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Lower Manhattan is getting a new cultural player.
The Pilecki Institute has officially opened its New York headquarters at 92 Greenwich Street, establishing itself as both a research center and a public-facing arts hub focused on Central and Eastern Europe. Its debut exhibition, “Modern Freedom,” opens May 19 and runs through August 31, bringing together a wide roster of artists from across the region.
If that geography feels broad, that’s the idea. The show draws on work from Poland, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania and beyond, using contemporary art to explore how identity is shaped (and reshaped) under pressure. The framing focuses on three thematic threads: memory, tremor and freedom and pieces in the exhibition span sculpture, painting, film and installation. Expect work that grapples directly with political upheaval, generational trauma and the long tail of 20th-century regimes, but filtered through a distinctly modern lens.
The institute itself is named after Witold Pilecki, a Polish resistance fighter who infiltrated Auschwitz to document Nazi crimes. That history is foundational to the organization’s mission, which centers on research, education and public programming tied to the region’s past. The New York outpost is bringing that work stateside, with plans for exhibitions, academic initiatives and events designed to connect U.S. audiences with stories often left out of the mainstream Western narrative.
“Opening in New York allows us the opportunity to present Eastern European history in ways that are engaging, accessible and relevant to U.S. audiences,” said CEO Piotr Franaszek. “At a time marked by war, political polarization, propaganda and renewed authoritarian pressures, we believe the history of this region offers not only remembrance, but also insight into courage, civic responsibility and the defense of freedom.”
The space itself is designed to function as more than a gallery. Alongside exhibitions, the Institute will host research programs, residencies and public discussions, making it a year-round venue rather than a one-off opening. A fall exhibition dedicated to filmmaker and theater director Andrzej Wajda is already on the calendar.
For New York’s crowded cultural landscape, “Modern Freedom” will land as both an introduction and a statement: this is a place interested in history, but not stuck in it. Instead, it’s using art to connect past and present—and to make a case for why that connection still matters.