In March 2026, the Biłgoraj Land Museum became the arena of an extraordinary meeting, which summed up the multi-month project "Dialog with Knapp". Author of the exhibition, Dr hab. Aleksandra Sojak-Borodo, Prof. UMK, in an interview with the curator Maja T. Wal, exposed the scenes of the work, which not only refers to the heritage of the most famous Belarusian artist, but above all storms the wall between the creator and the recipient. How did the white template become a manifesto of freedom and artistic gadgets form a new collection?
New reception quality: Viewer as co-writer
One of the most eloquent elements of the exhibition presented in Biłgoraj was completely white template, formed from wheels. Over time, thanks to guests' activity, it filled with colours and patterns, becoming an autonomous work of art. Aleksandra Sojak-Borodo emphasizes that her goal was to make art available and without barriers.
In a traditional museum the viewer often feels a distance – the works hanging on the walls are "untouchable". Introduction of an interactive element, such as the aforementioned poster or game and puzzle, changes the perception of the whole exhibition. A viewer who can draw something from himself starts looking at the artist's other finished works differently. As the author notes, this interaction allows to tell about serious subjects in an engaging way, especially children who during winter holidays became the main authors of drawings on a common poster.
Drawing as therapy – about a mandala that gives strength and a meeting that changes life
Art as a tool for dialogue on difficult issues
Modern art often builds a distance, but the project of Aleksandra Sojak-Borodo assumed from the beginning its shortening. The artist, who is a professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the UMK, emphasizes that interaction with the viewer allows to discuss topics that in another form could be too overwhelming. As she says: "A lot can also be said through art about some major themes, but also by engaging in an interaction".
This idea found its most complete realization during the series of workshops for seniors from the University of the Third Century, which were held directly in the exhibition space. Participants, working in white crayon on a black background, created temporary mosaics inspired by the works of Stefan Knapp, which for many of them was a completely new experience.
Mandala Against Depression: A Story of the Most Faithful Fan
The most moving moment of the meeting was the artist's relationship with one of the workshops participants. The woman struggled with severe depression and until the last minute she hesitated to leave the house at all. The process of concentrated mandala drawing and repetitive wheel motifs proved to be a breakthrough for her. Aleksandra Sojak-Borodo recalls: "She said she was very happy that she came to these workshops because she had problems with depression and wondered if she would come at all and it gave her a lot of strength".
This experience did not end with workshops. The participant became a regular guest of the museum and the "most faithful fan" of the project. This fascination moved to utility items created within the cycle. The artist said: ‘When a line of university gadgets — such as blankets or magnets — has already been placed on the market, she started visiting the promotion department, where she chose and bought further items, mainly magnets and other minor elements". This example proves that an artistic gadget can be more than a souvenir – it can become a physical reminder of a temporary relief in suffering.
Meditation in the Movement of the Hand: Cut off from everyday life
Why does the motive of the wheel have such a strong calming effect? Aleksandra Sojak-Borodo explains that for her, drawing these rhythmic forms is a kind of meditation. Each drawing is produced in great focus, requiring time and repetition. For the artist this is: "The moment of such a cut off from everyday life... it is a great happiness to cut off a bit of everyday life, reality and just to absorb in my case in drawing".
This state of isolation at work connects the creators with Stefan Knapp and acts therapeutically.
The art you can take home – from monumentalism to intimacy
In traditional terms, high art is associated with inaccessibility – with works closed behind thick glass or protected barrier in the museum. The project "Dialog with Knapp" by Aleksandra Sojak-Borodo turns this order upside down. Through the "crazyness of multiplication" the artist makes the art come down from the cours and goes straight to our homes, in the form of blankets, pillows or refrigerator magnets. This is a new philosophy of the collection in which the artist surrenders control of the work into the hands of an ordinary man.
Knapp's legacy in the soft version
Stefan Knapp, a world-famous tycoon artist, is primarily associated with monumentalism. His enamels on steel are hard work, cold and indestructible, adorning airports and universities. Aleksandra Sojak-Borodo in her project begins dialogue with this aesthetic, but does so on an intriguing contrast. Instead of cold sheet metal, it offers the recipients fabric. As Maja T. Wal notes during the interview: "We have art on steel sheet, something hard, cold, stiff. And here we have such cozy elements (...) was it such a conscious procedure to turn this cold, hard steel into such a cozy pillow?".
The artist confirms that this is a deliberate action that aims to tame art. In her vision, the project becomes a kind "other thinking about the collection". Instead of admiring the mural on the facade of the building, we can literally "to wrap up these walls" in the privacy of his own bedroom. This transition from public to private, from monumental to intimate, is about the uniqueness of the exhibition.
The artist does not want to limit herself to the exhibition of works, forming a line of commercial objects:
- Blankets and cushions: Made in limited series (e.g. 100 numbered copies of blankets), bearing special labels that are certified for authenticity.
