Angels Left in the Cloakroom  

Angels Left in the Cloakroom is an exhibition by two queer artists, Michał Kowalczys and Michał Iwański, presented at BWA Wrocław Główny. The project draws on their personal memories, as well as explorations of psychogeography and the archaeology of memory. The exhibition of paintings is complemented by video projections, metal installations and objects made of wood and tin.    

“[…] Ordinary people, people with hearts and grandmothers, look like archaeological finds. Like angels left in the cloakroom,” wrote Agnieszka Osiecka. The exhibition’s title, taken from her book Conversations in Dance, in which the author engages in a dialogue with herself, serves as a starting point for the artists’ reflection on the archaeology of memory, identity and the role of creativity as a form of personal reckoning. The practices of Michał Kowalczys and Michał Iwański constitute a visual representation of passion, fantasy and personal experiences. Their works – revolving around queer themes – seek to deconstruct the social codes and narratives that shape normative notions of identity, desire and belonging. 

Until the end of July, a section of BWA Wrocław Główny will present paintings, video works and sculptural objects that make up Angels Left in the Cloakroom, a project submitted in response to an open call organised by the institution in 2025. The inspiration for creating new works was the location and identity of the site itself – Wrocław’s main railway station. “Until the late 1980s, it functioned as a gay cruising ground, a meeting place for local men seeking partners for casual sex,” explains Michał Kowalczys (b. 2001), referencing Michał Witkowski’s novel Lubiewo. The experiences of the gay community depicted in Lubiewo are extended here to include a contemporary context through parallels with the artists’ own lives. The rhythm of the exhibition also echoes the book, dividing the display into two sections: stories of the gay cruising sites and the Baltic seaside.  

Iwański works primarily in painting, exploring the fetish theme of as a subtle mode of expression. His paintings depict ephemeral figures – visions of lovers and infatuations – stripped of literalness and explicit eroticism, immersed instead in a dreamlike atmosphere. Kowalczys, on the other hand, creates a personal bestiary, a collection of figures inspired by relationships and experiences linked to a culture of exclusion. His practice is based on exploring the word as artistic material, extending the boundaries of spoken performance to include a queer sensibility. In his works (paintings, metal installations, objects), the Baltic Sea appears as a recurring motif, personified as a lover to whom the artist entrusts emotions associated with rejection. Memories, the exploration of psychogeography and archaeology of experience, become a starting point for reflection on the mechanisms of social maladjustment.  

The exhibition Angels Left in the Cloakroom explores the relationship between image and word as artistic media, examining the visual potential of rejection and mapping the boundaries of desire as seen from two interpenetrating perspectives. The works function here as retrospective narratives, with nostalgia as their prevailing emotion.  

Michał Iwański – born in 1994 in Wadowice, lives and works in Kraków. A graduate of the Faculty of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. As part of the Erasmus programme, he studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Lisbon, and subsequently completed an internship at the Berlin studio of the Icelandic artist Egil Sæbjörnsson. He is a co-founder of the Bałuckiego 15 art collective. He works primarily in painting, site-specific projects and sculptural objects. In his work, he addresses fundamental questions concerning the meaning of existence, drawing on personal experiences such as frequent changes of residence and non-heteronormative love. He has taken part in numerous exhibitions and competitions, including as a finalist of the “Rybie Oko 11” Young Art Biennale at the Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art and participant in the Loostro 16 competition exhibition, the Autumn Art Salon at BWA in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, the OKNOPLAST FOR ART competition at Galeria Re in Kraków and PROMOCJE 2021 at the Art Gallery in Legnica. He also took part in the Young Wolves Festival 18 competition. 

Michał Kowalczys – born in 2001 in Gdańsk. A graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk and the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław. In his artistic practice, he explores issues related to his own identity, seeking to translate personal experiences into visual language. His works use the word as artistic material, combining avant-garde traditions of spoken performance with a queer perspective. Michał’s works have been presented at festivals and exhibitions including Vor/Wiosna at the Slaturhusid Art Centre in Iceland (2021), Kick Off Perfo at Galeria Ul in Gdańsk (2021, 2023), Gdynia Design Days (2023), Performance Platform Lublin at Galeria Labirynt in Lublin (2024), Wrocław Off Gallery Weekend (2024) and Cracow Art Week Krakers (2025). He was also selected for the Głęboka Woda project (2022) organised by the Gdańsk City Gallery.