Katarzyna Kozyra is Poland’s most well-known female artist, renowned for her controversial video and performance works that explore femininity and social taboos. In the 1990s, she joined Artur Żmijewski and Paweł Althamer in initiating the critical art movement. From the very outset, Kozyra has broken social taboos, such as nudity, old age, and death, for which conservative Polish society regards her as controversial. While her performances, quasi-theatrical productions, and audience-participation happenings challenge the traditional boundaries between artist and audience, her video works address some of the most important issues of human existence: identity and transgression. She operates in the realm of cultural taboos, referring to the bodily nature of human beings and questioning as well as overcoming social behavioral stereotypes. Unveiling the facts of reality, she forces us to re-examine and either validate or reject the set order of cultural values. Her most famous works include The Rite of Spring (1999-2002) and the In Art Dreams Come True (2004-2008) series. In Art Dreams Come True began with Kozyra’s DAAD stipend, which she chose to use for learning operatic performance and makeup artistry in order to take a step toward a new form of performance art.

Katarzyna Kozyra (*1963 in Warsaw, Poland) graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw (1993), and studied sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig, Germany. Kozyra has earned widespread international recognition, representing Poland at the 48th Venice Biennale. Her works have also been exhibited at numerous international solo and group exhibitions, including at the 17th Biennale of Sydney, 7th Busan Biennale, Kulturhuset (Stockholm), Museo Nacional Centro del Arte Reina Sofia (Madrid), National Gallery Prague, Ludwig Museum (Budapest), Leopold Museum (Vienna), Kunsthalle Wien (Vienna), New Museum of Contemporary Art (New York), Ujazdowski Castle (Warsaw), and Städel Museum (Frankfurt am Main). In 2012, Kozyra founded the Katarzyna Kozyra Foundation to help and support artists from Eastern and Central Europe. She lives and works in Warsaw and Berlin.