Biography

Anna Jochymek (b. 1988, Poland) lives and works in London.
Postdoctoral Research Associate at University of Roehampton 

A proven artist, ethnographer, researcher and facilitator of unique, interdisciplinary art projects worldwide across public art sector and cultural institutions. 

Constantly evolving to challenge art and academic practices exemplified by enrolling initially at the University of Fine Arts in Poznan leading to a practice-led PhD student exchange with the Slade School of Fine Art (UCL) in London. 

I work at the intersection of visual art performance, digital media experimentation and site-specific interventions more often using my family as a case study of intimate ethnography.

Moving between social anthropology and visual arts I created an innovative, interdisciplinary approach that aims to utilise conventional and creative methods to challenge perception of otherness, difference and constructed national boundaries.

In my research I ask questions about social exclusion and marginalisation. It led me to developing the concept of the 'Space of Fear' which I explore regarding the condition of contemporary society. I define it as the political and cultural concept when a person is forced to accept imposed identity due to their socio-political surroundings without expressing a formal consent to it. Consequently, this person is perceived as a threat to existing collective politics, causing social unrest.

In 2019 she won The Digital Diaspora open call for the innovative project Crowd Crystal which contributed to the subject of Central and Eastern European identity. She has been an Artist-In-Residence at the Geumcheon Art Factory, Seoul and the Performance Space Studio, London, UK and took part in exhibitions worldwide including: Her Own Way. Female Artists and the Moving Image in Art in Poland: From 1970s to the Present, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo (2019), The Digital Diaspora, Centrala Space, Birmingham (2019), Sharing Borders, The Slade Research Center, Slade School of Fine Art (UCL), London (2019). Presently her video work is a part of the Watermans Art Centre online collection.

I see myself as a fearless companion on an exciting journey through contemporary art and social sciences.

PS I also love my bike.

2015 - 2019
Interdisciplinary practice-led PhD Studies
Faculty of Multimedia Communication
University of Arts in Poznan

2018 - 2019
Honorary Research Associate
Slade School of Fine Art
University College London

2017 - 2018
PhD Studies (visiting research student) 
fellowship at Slade School of Fine Art 
University College London 

2013 - 2015 Personal Assistant
Miroslaw Balka Studio of Spatial Activities
Faculty of Media Art
Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw

2011 - 2013 MA (Distinction) 
Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw
Faculty of Media Art
Specialty Media Art at Miroslaw Balka Studio of Spatial Activities

2008 - 2011 BA
University of Arts in Poznan
Faculty of Multimedia Communication
Specialty Photography at Piotr Chojnacki Studio of Documentary Photography

2007 - 2008 Academy of Photography in Warsaw

2004 - 2007 Baccalauréat
II High School im.Wł. Broniewskiego in Koszalin
biol – med class

2018 Honorary PhD Artist in Residence, Slade School of Fine Art (UCL), London, UK
2014 Geumcheon Art Factory, Seoul, KS
2012 Performance Space Studio, London, UK

2021 Crowd Crystal, Watermans Art Centre, London, UK
2018 Melody of nostalgia, Supersonic Festival 2018, Centrala Space, Birmingham, UK
2015 Superhero, directing performance-installation within the project 'Podaj Dalej' (Pass It On), CPK, Lalka Theatre, The Old Powder Magazine Stage, Warsaw, PL
2015 Monument of A Normal Man, Malta Festival Poznań 2015 'New World Order', Poznan PL
2014 Mastermind, New Curatorial Power Festival - Malta. Sunken memory, Poznan, PL
2014 Invade The Space!, Redutowa 50 str., Warsaw, PL
2013 Bâton Fleurdelisé, Spokojna 15, Warsaw, PL
2008 Dance Kaleidoscope, BB Gallery, The Krakow Photomonth Festival, Krakow, PL

