Stairs, scissors, fluencies
A story about unusual stairs hidden inside an ordinary apartment block in Kraków’s Podgórze district.
In the stairwells of the building at 14 Traugutta Street in Podgórze, Kraków, there are abstract polychrome murals by Stanisław Jakubczyk – an artist who lived in the building in the 1960s and had his studio in the attic. The frescoes were created as a social gift for the residents and remain, to this day, one of the most distinctive yet little-known examples of postwar art in a semi-private space.
Jakubczyk studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków in 1937–1939 and again in 1945–47. He also completed pedagogical studies and, in 1946, a film program that later became the foundation of the Łódź Film School. He is the author of works in over one hundred churches in Poland and several abroad; in addition to sculpture and easel painting, he also made short films.
The building on Traugutta Street was established as an unusual community initiative – legally owned by its 80 residents. This structure encouraged grassroots action and collective care for the shared space. The murals quickly became a local treasure. After one of the polychromes was damaged in a storm in 2004, the artist restored it together with the residents.
One of the painted staircases led to the artist’s attic studio. As one ascends the stairs, a particular perceptual effect unfolds: a static composition, viewed in motion, transforms into a dynamic, almost cinematic image. This experience of “being inside abstraction” resonates with Jakubczyk’s filmic sensibility and the rhythmic structure of his collages.
The project was presented at an exhibition at Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej Wiewiórka as part of Cracow Art Week KRAKERS. The exhibition took place in two locations – the gallery space and the original staircase – creating a dialogue between archival works, contemporary photographs, and the living architectural context in which the murals continue to exist. The exhibition was curated by Mateusz Okoński, who had known Jakubczyk personally; the show also featured his collages and the film Fluencje.
