About Us

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WE ARE A COMMUNITY ENGAGED CULTURAL FOUNDATION WORKING TOWARDS A LESS POLARISED, MORE SOCIALLY JUST AND SUSTAINABLE FUTURE THROUGH THE ARTS.

Fundacja Ziemniaki i is a Warsaw-based cultural organisation and not-for-profit that encourages and nurtures early-career artists, designers, craftspeople, writers and curators. We believe that there is no future without culture. That’s why we’re driven to work together on improving access, visibility, and working conditions in the creative arts, and encouraging their positive role in an open and free society. 

Fundacja Ziemniaki i is co-directed by Josh Plough and Katie Zazenski.

We advocate for the role of culture in the fight against critical, systemic issues like the climate catastrophe and increased social polarisation.

At a time of social fracture, we know the importance of collaboration. That’s why we joined forces with Stroboskop Art Space. In 2023, Stroboskop’s director Katie Zazenski joined Ziemniaki i as its new co-director, cementing the cooperation between the two entities.

Together, we are stronger and more adaptable. 

Our logotype was designed by Studio Pyda

Josh Plough is a writer, editor and educator who focuses on the world of design and its position in the webs of folklore, identity, politics and futures. He was the recipient of the 2022 Fondazione Fitzcarraldo scholarship in Cultural Policies at Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana and a contributing writer to several international publications. In 2023, Josh was selected as a design mentor for the New European Bauhaus.

Credit: Patrycja Treichel, Polska Institutet

Katie Zazenski is an artist, curator, writer, and lecturer whose practice is centred around cultural production in independent/peripheral communities. As director of Stroboskop (since 2018), she has produced over 30 exhibitions as well as hosted numerous artist talks and lectures on contemporary art in East and Central Europe. Since 2020 she has written for, and in 2022 became co-editor-in-chief for BLOK magazine. Zazenski received her MFA from  the Cranbrook Academy of Art and is a twotime Fulbright Fellow to Poland.

Our 5 pillars of the future

1
International, interdisciplinary collaboration and cooperation
2
To play a critical role in the continued regional (cee) and global development and sustaining of contemporary art, design and culture
3
To platform underrepresented or otherwise marginalised voices
4
To be a flexible and nonlinear institution that embraces rather than defines
5
To respond to the needs of our community

Our foundation is committed to action, not performative gestures.