Krzysztof Gil. Nobody wants you here

29.05 – 09.08.2026 Krzysztof Gil. Nobody wants you here

Zachęta – National Gallery of Art

curator: Monika Weychert exhibition design: Mirek Kaczmarek assistance with the copper sculptures: Piotr Budzyk assistance with the installation “Midnight in the Estate”: Janek Kamykowski, Christoph Krane

The exhibition by Krzysztof Gil addresses the complex topic of the ghetto in its contemporary sense. In the past, ghettos were physically separated areas within cities, often surrounded by walls and cut off from the rest of the urban space. Nowadays, the concept is mainly sociological and covers poor districts in large metropolises, where excluded groups experience worse living conditions, with limited access to social resources.

Refugee and displaced persons camps as well as guarded centres for foreigners are often seen by activists and sociologists as places that operate in ways similar to ghettos or the total institutions that fully control the life of the individual. Although historically, the term “ghetto” has referred to the forced separation of ethnic or religious groups, in the current context of migration it is used to describe phenomena such as isolation, control, and restricting migrants’ rights. The term also refers to the tendency for specific groups, professions, classes or ethnic groups to isolate and create their own insular communities. It also covers homogenous areas in the urban space, such as gated communities or social housing estates. Additionally, those processes often involve physical intervention in the urban fabric, which makes it more difficult for people to move around and facilitates the disappearance of public space. At the same time, it complicates the mutual relationships between the residents of such enclaves and other city dwellers, which may lead to marginalisation and hamper the restoration of healthy relationships in local communities.

In his analysis of the concept of the ghetto, Gil makes a reference to a book by Ece Temelkuran, Nation of Strangers. Rebuilding Home in the 21st Century, published in Polish as Naród obcych. Jak odbudować wspólny dom w XXI wieku (Wydawnictwo Krytyki Politycznej, 2026). The Turkish writer and journalist offers a new ethics of survival, based on the solidarity between all those alienated – and nowadays anyone can end up in that group. Another important factor that inspired the artist to tackle this topic were the memories from his home town. Krzysztof Gil grew up on a housing estate established under government orders (the Act of 17 October 1958 on the permanent settlement of nomadic persons). Similar laws have led to the ghettoisation of the Roma people across the entire Eastern Bloc, with their effects still visible today, e.g. on the infamous estate Luník IX in Košice. The artist’s childhood fell at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s., when pogroms, nationalist attacks or forced migration from Poland with one-way tickets were all part of the everyday experiences of the Roma people.

The artist’s perspective is rooted in the Polish and Roma identity and the experience of biculturalism. His dual identity is more than just a biographic fact; it also serves as a cognitive tool that allows him to switch between two codes, two languages to describe reality, and two perspectives. His exhibition at Zachęta is an attempt at tackling the concept of ghettoisation as a mechanism that keeps reappearing – at different scales, locations, and in different eras. He is interested both in the actual ghetto, delineated by walls or political decisions, and in the ghetto of the imagination. He looks at the images, narratives, and stereotypes that precede and justify the actual exclusion of certain groups. He states that the ghetto of the imagination is created at the level of the image, so as an artist he can exert influence right at the forefront, by shaping imagination in order to change the perception of those alienated, the Strangers – and to disarm the clichés about them.