Ibrahim, Giovanni & Renata StraDADA, Henry Grahn Hermunen, Maxima Maria Kinsky, Rittiner & Gomez, Cristiano Pallara, Nani Corina, Bruno Chiarlone, Veronique Pozzi Paine — and many more voices from Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

A living event in February 2026

On 20 February 2026, the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków will become the stage for a multifaceted artistic event. Curated by Prof. Zbigniew Bajek, long-time initiator of Kafka-related projects, and Dr Jolanta Kuśmierska, the exhibition will be preceded by a performance unfolding throughout the entire academy building.

A special highlight: The translators of Kafka’s complete set of aphorisms will take an active role in the performance. Their translations into Polish, Silesian, Kashubian, and the Poznań and Lviv vernaculars—originally created for earlier artistic initiatives—return as living material, shaped through voice, rhythm, and the resonant timbre of language.

A museum that preserves and carries forward

The Museum of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, partner of the project, plays a central role. All submitted works will be professionally inventoried, archived, and permanently added to the museum’s collection. Each piece will receive its own catalogue number—an act of recognition and a historical document of artistic practice in the early 21st century.

The museum, which has shown significant development in recent years, regularly presents international positions and continuously expands its holdings. The inclusion of the mail art works strengthens this trajectory and opens new perspectives for future exhibitions in Poland and across Europe.

Kafka remains present

The strong response to the open call makes one thing clear: Kafka’s world is far from exhausted. It continues to live—through images, gestures, lines, collages, stamps, and words.

It connects people who are both drawn to and challenged by the enigma of life. It creates community across continents. It shows that art is a space where sensitivity, doubt, hope, and imagination speak to one another.

KAFKA – International Mail Art is more than an exhibition. It is a global conversation made visible in Kraków—one that will continue to travel.

Location: plac Jana Matejki 13, 31-157 Kraków, Polen

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