Krzysztof Czyzewski

Practitioner of ideas. Animator of intercultural dialog. Archaeologist of memory. Poet, essayist. Editor, translator. Traveller.

Born in Warsaw 6 July 1958.

Graduate in Polish literature at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań.

Diploma work: The Book of Way of Czesław Miłosz.

Initially closely related to the avant-garde theatre movements. He was one of the co-creators of the "Gardzienice" Theatre with which he worked from 1977 up to 1983. He undertakes a cycle of trips to places all over the world where the authentic traditional culture still exists.

In 1983, during the martial law in Poland he establishes the periodical "Czas Kultury" (Time of Culture), which after 1989 came of the "underground" (became legal).

In the second half of the eighties he has been giving lectures about the history of culture and aesthetics in the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań.

At the same time he establishes the "Arka" theatre and initiates the "Meeting Village" project in Czarna Dabrówka in Kaszuby Region in which alternative theatre and culture creators of all Europe and America has been participating.

All this cultural activities during that difficult time were possible thanks to a small independent business company he established in 1984 specializing in carpets cleaning.

In 1990 he becomes one of the initiators of the "Borderland" Foundation and becomes it's President. In 1991 he establishes the Centre "Borderland of Cultures, Arts, Nations" and becomes it's director. It is cultural institution co-founded by Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and Podlaskie Province Regional Assembly Government.

The Centre is located in a small town Sejny, former “shetl”, on the Polish-Lithuanian-Belarusian borderland. The “Borderland” revitalized the jewish quarter in a very centre of the town, and has its studios for art and education programs in former Hebrew gymnasium, yeshiva and synagogue.

In 2011, June 30, for the centenary of Czesław Milosz's birth and for the beginning of Polish Presidency in European Union, together with his Borderland team he opened an International Center for Dialog in Krasnogruda near Sejny in the reconstructed manor house of once Milosz's family.

In the framework of the Foundation and The Centre he realizes among others the following projects: Meeting the Other or on Virtue of Tolerance, The Memory of Ancient Times, Home – Nest – Temple, Central European Cultural Forum, Open Region of Central and Eastern Europe, The Borderland Culture Documentary Centre, The Borderland School, Class of Cultural Heritage, Café Europa, Glass Bead Game, Mobile Academy “New Agora”, Laboratories of Intercultural Dialog, Tales of Coexistence.

In 1993 he becomes the founder and editor-in-chief of the "Krasnogruda" magazine, devoted to Central and Eastern European cultures, art and literature. He is editor of Borderland Publishing House, in charge of the series “Meridian” and “Neighbours”.

He published regularly his essays in 'Kultura' (Paris). He is translated into many languages and published in different countries (among others USA, Austria, Germany, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Bosnia & Hercegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Yugoslavia, France, Canada).

In 2001 he published both in USA and Poland his book-manifesto “The Path of the Borderland”. In 2008 his new collection of essays was published under the title “Line of Return. Notes from the Borderland” (Cogito Prize nomination for the best book in 2008). Other books: “The Ethos of the Borderland” (Belgrade 2010), “The Stranger – The Other – The Kin: A Conversation on the River Bank” (Lviv-Kyiv 2010), and “The Line of Return. Notes from the Borderland” (Kyiv 2013). Co-author and editor of the books “Trust and Identity. A Handbook of Dialogue” (Sejny 2011) and “Miłosz – Dialogue – Borderland” (Sejny 2011).

In 2007 he was invited by University of Michigan to deliver a prestigious “Copernicus Lecture”. He was a lecturer and speaker of the Academy of Fine Arts (Poznań), Warsaw University, Vilnius University, New School University (New York), Transregional Center for Democratic Studies (Cracow), Salzburg Seminar, Center for Humanities at Lviv University, Ilia State University (Tbilisi), Harvard University, Berkeley University, Public Library (New York, Los Angeles, Toronto).

He coordinates several projects about intercultural dialogue in Europe, Caucasus, Central Asia, Indonesia, Bhutan and USA.

He was an Artistic Director of the Lublin candidancy for European Capital of Culture and was nominated as an Artistic Director of European Capital of Culture Wroclaw 2016, keeping this position for years 2012-2013.

For many years he was a member of the Art and Culture Sub-Board in Open Society Institute in Budapest and a President of European Network of Literary Centers HALMA (Berlin).

He is a Chairman of the Jury of the Irena Sendlerowa Prize (Warsaw) and a President of the Board of Eastern Partnership Congress of Culture (Lublin).

Member of the Remarque Circle (New York University), Board of the Czeslaw Milosz Birthplace Foundation (Kaunas), The International Institute for the Study of Culture and Education (Wroclaw), The Art and Modernity Foundation (Warsaw).

In 2003 he was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship.

The winner of the POLCUL Foundation Prize, The Prize of Stanisław Wyspianski for Young Artists, The Paris-based "Culture" (Kultura) Magazine Prize for the Year 1996.

He is a Gabor Bethlen’s Prize (Budapest) winner in 1998 for a “Man of Central Europe” as well as Alexander Langer Prize (Rome), Dialog Award (Berlin), Central European Award “New Culture of  New Europe” (Krynica) and Pontifex Award (Warsaw).

In 2007 from the Kronenberg Foundation he received a special Aleksander Gieysztor Prize for innovation and dedication in protecting cultural heritage.

In 2008 he was nominated as Ambassador of European Year of Intercultural Dialog (Brussels).

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In May 1999 he was awarded  by Jerzy Giedroyć of  a 'Small Sceptre of Polish Culture' Prize.

In December 2000 he received, together with Tadeusz Mazowiecki, a prestigious ‘Medal of St. George’ from editors and readers of ‘Tygodnik Powszechny’ (Cracow).

President of Lithuania, Valdas Adamkus, awarded him with an order of Giediminas (2001); Israeli Ambasador, Szewach Weiss, awarded him with a honorary prize for merits in preserving Jewish cultural heritage in Poland (2001); and President of Poland, Aleksander Kwasniewski, awarded him with a Cross “Polonia Restituta” (2002).

He was awarded by Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Władysław Bartoszewski, for the promoting Polish culture in the world (2001) and  by the Ecumenical Foundation “Tolerance” with the title “Meritorious for the Tolerance” (2003).

He lives in Krasnogruda on Polish-Lithuanian border with wife Mołgorzata and two children, Weronika and Stanislaw.