Senior Days 2026 in Bielsko-Biała. Senior Weekend with Culture

Our BWA — history written in memory. The first workshop for seniors in the series dedicated to the history and transformations of Galeria Bielska BWA in the period of transformation.

Artistic workshops inspired by Weronika Zalewska's exhibition “Archive of fluctuations” and free visits to exhibitions during the Senior Weekend with Culture are offered to seniors by Galeria Bielska BWA.

Senior Days 2026 will take place in Bielsko-Biała from 1 to 9 October this year. Older people will be invited to participate in events organized by municipal institutions and institutions in the field of culture, sports, recreation, tourism and social integration. The largest number of proposals will cover Saturday and Sunday 3—4 October — it will be Senior's Weekend with Culture, an event initiated by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, in which the Bielska BWA Gallery has also participated for several years.

Galeria Bielska BWA invites seniors on Friday, October 9, 2026 at 10.30 am to a meeting under the slogan “Our BWA — history written in memory”.

These will be the first workshops for seniors in the series dedicated to the history and transformations of Galeria Bielska BWA during the transition period, conducted using methods and techniques of social archiving. The gallery invites you to share memories — the stories of the inhabitants will become part of the history of our city.

The workshop will take place in the setting of Weronika Zalewska's exhibition “Archive of fluctuations”, the subject of which will be the starting point for the memories and conversations of Bielszczans and Bielszczanes about the 1990s, which initiated turbulent political, economic and social transformations.

The “Archive of fluctuations” project is firmly embedded in the Polish experience of the political transformation of the 1990s and 2000s, when entering the free market system was associated with the rapid assimilation of Western models of knowledge, competence and success. This dynamic process Veronika Zalewska collided with her memories of growing up — it was a long time together watching television with her grandmother, which reversed the traditional directions of knowledge transfer.

Read more about the exhibition “Archive of fluctuations” >>

During the Senior Weekend with Culture from 3 to 4 October this year, the gallery offers a free tour of the exhibitions of Weronika Zalewska and Małgorzata Mycek in the gallery's exhibition halls as well as an exhibition of paintings by Rafał Bojdys in the Klubokawiarnia Aquarium.

Willa Sixta will not be available to visitors without tickets during this period; participation in the exhibition “Echolalia” Björk, one of the most original artists of the contemporary world stage, which runs from 2 to 25 October 2026, is limited by tickets distributed online.

The workshop “Our BWA — history written in memory” will be conducted by Ala Gocka, educator of Galeria Bielska BWA.

Senior Days 2026, 1—9 October 2026

Bielska BWA Gallery, Bielsko-Biala, 3 Maja 11

Friday, October 9, 2026, 10.30 a.m.

Workshop: Our BWA — history written in memory

Conducted by: Ala Gocka

Senior Weekend with Culture, 3—4 October 2026

Free admission to exhibitions:

Weronika Zalewska — Archive of fluctuations” (upper room)

Małgorzata Mycek — “Dziadostwo” (lower hall)

Rafał Bojdys — Painting (Klubokawiarnia Aquarium)

Ala Gocka — educator of Galeria Bielska BWA. She conducts art workshops, tours exhibitions, conducts periodic tours for seniors and families with children, implements educational and social projects that bring contemporary art closer, implements the project “Museum of Memory” for people with neurodegenerative diseases and an art therapy project for people in mental crisis. She is an art historian, a guide to the museums of Amsterdam and Paris.

The nationwide action “Senior Weekend with Culture” is initiated and coordinated by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. This initiative aims to encourage the active participation of older people in cultural life and to facilitate their access to the offer of different types of facilities. The 13th edition of this event will take place on the first weekend of October, that is, from 3 to 4 October 2026.