Weronika Zielińska-Klein (PL), trained as an artist (BA, WdKA) and a researcher (MAR, UvA), runs Upominki (Polish for “gifts”) since 2012, a project space situated in her family home in Rotterdam, previously known as Guestroom. In her practice, she often explores different curatorial strategies in which the concepts of the gift and hospitality play an essential role. Her latest collaborative project – family research and residency – took place at Galería Metropolitana in Santiago (Chile) and was presented during their “Strategies to divert Neoliberalism” curatorial program of 2018-2020. Departing from feminism discourse; body and gender politics, Zielińska’s work is particularly being discussed within the maternal in contemporary art and theory. Most recently in Deirdre M. Donoghue PhD dissertation at Utrecht University, Institute for Cultural Inquiry, and in Inappropriate Bodies; Art, Design, Maternity (eds. Charles Reeve, Rachel Epp-Buller. Bradford: Demeter Press, 2019). For “The Mothernists” (2015) Zielińska co-curated the group exhibition at Upomniki and presented during “The Mothernists II: Who Cares For The 21st Millennium?” (2017) the two transatlantic conferences that brought together the work and thought of practicing international artists and art historians for the cross-pollination of art, philosophy, and maternal theory, practice, and experience.

At Willem de Kooning Academy she holds the position of Autonomous Practices Leader since 2019 and Research Lecturer, currently. In 2022 Zielińska presented her research project Matricentric feminism, critical self-organization, and autonomy during “Learning from the Pandemic: Possibilities and Challenges for Mothers and Families“, a conference organized by York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, The Mothers Matter Centre, and Demeter Press, and “ARE WE/WE ARE RESEARCH” annual research day at WdKA.

Weronika is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam School in Heritage, Memory, and Material Culture.