Łódź is a city with an industrial heritage that has been associated with avant-garde and progressive art since the 1930s. It owes this reputation to the Muzeum Sztuki located there – one of the oldest museums of contemporary art in the world, founded by the distinguished artist Władysław Strzemiński. Its establishment was made possible by a grassroots collection of artworks donated at the time by leading artists connected with Paris.
Over the decades, the museum has developed, occupying three buildings linked to the textile industry, which built the wealth and identity of Łódź. Today, it remains one of the leading institutions of modern and contemporary art not only in our part of Europe but worldwide.
In the latest episode of “Holistic Heritage,” Dr Katarzyna Jagodzińska and John Beauchamp speak with Dr Leszek Karczewski, Deputy Director of the Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź, uncovering the secrets of the coexistence of this “temple of art” with the vibrant (post-)industrial city in the 20th and 21st centuries.
The conversation is set against the backdrop of the participatory exhibition “How Does a Museum Work,” 2025/2026 – a result of the collaboration of the entire museum team. The exhibition has been installed in MS1, the first museum building located in a former palace that was once the residence of the owners of the textile industry – the Poznański family. Our story has its beginning and its end in the gardens of the Herbst Palace, which, as part of the Scheibler empire, gained recognition by receiving the Europa Nostra Award for conservation in 1990.