Festival of the Forest — Paweł Althamer

The Forest Festival is a project based on shared experience, action and triggering imagination. The starting point is the forest as a space daily present in our lives, which through artistic activities can become a place of new relationships, experiences and ways of being together.

On October 17, 2026, the Festival of the Forest will take place in the Gypsy Forest — a joint, festive meeting prepared by Paweł Althamer at the invitation of Galeria Bielska BWA. The event will combine artistic and performance activities with fun and work with imagination and mindfulness. It will also be an opportunity to experience the forest together as a space for life, relationships and respite. Those interested are invited to dress up as trees, forest characters or create their own outfit inspired by the forest and its inhabitants.

The starting point of the project is the daily experience of the forest as a place of walks, rest and recreation, and at the same time the question of what happens to this experience when we treat the forest space as a place of artistic activity. The project also encourages to look at the forest as an environment with which man remains in a relationship and of which he is a part. Artistic activities will become a way to reformulate the daily experience of this space and enter into a relationship with its surroundings together.

Preparations for the event began on 12 and 13 September 2026 during a two-day leadership workshop led by Paweł Althamer at Galeria Bielska BWA. They were attended by people selected in an open call, interested in working with groups and communities and using artistic activities to build engagement and community. At the end of the workshop, they assumed the roles of Forest Envoys and Envoys and began working with their groups. Together they are preparing activities that will be part of the program of the October event.

Paweł Althamer (born 1967) is one of the most important Polish artists of socially engaged art. She creates sculptures, performances, installations and videos, often in collaboration with other people and entire communities. In his practice, art becomes a space for joint action, building relationships and looking at everyday reality from a different perspective. Since 1995 he has been running the Nowolipie Group, combining artistic activity with art therapy. His projects are often created outside art institutions, blurring the line between work, encounter and shared experience.

The day before the event, on Friday 16 October at 6 p.m., there will be a meeting with Paweł Althamer. The conversation will be moderated by Iza Kaszyńska. The meeting will take place at Klubokawiarnia Aquarium, ul. 3 Maja 11, Galeria Bielska BWA.

Festival of the Forest

Saturday, October 17, 2026, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Las Cygański (bus stop), Bielsko-Biała

Free admission

Report from the leadership workshop with Paweł Althamer >>

Realization: Marcin Szendoł

The honorary patronage of the event was taken by the Mayor of the City of Bielsko-Biała Jarosław Klimaszewski.

Paul Atlhamer:

The Festival of the Forest is a festive, shared time in the Forest. Join the event to celebrate the Forest together!

We will make the Festival of the Forest a day of fun. From fun we will go into meditation, into festive being in the forest. We will become a forest.

It's simple, start with clothes. Choose an outfit for the Forest. Festive dress, costume, forest detail — mark with a gesture that on this day you will go to meet the Forest in (on) special attire. If your dream has always been to blend into the forest and disappear, do it! If you know what kind of Tree you are, maybe you want to enrich your look with a symbolic touch?

On this day, let our imagination be the guide and the fun the motivation.

We meet on Saturday at 15:00 in Bielsko-Biała at the bus stop in Cygański Lesa.

From this point, let's go for a walk. We will enter the Forest to feel like a Tree, to weave roots among ourselves, to direct our gaze to the sun.

We will finish with a bonfire and a warm treat.