2021 Stanger Dreams, Mains d'Œuvres, Paris, FR
2019 Alternatives of Destruction, Liptovská galéria Petra Michala Bohúňa, Liptovský Mikuláš, SK
2019 Her Own Way. Female Artists and the Moving Image in Art in Poland: From 1970s to the Present, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo, JP
2019 Triennale Prostor Zlín 2019: Alternatives of destruction, Regional Gallery of Fine Arts in Zlín, Zlín, CZ
2019 Supermarket 2019, Stockholm Independent Art Fair, Stockholm, SE
2019 The Digital Diaspora, Studio 44, Stockholm, SE
2019 The Digital Diaspora, Centrala Space, Birmingham, UK
2019 Sharing Borders, The Slade Research Centre, Slade School of Fine Art (UCL), London, UK
2018 Bound/lessly, Art Walk Gallery, European Square, Warsaw, PL 
2018 100 Years, So What?, Centrala Space, Birmingham, UK
2018 まちはみんなのミュージアム (en. City as Everyone’s Museum), Gallery Chateau2F - Koganei Art Spot, Tokyo, JP 
2018 Action Lublin! Chapter 2, Labirynt Gallery, Lublin, PL
2017 Interference Festival 'Freedom of Form', Gdansk, PL
2017 Hi-Blood Pressure, Gallery Chateau2F - Koganei Art Spot, Tokyo, JP 
2017 Never. Interdisciplinary research project 'Memory, pleasure, shame: the public space of Berat', Skala Gallery, Poznań, PL
2017 Never. Interdisciplinary research project 'Memory, pleasure, shame: the public space of Berat', Spokojna Gallery, Warsaw, PL
2016 Turn on the Culture!, Krytyka Polityczna Cieszyn, Cieszyn, PL
2015 Beet with sugar. History and contexts, The Maria Znamierowska-Prüfferowa Ethnographic Museum in Torun, Torun 2015
2015 Jitters, Komuna Warszawa, Warsaw, PL
2015 WRO Media Art Biennale ‘Test Exposure’, new building of the University Library, Wroclaw, PL
2015 What is that you do?, Salon Akademii Gallery, Warsaw, PL
2014 Distinguishing Features, CH Renoma, WRO Art Center, Wroclaw, PL
2014 Invisible City, Our Monster Gallery, Seoul, KS
2014 Arte Laguna Art Prize 13.14, Arsenale di Venezia, Venice, IT
2013 Coming Out, Sinfonia Varsovia, Warsaw, PL
2013 Hole/Dziura, TRAFO Centre for Contemporary Art, Szczecin, PL
2013 The Best Diplomas in Poland, Great Armoury, Gdansk, PL
2013 Spokojna Tour Now, MOCAK, Krakow, PL
2013 Cohesion, Nowy Theatre, Warsaw, PL
2012 Action 27. New Young Performance Art, Labirynt Gallery, Lublin, PL 
2012 Masquerade, Centrumförfotografi, Stockholm, SE
2012 Views!, Nowa Przestrzeń Gallery, The International Festival of Photography in Lodz, Łodz, PL
2012 Rewolta/Rebelia, Performance Space, London, UK
2012 Hygiene, Spokojna 15, Warsaw, PL
2011 Generation after..., 7th Biennale of Photography: Margins, Jewish Commune, Poznan, PL
2011 N.A.T.U.R.E., Kabelvåg, N
2011 N.A.T.U.R.E., Aula Gallery, Poznan, PL
2010 Gallery Night, Modelarnia, Gdansk, PL

2020 Grant award, The Freelands Foundation Emergency Fund, a-n The Artists Information Company, UK
2019 The Digital Diaspora, selected to exhibition exchange partnership co-organised by Centrala, Birmingham and Studio 44, Birmingham, UK and Stockholm, SE
2015 Open Studio, winner of the contest for performative projects in Komuna // Warszawa, Warsaw, PL
2013 Honourable Mention from the Provost for M.A. Diploma Bâton Fleurdelisé, Miroslaw Balka Studio of Spatial Activities, Academy of Fine Arts Warsaw, PL
2012 Scholarship of The Ministry of Science and Higher Education
2011 Scholarship of The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage
2011 participation in grant project N.A.T.U.R.E. (New Art Tours Undergraduate Researchers Experience). Polish – Norwegian worshops resulted in the exhibition. Poznan, Kabelvåg, PL / N

