A wide shot of a ceramics studio, featuring students working with pottery wheels and other tools.

Matylda Krzykowski (Mitchell Visiting Professor)

Portrait by Dan McMahon

Do you have any habits?

I twirl my hair. 

What's the first thing you do when you wake up?

I twirl my hair.

What did you aspire to be growing up?

A dancer.

Do you have a secret talent that has influenced your practice in some way?

Strategic Improvisation. 

Matylda Krzykowski in conversation with Paul Feigelfeld, Desktop Exhibition for 'Is Technology Sexist?' conference, Institut Kunst Basel, 2017

What are you good at?

Developing formats for cultural and commercial clients. 

Matylda Krzykowski and Vera Sacchetti, co-curators at Foreign Legion, at 'A Woman’s Work', a symposium curated for the ‘Against Visibility’ exhibition at Japanisches Palais, Dresden, Germany, 2019

Name one of the formats that you've developed.

Desktop Exhibition, an exhibition on the desktop. 

Screenshot from the Desktop Exhibition at The School of Art Institute, Mitchell Lecture Series, September 2018
Screenshot from the Desktop Exhibition at Z33/A-Z night #3: Show me - The art of presenting, October 2017

Why did you decide to enter your field?

I wanted to be constantly challenged. 

How would you describe your teaching style?

Straightforward. 

Screenshot Teaching from Muthesius University Kiel, Germany and HKB Bern, Switzerland #jederweisswieeinsofafunktioniert #everyoneknowshowasofaworks
Screenshot from #muthesiusparallax a seminar turned into a project with Annika Frye. Exhibited at Jerusalem Design Week, Einblick/Ausblick Kiel, Istanbul Design Biennale and Berlin Design Week, 2018
One of the students projects for #muthesiusparallax a seminar turned into a project with Annika Frye. Exhibited at Jerusalem Design Week, Einblick/Ausblick Kiel, Istanbul Design Biennale and Berlin Design Week, 2018

What are the three most urgent topics facing design/architecture/interior architecture today?

Empathy, Nature, Geopolitics.

What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?

I find this question to be as problematic as a "Best Of" list.  

What has been the most rewarding project you have done?

Every project that has met all expectations of everyone involved. 

Exhibition view from the Open Studios installation at Jan van Eyck academy including the ‘Display’ handbook Krzykowski developed in collaboration with Kasper Pyndt, Kaja Kusztra, Christophe Clarijs and Timo Demollin, 2017

What would you wish to invent?

An App that transforms low res images into high res images. 

Exhibition view from ’This Is Today’, one of the four exhibitions Krzykowski curated for Gallery Chamber in New York, 2016 – 2017

Find out more about Matylda Krzykowski here. 

SAIC Professor Anna Martine Whitehead & Alum X Named 2025 USA Fellows

Two School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) community members, Assistant Professor Anna Martine Whitehead and alum X (MFA 2018), have been named 2025 United States Artists Fellows.

SAIC Professor Anna Martine Whitehead & Alum X Named 2025 USA Fellows

Image via the artist X

VOID_TOWERS, Chromatic steel sculpture series in Santa Fe, NM, X, 2024.