Copy and Distribute! Zines and Independent Press in Poland in the Age of Transformation

4 September – 15 November 2026 3 September 2026 | 18.00 – opening Museum of Caricature, ul. Kozia 11, Warszawa
Suggested viewing time: approx. 50 min. The exhibition is intended for visitors aged 16 and over.
The 1980s and 1990s were a period of the greatest flourishing of niche, independent press. Political opposition bulletins were produced on duplicators, and in community centres science fiction enthusiasts printed illegal translations of genre classics and their own first literary attempts. The photocopier, a device meant to ease office work in a capitalist corporation, became a tool of resistance, a breeding ground for dissenting thought and avant-garde art. Zines, regardless of their creators' views, became part of the systemic transformation. Their pages hosted discussion of a changing world, and of the fears and hopes awakened by the new political order. Many creators of zines and independent press in the Third Republic moved into the mainstream – into the worlds of politics, science and art.
Independent publications have always accompanied social and political breakthroughs. They arose wherever the official flow of information proved insufficient, was controlled, or left no room for new ideas to develop. Before the term “zine” appeared, there was already a practice of independently creating and distributing printed matter that served as a means of communication, manifestos, commentaries and witnesses of their time.
Self-publishing and independent distribution can serve both to support emancipation and to criticise power, as well as to spread exclusionary or authoritarian ideas. In this sense, zines are a source of information valuable to researchers of independent cultural history and social conflicts. They document not only the views of their creators, but also the mechanisms through which ideas take material form and gain their own non-institutional circulation.
Exhibition organised in cooperation with the Gabriel Narutowicz Institute of Political Thought in Warsaw.
We invite you to the events accompanying the exhibition:
5 September 2026 | Saturday | 10.00–18.00 – 5th Zine Fair at the Museum of Caricature (free entry). On this day, admission to the exhibition costs PLN 1.
12 September 2026 | Saturday | 13.00–14.30 – curator-led tour with Anna Nowakowska-Wierzchoś and Michał Rzecznik (included in the exhibition ticket)
19 September 2026 | Saturday | 13.00–14.30 – zine workshop with Julia Niedziejko (limited number of places, tickets available at the museum box office and online)
10 October 2026 | Saturday | 13.00–14.30 – Przemysław Witkowski leads a tour of the exhibition Copy and Distribute! (included in the exhibition ticket)
15 October 2026 | Thursday | 18.00–19.30 – tour with audio description led by Marcin Matuszewski as part of the 14th Culture Without Barriers Festival (PLN 1 admission)
24 October 2026 | Saturday | 13.00–14.30 – Tomasz Lipiński leads a tour of the exhibition Copy and Distribute! (included in the exhibition ticket)
Free guided tour at the exhibition
On selected days a guide, Maciej Mokicki, will be available at the Museum of Caricature to talk about the exhibition “Copy and Distribute”, free of charge. Ask for the guide at the box office.
Friday guided tour hours: 11.09 | 13.00 – 17.00 25.09 | 13.00 – 17.00 16.10 13.00 – 17.00 30.10 | 13.00 – 17.00 6.11 | 13.00 – 17.00
Sunday guided tour hours: 13.09 | 12.00 – 16.00 27.09 | 12.00 – 16.00
Maciej Mokicki – student at the Polish–Japanese Academy of Information Technology. Guided tours are included in the exhibition ticket. No reservation is required.
OPENING
Photo: Julia Pietrzak-Szczudło
EXHIBITION
Photo: Julia Pietrzak-Szczudło
Museum of Caricature named after Eryk Lipiński
Kozia 11 00-070 Warszawa This postal address is protected from spam. To view it, JavaScript must be enabled in your browser. +48 22 622 12 42 NIP: 525 15 72 216
© Museum of Caricature named after Eryk Lipiński

— Museum of Caricature