2021 Crowd Crystal, public launch, Anna Jochymek and Katarzyna Depta-Garapich in conversation about the project in a context of the 'space of fear', Watermans Art Centre, London, UK 
2020 Artblab XIII - The Evening Talks: Anna Jochymek, Nick Murray and Yein Son, The Poetry Café – The Poetry Society, London, UK
2019 Wednesday Canvass: 2019 after 1989 - discussion between Anna Jochymek, Alexandra Bulat, Aron Rossman-Kiss and Jon Bloomfield, Centrala Space, Birmingham, UK
2019 Crowd Crystal (in progress) - comment - artist talk Anna Jochymek, The Slade Research Centre, UCL, London, UK
2018 Home Girls — Women Redefining the Domestic Sphere - a panel discussion between Anna Jochymek, Maja A. Ngom, Paola Ciarska, moderated by Maggie Kuzan, Calvert 22 Foundation, London, UK
2017 A4 TERRITORY, Slade School of Fine Art (UCL), London, UK
2017 Hi-Blood Pressure, public meeting, Gallery Chateau2F - Koganei Art Spot, Tokyo, JP 
2016 Visual Pleasure, Anna Jochymek and Urszula Kluz-Knopek, University of Arts in Poznan, Poznan, PL
2016 \Suspension/, Anna Jochymek Artist Talk, Institute of Art History, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poznań, PL 
2016 Is it already Avant-Garde?, Anna Jochymek and Paulina Pankiewicz, University of Arts in Poznan, Poznan, PL
2015 And who's a feminist now?, Anna Jochymek and Urszula Kluz-Knopek, University of Arts in Poznan, Poznan, PL
2014 Responsibility, Miroslaw Balka and Anna Jochymek, This & That Open lecture Series, Umeå School of Architecture, Umeå, SE 
2012 Cieszyn_01 Seminar, Szara Gallery, Cieszyn, PL

I co-created and co-produced all the events below. I fully coordinated the whole process and liaised with all our partners. 

2015 The memory of a crying tree and the butterfly feasting is like the light of a church, from which a bridge is leading across the river and its banks, on which the crowd is silently carrying a carpet to the library, where the glass doors and order and alarm are.
• Studio of Spatial Activities at WRO Media Art Biennale ‘Test Exposure’
• place: a new building of the University Library, Wroclaw, PL 

• Place: studio no. 13, Faculty of Media Art, Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Warsaw, PL 

2015 ZOO
• Exhibition of students from Miroslaw Balka Studio of Spatial Activities
• Place: ZOO, Warsaw, PL

2014 Μύθοι. Myths. Students/Artists/Teachers. A process of exchange 
• International cooperation between the Universities: Miroslaw Balka Studio of Spatial Activities, Media Art Department, Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and Donatella Landi’s course of Video-installation at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome.
• Workshops program and exhibition
• Place: Fondazione Pastificio Cerere, Roma, IT 

2014 Performance
workshop program and exhibition of students from Miroslaw Balka Studio of Spatial Activities 
• Workshop program and exhibition of students from Miroslaw Balka Studio of Spatial Activities
• Place: Labirynt Gallery, Lublin, PL 

2013 S-NOW apersonalformofarchitecture
• Workshops program and exhibition
• International cooperation between the Universities: Miroslaw Balka Studio of Spatial Activities, Media Art Department, Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw The Laboratory for Sustainable Architectural Production, Umeå School of Architecture
• The project was a part of the inauguration ceremony launching Umeå’s Capital of Culture 2014
• Place: Friendship Park, Umeå, SE 

2013 Urban Shaman. Old Town
• Exhibition of students from Miroslaw Balka Studio of Spatial Activities
• Place: Old Town, Warsaw, PL