- Games and puzzles: Such as memoirs or dominoes, which in the Toruń UMK library served students as an element of relaxation during breaks in science.
- Magnets: Allowing the viewer to arrange his own compositions at home independently, making him "directly included in the creation process".
Such an approach is "other thinking about collection" – art ceases to be cold and rigid like Knapp's steel enamel sheet, and becomes soft, cozy and present in private home space.
Multiplication as a manifesto of freedom
The key concept is mentioned by Sojak-Borodo ‘multiplication’. The artist admits that she resonates this with Knapp's works – although his mosaics (e.g. in the UKK auditorium) are unique, they consist of repetitive elements that give the impression of seriality. Sojak-Borodo goes one step further: "with this madness of multiplication, I'm just going out into space, like pillows and blankets, right? Because it seems to me again that it is a super kind of souvenir, but also such, just such an unobvious processing of these drawings or works".
Thanks to this procedure, the viewer ceases to be just a passive observer. Buying magnets that are part of the project, the recipient becomes a contributor to composition in his own home. The artist simply says: "we can set in them what we want and the artist is directly involved in this creation process". This is the democratization of art, in which control over the final appearance of the work is transferred "total strangers".
Memento Ethics: 100 copies and signed tag
In the era of mass production and "the murmuring of the planet", Sojak-Borodo places great emphasis on the uniqueness of his artistic gadgets. Although they are a multiplicity of the drawing, each is treated as a collector's object. "I made sure that this was something special, so these blankets are 100, and they have labels signed that this is the first one, there the second, third, 15 out of 100 copies, that it is not on such a principle of littering the planet, but that it is actually a limited version that has its value".
Such a tag becomes "the authenticity certificate of the work". The practical art in this edition does not lose its "high" status – it only changes the medium to be able to accompany us in everyday life. Games such as memories or puzzles that the artist laid out in the UMK library, served students to relax, becoming part of their academic life. It's the realization of Knapp himself who believed that "art should be available and create the background of our lives".
Silence in Circle – creative process as a form of meditation and escape
In a world dominated by noise and excess stimuli, Alexander Sojak-Borodo "finds shelter in a simple circle shape, mandala". Her drawings, which are the heart of the project "Dialog with Knapp", are the result of thousands of repetitive movements, which for the artist become a form of prayer or meditation. It is in this monotony and isolation that she finds the deepest bond with the Biligorian master, who forged his artistic language in eighteen months of solitude.
Circle as the rhythm of breath
The wheel motif dominates the exhibition in Biłgoraj – from small drawings to large format compositions. For the author, however, it is not just an aesthetic choice, but above all a spiritual one. The process of creating these works is tedious and takes time, which is a luxury nowadays. Sojak-Borodo describes this experience as ‘kind of silencing’ and ‘repeatability’.
During the meeting, the author confessed: "each of these drawings... was also created in a kind of silence in me... this is also a moment of such a cut-off from everyday life, it is not important because they arise in focus". Drawing of wheels thus becomes a therapeutic activity allowing for "Happy cutting off everyday life, reality, and just consuming yourself... in drawing". This is a state that many authors describe as being "at the limit of madness", where time ceases to exist, and only another line counts.
Singles dialogue: 18 months Stefan Knapp
The most intimate level of "Dialogue with Knapp" is revealed in the understanding of the artist's biography. Stefan Knapp, after traumatic experiences in the Siberian camp and serving in the RAF, closed after the war in his studio for 18 months. This period of absolute isolation was the moment of his birth as an artist. According to sources, Knapp "it closes so that there is no contact with people, that it forgets about eating, shaving, but after 18 months it comes out and something changes (...) this art is a kind of healing".
Aleksandra Sojak-Borodo admits that it was this fragment of Knapp's autobiography that influenced her most: "I understand this passage, I understand this need for such isolation and closure... this is the feeling that I understand this need... and this is the moment of such creation.". For both artists, isolation is not a punishment, but a necessary condition to carry out "talking to yourself". In this sense, the Biługoraj project is not only an exhibition of works, but a manifestation of the artist's right to isolation.
From White to Reduction – The Path of Minimalism
Analyzing the works presented on the exhibition, one can see the artist's desire for increasing synthesis. Her work goes to white, which Maja T. Wal aptly links with her earlier doctorate "Through White". This drive to reduce the form is another point of contact with Knapp, who, although operating on the sensation of colours, has always sought to find "the elementary systems".
Sojak-Borodo explains his evolution: "Now these last works that I am making are without color... these first works, this is a fantasy, what if certain things were not scattered... but this color was not so intense". This escape from brightness towards white and minimalism is paradoxically a form of even deeper silence. As the curator notes, some of these drawings resemble organic structures – cells or bacteria – which suggests that the artist in her meditation process reaches the foundations of life.
