“Crossroads of Cultures”: the Krakow chapter on the way to Ivano-Frankivsk (Stanislaviv) 25.01.2026
The residents of the “Crossroads of Cultures” programme have completed their Krakow phase and are heading to Ivano-Frankivsk for the next stage of research. In Krakow, they worked through meetings with practitioners and publishers, a curatorial visit, and independent fieldwork—building the foundation for public presentations and creative outcomes in both cities.
“Crossroads of Cultures” (16 January – 8 February) is an international residency that brings together participants working across literature, translation, and cultural research from Poland and Ukraine. Its core focus is twofold: Polish heritage in Ivano-Frankivsk (formerly Stanislaviv) and Ukrainian cultural presence in Krakow. The programme is designed as a research-to-public journey—archival work, urban explorations, creative practice, and final presentations that translate findings into essays, reportage, visual or multimedia narratives, and public events.
During the Krakow chapter, residents explored Polish-Ukrainian heritage through direct encounters with people and institutions shaping cultural life today. They met with Nadiia Moroz-Olshanska (Fundacja Widowisk Masowych) and Ilya Andreyeu from Gutenberg Publisher, using these conversations to sharpen the project’s perspective on how shared histories can be communicated responsibly—without flattening complexity, and without turning memory into a slogan.
A key highlight was a curatorial visit to Galeria Podbrzezie and the exhibition of Daria Aloszkina, co-curated by resident Mariia Varlyginia. This offered a practical lens on how research becomes an exhibition narrative: framing context, guiding audiences, and connecting local stories to broader European cultural conversations.
Alongside the group programme, residents advanced their individual work—arranging meetings, collecting materials, and mapping routes through the city. In a residency like this, Krakow is treated as a living archive: you read it not only in documents, but in streets, institutions, and the layers of culture that remain present even when they are not loudly discussed. The next phase now moves to Ivano-Frankivsk, where the residency combines research with public-facing actions—archival work, city explorations, exhibitions, and open discussions—leading to final outcomes presented to audiences.
Why do residencies like this matter? Because they provide the essentials that meaningful cultural work requires: time, access, and a network—not just a deliverable. The Villa Decius Institute of Culture has built this approach for years through its Artistic Residencies Centre, supporting creative mobility and acting as a platform for international exchange and professional connections. This broader residency ecosystem also reflects the Institute’s commitment to culture as a form of responsibility—through programmes such as ICORN, which combine safe conditions for creative work with engagement in the cultural and social life of the city.
We wish the residents the best of luck in Ivano-Frankivsk—and we’re looking forward to the works that will emerge from this “crossroads”: works that don’t only describe history, but help us understand the present.
The residency is implemented by the "Texture" reading promotion program, operating within Teple Misto, with support from the European Union under the "House of Europe" program, as part of the project "Crossroads of Cultures: Stanisławów and Kraków as Spaces of Dialogue and Interaction between Poles and Ukrainians."
The project is implemented in cooperation with the Villa Decius Institute of Culture (Krakow) and the Center for Polish Culture and European Dialogue (Ivano-Frankivsk), with communication support from the Polish Institute in Kyiv.
During the Krakow chapter, residents explored Polish-Ukrainian heritage through direct encounters with people and institutions shaping cultural life today. They met with Nadiia Moroz-Olshanska (Fundacja Widowisk Masowych) and Ilya Andreyeu from Gutenberg Publisher, using these conversations to sharpen the project’s perspective on how shared histories can be communicated responsibly—without flattening complexity, and without turning memory into a slogan.
A key highlight was a curatorial visit to Galeria Podbrzezie and the exhibition of Daria Aloszkina, co-curated by resident Mariia Varlyginia. This offered a practical lens on how research becomes an exhibition narrative: framing context, guiding audiences, and connecting local stories to broader European cultural conversations.
Alongside the group programme, residents advanced their individual work—arranging meetings, collecting materials, and mapping routes through the city. In a residency like this, Krakow is treated as a living archive: you read it not only in documents, but in streets, institutions, and the layers of culture that remain present even when they are not loudly discussed. The next phase now moves to Ivano-Frankivsk, where the residency combines research with public-facing actions—archival work, city explorations, exhibitions, and open discussions—leading to final outcomes presented to audiences.
Why do residencies like this matter? Because they provide the essentials that meaningful cultural work requires: time, access, and a network—not just a deliverable. The Villa Decius Institute of Culture has built this approach for years through its Artistic Residencies Centre, supporting creative mobility and acting as a platform for international exchange and professional connections. This broader residency ecosystem also reflects the Institute’s commitment to culture as a form of responsibility—through programmes such as ICORN, which combine safe conditions for creative work with engagement in the cultural and social life of the city.
We wish the residents the best of luck in Ivano-Frankivsk—and we’re looking forward to the works that will emerge from this “crossroads”: works that don’t only describe history, but help us understand the present.
The residency is implemented by the "Texture" reading promotion program, operating within Teple Misto, with support from the European Union under the "House of Europe" program, as part of the project "Crossroads of Cultures: Stanisławów and Kraków as Spaces of Dialogue and Interaction between Poles and Ukrainians."
The project is implemented in cooperation with the Villa Decius Institute of Culture (Krakow) and the Center for Polish Culture and European Dialogue (Ivano-Frankivsk), with communication support from the Polish Institute in Kyiv.