TRANSFORMATIONS: MODERNITY IN THE THIRD REPUBLIC OF POLAND

National Museum in Kraków, Dec. 20, 2024–May 18, 2025

“Transformations: Modernity in the Third Republic of Poland” is a comprehensive exhibition devoted to Polish art, fashion, architecture, and design after 1989. The exhibition showcased the transformations of recent decades: a departure from a single canon of modernity, a return to local traditions, and the growing importance of identity, ecology, and social engagement.

The exhibition featured the costume for the character “Child No. 7,” played by Elżbieta Zajko in the play “Children See Ghosts,” directed by Mariusz Grzegorzek. Tomasz Armada designed the costume and crafted it in collaboration with the team at the Stefan Jaracz Theater’s tailoring workshop in Łódź. The design solutions developed during work on the production later became the starting point for the “Glamslur” collection, created from shimmering, intensely colored materials sourced from used evening gowns.

The presentation of this project at the National Museum in Kraków placed Tomasz Armada’s practice within the broader context of contemporary Polish design. “Transformations” was the final installment of the museum’s “4 × Modernity” series.

Object: costume for the character Child No. 7, 2020
Design and production: Tomasz Armada, in collaboration with the team from the Stefan Jaracz Theater’s costume workshop in Łódź
Cast: Elżbieta Zajko
Directed by: Mariusz Grzegorzek