What if one were to approach postmodernism a little more boldly? Emphasize its form, bring out its strengths, and then invite it into dialogue, for example, with.... abstraction. This is what happened in the space of a building on Chmielna Street in Warsaw, where for three days in April an exhibition of works by Grzegorz Siembida "Incantations - Appendix" will be on view.
a leap into the past
At 132/134 Chmielna Street in Warsaw, or rather, on the plot of land between Chmielna, Twarda and Miedziana Streets, stands a postmodern building from the 1990s. Quite recently, the building - formerly known as the Aktyn Business Center (designed by Miljenko Dumenčić and Krzysztof Kaminski) - has undergone a metamorphosis that emphasizes its mostntish, expressive character. Anna Loskiewicz of Loskiewicz.Studio, who was behind the project, dressed the façade in geometric patterns - using orange paint, she distinguished individual parts through rhythmic diagonal lines or circles, and added black and white stripes in places - the leitmotif of the HOP office building, as this point on the map is called today.
The post-modern HOP office building on Chmielna Street in Warsaw after the metamorphosis
photo: Syrena Real Estate
The transformation of office buildings dating back to the last decade of the 20th century is a trend that discovers the potential inherent in postmodern buildings and redefines modern office reality. We want to become its leader, and HOP is our first flagship development. Before the modernization, it was an unremarkable building from the transformation era, de facto gone. It could have been demolished like many other buildings of its kind, but we decided to bring it back to life by highlighting its postmodern architecture and adapting it to the demands of the postpandemic mode of work
- said Witold Zatoński, a partner from Syrena Real Estate, the company responsible for the new look of the office building.
new facade
photo: Syrena Real Estate
And it is in these architectural settings that the exhibition "Incantations - Appendix" by Grzegorz Siembida - a Cracow-based artist who combines painting with spatial activities - will soon be presented.
interior after modernization
photo: Syrena Real Estate
incantations, or ritual incantations
"Incantations - Appendix" focuses on the relationship between abstraction and space. Siembida treats the painting not as a closed object, but as an element that can influence the environment and the way it is perceived. The exhibition is designed as a sequence of interconnected rooms, where painting and architecture enter into a direct dialogue
- reads the event description.
Grzegorz Siembida
© author archive
For three days, the HOP spaces will show twenty works by the artist from the past few years - paintings on canvas, works on paper and a painting installation, as well as Okul enamel-inspired sculptures from the "Florostans" series.
The final part of the exhibition, presented in the austere HOP space on the 6th floor, will attempt to reinterpret the artist's studio. Siembida translates into the language of abstraction in a conventional way - the space in which he creates every day, transforming it into an autonomous environment, a kind of environment. It becomes a separate structure, functioning like a spatial painting. The result will be an experience in which the image does not end on the plane, but expands into the space and the way the viewer moves. Abstraction ceases to be solely a formal language, and becomes a tool for building atmosphere, tension and relationship with architecture
- announce the organizers.
Grzegorz Siembida's work
© Grzegorz Siembida
There will be more relations with architecture, as the exhibition will be accompanied by a lecture on postmodernism in architecture by Marek Świdrak, an art historian from Jagiellonian University, entitled "Postmodernism in Poland: between deconstruction and destruction." Author tours of the exhibition are also scheduled, and for dessert.... the restaurant located in the building will present selected works by the artist and a dessert inspired by his work.
This activity shows how art can also function outside the institutional circuit, entering into a dialogue with the place, its character and the everyday experience of the audience
- the organizers add.
"Incantations - Appendix" exhibition
© organizers archive
Exhibition title: Incantations - Appendix
Artist: Grzegorz Siembida
Curator: Justyna Łada
Venue: HOP, 132/134 Chmielna St., Warsaw
Admission: free
Exhibition open: from 17 to 18.04.2026 from 13.00 to 22.00 | 19.04 from 13.00 to 18.00
vernissage: 17.04.2026 at 7 pm
Guided tour with the artist: 17.04 at 14.00, 16.00 | 18.04 at 14.00, 19.00, 21.00 | 19. 04 at 13.00, 15.00, 17.00
Lecture on postmodernism in architecture: 18.04 at 16.00
