City Scene: Wrocław’s Independent Culture of the 1990s

Lech Janerka, Kaman, Kormorany. Luxus. Entropia and Lśnienie. Figures, bands, and places that continue to fascinate and inspire. Dozens of photographs and films, alongside zines, posters, and flyers. Archival materials, many never before exhibited. On March 6, 2026, at 7:00 p.m., the exhibition City Scene: Wrocław’s Independent Culture of the 1990s opens at Studio BWA Wrocław. A story of a Wrocław that pulsed to its own rhythm, combining music and visual arts into a psychedelic, experimental, and independent artistic landscape.

City Scene: Wrocław’s Independent Culture of the 1990s is an account of the people, places, and ideas that co-created a local artistic sphere during a period of transformation when, adjacent to democratic governance in Poland, an alternative cultural circuit emerged. Wrocław had its own unmistakable rhythm at that time, pulsing through clubs, galleries, and squats, permeating the independent scene. It lived the life of an alternative city, shaping its own narrative and aesthetic. This isn’t, however, only about the past. Above all, it is a case study of the generative impact of independent culture on imagination, community, and urban space.

A Space for Experimentation 

The Wrocław scene of the 1990s was a sphere for collaboration between musicians, performance artists, and visual artists. Concerts, installations, visual projects, and events intersected, establishing a space for experimentation and the free-flowing exchange of ideas. “This was probably one of the few cases of such synergy between the visual arts and music communities. What was happening in Luxus or Entropia corresponded with what Kaman, Miki Mousoleum, Klaus [Mitffoch], and Kormorany were up to,” notes journalist and writer Wojciech Kozielski. This synergy had its roots in the 1980s, when the Luxus Group, the band Kormorany, and the milieu around the Entropia Gallery developed an open formula for melding visual arts, music, and performance, while Arek Marczyński’s independent music label Antena Krzyku fostered the DIY ethos foundational to the scene’s activities. 

A Space for Documentation 

The exhibition will foreground people, places, and artifacts connected to Wrocław’s independent scene of the 1990s: individuals and bands such as Lech Janerka, Kaman, Kormorany, Serpent Beat, Program, Job Karma, Musk, Hurt, and Infekcja; clubs like Amsterdam, Podium, Samo Życie, and Rekwizytornia; galleries including Entropia, Lśnienie, Awangarda, Mały Salon (BWA Wrocław), and On Ostrów Island, among others; and squats, including the city’s first, on Oławska Street. The psychedelic atmosphere of the decade will be evoked through photographs, films, zines, posters, flyers, tickets, stencils, and reproductions. Many previously unpublished materials will be on view, including photographs from the collection of Bartosz Wawryszuk, capturing events from unforgettable Kormorany performances in a butcher’s shop, to the Luxus exhibition Róża Mózgów [Brain Rose] at Awangarda, to legendary concerts by The Ex at Wagon and Fugazi at Kazamaty. Also on view will be film documentation from the archives of Entropia Gallery, Mariusz Jodko, and Paweł Czepułkowski, materials appearing here for the first time in a large-scale exhibition.

A Space for Community 

Bringing the phenomenon of the 1990s scene closer—both to those who experienced it as well as for younger audiences—is the aim of the exhibition’s curators, Paweł Piotrowicz—journalist, cultural animator, and author of the book Wrocław’s Independent Music Scene 1990–2000—and Paweł Starzec, photographer, sociologist, and academic. In their words: “Grass-roots culture gives rise to a network of interconnection between creators and recipients—an ecosystem of bonded mutuality. It builds communities that demand to be remembered.” They also draw attention to the role of social archives and those who assemble them, for it is precisely these repositories that allow us to shape local identity, documenting and preserving phenomena significant to culture and art.

On March 6 at Studio BWA Wrocław, visitors will be able to immerse themselves in the atmosphere of the 1990s—discovering, in the process, how the era endures within us up to the present day.

Also on March 6, at 9:00 p.m., the band Kormorany will perform a concert at Klub Szalonych (Ruska 47/48a). Then on Saturday, March 7, at 3:00 p.m., curators Paweł Piotrowicz and Paweł Starzec will lead a guided tour of City Scene.

The organizer and curators of the exhibition would like to thank the individuals, groups, and organizations who provided archival materials, with special thanks to the Entropia Gallery.