The exhibition will feature drawings from both the press and the internet, artists who are experienced and have been publishing for years, as well as young adepts and students of the art of humour who skilfully present themselves using social media. All works premiered in 2023 and comment both on how we live, what we are like, what surrounds us and on very specific events.

Participants, among others, are: Mirosław Andrzejewski, Andrzej rysuje, Grzegorz Bąkowski, Katarzyna Belczyk – Potatoface, Bartłomiej Belniak, Martyna Bolanowska - Ptaszek powiedział mi że, Mr Donk & Dr Fish - Jakub Kulawczuk & Robert Dziaman, Edyta Bystroń – Pani od plastyki, Marta Bystroń – Obrazek na dziś, Marta Frej, Ernesto Gonzales, Goorsky, Mirosław Hajnos, Henryk, Janek Koza, Jarek Kozłowski, Jakub Kamiński, Kosmiczna Espedycja Kube, Michał Korsun, Edmund Krajewski, Cezary Krysztopa, Władysław Kuczer – Ceper, Paweł Kuczyński, KURA, Mako, Melon, Bartosz Minkiewicz, Andrzej Mleczko, Marek Mosor – Widget, Obywatel Janek, Paplalala – Agnieszka Szczepaniak, Patyczaki z Painta – Bartłomiej Nahajski, Polska Mistrzem Polski – Tomasz Leśniak & Rafał Skarżycki , Poliki pełne komiksów – Błażej Milewski, Marek Raczkowski, Piotr Rajczyk, Henryk Sawka, smutne historie spisane na kacu i tanim papierze – Rafał Skwierawski, Mirosław Stankiewicz, Ola Szmida, Paweł Wakuła, Jerzy Wasiukiewicz, Tomasz Wilczkiewicz, vontrompka, Przemysław Zamoyski, Agnieszka Wrzosek .

A separate part of the exhibition will be devoted to the works of Andrzej Dudziński - a satirist, graphic artist and cartoonist who died in 2023.

"That special year! Who saw thee in our country" could be echoed by Mickiewicz, but I don't know if even he would have been able to describe all that went on here. And besides, we live in an age of pictorial civilisation. So we opted for pictures. Or more precisely, cartoon jokes. Nobody is as good as their creators at summarising, commenting on and making fun of the current situation in a quick and witty manner. Here is a complete overview of the best cartoon jokes AD 2023 in Poland. Or perhaps we should put it another way, not so much 'the best' as the ones that best comment on our reality. Week after week, month after month. Consistently, with a touch of irony, sarcasm, mockery and sometimes poetry. Because this is what cartoon jokes are all about. Some come from the press, others from the internet, some are the work of experienced masters of humour who have been publishing for decades, others are the work of young but already remarkably witty adepts who skilfully present themselves (not to say push themselves) with the help of social media. What they have in common is quality, humour and date = they all premiered in 2023 and comment both on how we live, what we are like, what surrounds us and on very specific events. Because, after all, this year has provided us with a plethora of them. From films at which hardly anyone remained indifferent ('Franciscan 3', 'Green Frontier'), and satirical cartoonists had a good use, to the autumn change of sides in the political jigsaw, when suddenly those who for a long time had been criticising the government from firmly entrenched ideological positions and praising the opposition had to reorient their jokes. And similarly the other side. This alone would lend itself to a separate exhibition, but here we want to summarise the whole year and the whole of Poland. So the selection was painstaking and ruthless. But what we smiled about is ours. And now we invite you to the best of the best. Now you will be able to have a laugh, and sometimes a bit of a laugh, or get emotional (because a good cartoon joke can evoke many emotions). You are welcome.

Kamil M. Śmiałkowski
curator

curator: Kamil Śmiałkowski

curator assistants: Zuzanna Berus, Paweł Płoski

graphic design: Ernesto Gonzales, Michał Rzecznik