Art of the City. About a square, on a square. I

On 4-5 June 2016, the foundation organised the first edition of design workshop entitled “Art of the City. About a square on a square”. It was organised by the Sztuka w Mieście Foundation in cooperation with Mazowsze branch of Polish Society of Landscape Architects.


The project was launched in order to realise a series of interdisciplinary design workshops for adolescents, mixing architecture, design and fine arts. The task was based around the matters of building and using squares in the city which was supposed to develop the creative thinking abilities in the process of becoming aware of the space and shaping it.


The workshop was unique thanks to the original way they were conducted by a duo of a DESIGNER, landscape architect and an ARTIST along with an original syllabus supporting the multidirectional development of art, manual and space-related competences of the attendees.


All the activities within the workshop were focused on culture of space and aimed at raising awareness within various fields of art, including new technologies and traditional activities.


First workshop entitled “A knot or a stain? The square in the city, square’s functions” took place on 4-5 June 2016. The workshop was conducted by Katarzyna Piądłowska, a landscape architect and photographer and Ola Cieślak, a designer and illustrator. Together with the leaders, the attendees searched for dependencies between the form and the role of a square.


What makes the square take a specific shape? How are the relations between the human and its environment built? Does the purpose of a square define its size, shape, the presence of the amenities and other objects? What functions does a square take? What do we do on a square?


The results where images of squares shaped in regard to their functions. The images were made using painted stencils technique.


Honorary patronage of the workshop was taken by The President of Warsaw.




Katarzyna Piądłowska
A landscape architect, an artist, a photographer (graduated from the Union of Polish Photographers Studies in Warsaw with honours), a culture animator; a doctoral student at the Department of Landscape art at SGGW in Warsaw. Her scientific interests include the design of public space (including streets and squares), the human in the urban landscape, rejuvenation of the culture landscape, urban art. Since October 2012 she has been a member of the editorial board at Arché magazine focused on genius loci, culture of space and art.



Aleksandra Cieślak
A graphic illustrator and lyricist. She studied on the Department of Graphics at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (degree at Book Design Workshop) and at Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Kuenste in Stuttgart. Her works were presented on several individual exhibitions. She is the author of the following books published by Dwie Siostry Publishing House: “Od 1 do 10”, “Love Story”, “Co wypanda, a co nie wypanda” i “Co by tu wtrąbić?”. She also illustrated two books:”Powidoki” and “Zając”. www.olazbloku.pl

Workshop activities

Each group drew several objects that were supposed to be allocated around their square as well as the types of the recipients who were supposed to find some space for themselves.