Karol Radziszewski

The Classroom

31.1 – 12.4 2026

Stockholm

Opens in 6 days

Enter “The Classroom” by Karol Radziszewski, a reconstruction of a 1990s Polish classroom. Here, materials from the artist’s long-term research into queer experiences in Central and Eastern Europe are integrated into the school benches. Portraits of historical figures line the walls, creating a new perspective on history — a new classroom.

Karol Radziszewski’s practice begins with the archive. Through his publication DIK Fagazine and the Queer Archives Institute, he has spent the past two decades gathering stories, materials, and oral histories that have been systematically excluded from mainstream historical narratives in Central and Eastern Europe, and therefore from the classroom itself.

The archive in Radziszewski’s work does not only preserve; it activates. In “The Classroom”, these materials reappear as tools for learning and exchange, transforming a site of instruction into one of imagination and collective study.

Artist talk, preview & performance

The exhibition ”Karol Radziszewski — The Classroom” is accompanied by a series of public events. The performance “Fag Fighters” takes place on the opening evening on Friday 30 January, preceded by a conversation between the artist and curator Hendrik Folkerts.
Artist Talk 16.30-17.30
Preview 18-20
Performance 19-19.45

History lessons

Across three Friday evenings, lectures, talks, and screenings will be held in the classroom. Don’t skip school!

Friday 20 February 2026: Queer sound archives and Chaser Art

Performative gathering with The Archive of Pink Noises (Birt Berglund, Anna Giertz, and Johan Sundell) and lecture performance by poet Andria Nyberg Forshage.

Friday 6 March 2026: Lesbian punk in former Yugoslavia

Film screening of “Relations: 25 Years o the Lesbian Group SKUC-LL” (2012), followed by artist and organiser Marianna Feher from the platform Tentative Transmits in conversation with the film’s director Marina Grzinic and writer Suzana Tratnik.

Friday 20 March 2026: Queer visibility in Ukraine and Hungary

Lectures by artists Anton Shebetko and Gyula Muskovics, followed by a discussion moderated by Karol Radziszewski.

Closing weekend: Film Programme

On Saturday 11 April 2026, a film programme featuring Karol Radziszewski’s video works will be presented in the Cinema, tracing his long-standing interplay between queer archives, pedagogy, and artistic practice. Introduced by curator Hendrik Folkerts.

Expanded at Moderna Museet

In 2024, “The Classroom” entered Moderna Museet’s collection. First presented at Between Bridges in Berlin in 2023, the exhibition at Moderna Museet marks the work’s Scandinavian debut, now expanded with new elements:

A new mural by Karol Radziszewski evokes the daydreams of “fag fighter heroes”, figures imagined while gazing out of the classroom windows. A new edition of DIK Fagazine is published on the occasion of the exhibition, along with a soundscape of interviews by the artist with key figures from the archive of the Queer Archives Institute.

Portrait painting of a man with glasses — Karol Radziszewski, Margot, 2020 © Karol Radziszewski 2025. Photo: Tobias Fischer/Moderna Museet

About the artist

Karol Radziszewski (born 1980, Białystok; lives and works in Warsaw) works in film, painting, installation, and publishing. His practice examines queer histories in Central and Eastern Europe and how they can be made visible through artistic and editorial means. He is the founder of the Queer Archives Institute and the editor of DIK Fagazine, both of which function as platforms for research, exhibition, and exchange. Through these interconnected projects, Radziszewski develops a visual and discursive framework that links art-making with archiving, education, and activism.