Szczesniak graduated with a doctorate in psychology from Jagiellonian University in Kraków and went on to further studies at Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, Kraków. She has collaborated with Krzysztof Warlikowski since 1992 and is the exclusive designer for all his theatre and opera productions. She has been a member of Warsaw’s Nowy Teatr since its inception in 2008. She has designed opera productions for Warlikowski for companies including Paris Opéra, Bavarian State Opera Munich, La Monnaie Brussels, Berlin State Opera and Teatro Real, Madrid.

Szczesniak took part in the 1990 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space, the 1994 Exhibition of Young Set Designers (Katowice) and the 2007 exhibition The Reality of Transformation/The Transformation of Reality at the Prague Quadrennial and the Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw. Her designs have also been presented at La ‘Bellone’ Maison du Spectacle in Brussels (2008). She has been given the award for best set design by the Association of French Theatre, Music and Dance critics for (A)pollonia, directed by Warlikowski (2009/10 season) and was a special guest at the 12th Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space (2011). In summer 2013 Nowy Teatr hosted an exhibition of her work: Appearing and Disappearing Without a Trace. She was awarded a Knight’s Cross of Polonia Restituta by the President of Poland (2015) and is invited to give guest lectures and masterclasses on design.

You are here