In this way, the "Dialogue with Knapp" joins the Biligorian museum. By drawing wheels, Alexander Sojak-Borodo not only pays tribute to his master, but finds his own "safe escape site". As she concludes: "It's a great happiness to cut off a little everyday life".
Stefan Knapp: From Forgetfulness to Memory Recovery
During the meeting there was a reflection on the reception of Stefan Knapp's work in Poland. Although in the world his name was associated with gigantic realizations for Heathrow Airport, the United Nations in Geneva or the New Jersey shopping centre, he remained almost anonymous in his native country for decades.
Maja T. Wal recalled that still a few years ago even conservationists at the National Museum in Warsaw did not know this character, and his works were in warehouses outside the capital. Sojak-Borodo added that in the 1970s the academic community in Toruń referred to Knapp with a reserve – his colorful, "lighting" emalas were considered too distant from the conceptual or colorist currents of the time.
Today, things are changing. Thanks to projects such as "Dialog with Knapp", the exhibition at the Toruń CSW or the efforts of the Museum of Biłgoraj Land, the memory of the artist is restored. An important symbol of this change is the placing of Knapp's work on the facade of the City Hall in Biłgoraj in 2023, initiated by mayor Janusz Roslan and a relative of the artist, Paweł Sokołowski.
Belarusian roots and anecdotes
The meeting also became an opportunity to recall local memories. The inhabitants of Biłgoraj remember Stefan Knapp not only as a great artist, but as a man who came to the city with a "worldly" car, raising a sensation among children and youth. Mr. Szmidt recalled the character, the car and the artist's distinctive outfit – Bord, tight pants in a grate and curly hair, which distinguished him on the streets of Biłgoraj in the 1950s and 1960s.
It is these small, human stories, combined with great art, that create a full picture of "Dialogue with Knapp". The project by Aleksandra Sojak-Borodo proves that this dialogue is not completed – it continues through every drawn circle on the poster, every arranged magnet on the fridge and every conversation about the "space" artist from Biłgoraj.
Value of meeting in the world of art
Summing up the Biligoric event, the author of the project pointed out that although drawings and objects are important, the real meaning of her work lies in relations with people. It is direct contact with the other man, common drawing of elements on the poster or conversation at the workshop table that gives the sense of the exhibition.
"I think this is the point of what we're doing here today, that is, talking, but also the value is in meeting with the other man, and then I feel that it makes sense and goes on somehow" said Alexander Sojak-Borodo. Thanks to this approach, the character of Stefan Knapp, once anonymous to many of the artist's residents, regains his place in the local identity not through rigid lectures, but through joyful, creative experience.
The project "Dialog with Knapp" proves that contemporary art can be "useful" in the most beautiful sense of the word – as a bridge to another man and a tool to restore inner peace.
Article developed on the basis of materials from the original meeting at the Biłgoraj Land Museum (20.03.2026).
Bibliography (selected sources):
1. Records of Mai T. Wal meeting with hab. Aleksandra Sojak-Borodo and discussions with residents of Biłgoraj (mp4).
2. Project "Dialog with Knapp" – description of the exhibition (Regional Museum in Biłgoraj).
"Dialogue with Knapp" is the artistic cycle of Dr. hab. Aleksandra Sojak-Borodo, Professor of UMK started in 2023. It consists of dozens of works: drawings, puzzles, games, magnets, pillows and blankets. The starting point of the project is the fascination of the artist with the work of Stefan Knapp – an artist still undervalued in Poland.
She is inspired by two projects of Knapp: the Misseau Hall of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and the 1973 Astronomical Composition located in the courtyard of the Office of Artistic Exhibitions in Olsztyn. The cycle is a dialogue with enamels and at the same time a personal return to children's memories. The artist evokes moments of delight she experienced as a girl, standing in front of a colorful composition on the facade of the Toruń Aula UMK — contrasting with the gray reality of PRL.
In his works Sojak-Borodo asks questions about the possibility of creating alternative original souvenirs related to a particular place. The second important theme is mantric, repetitive rhythm and the search for joy and rebounds in the art, releasing functions. Some of the objects presented assume interaction with viewers – we invite you to arrange, draw and play!
Aleksandra Sojak-Borodo (born 1981) – habilitated doctor, professor of UMK. She graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, where she completed the graphic design with a speciality drawing. He runs the UMK Department of Fine Arts drawing. Creates installations, objects, drawings and performance. She is the curator of the International Student Drawing Exhibition RYSOWA, held since 2008 at the Wozownia Art Gallery and at the Faculty of Fine Arts UMK. She runs art workshops for children and young people. The author of over 20 individual exhibitions participates in over 100 exhibitions and festivals in Poland and abroad.
3. The artist's website, dr hab. Aleksandra Sojak-Borodo: https://sojak-borodo.com/129/dialog-z-knappem-2
No Responses