As a media partner, Contemporary Lynx explored the growing presence of art and culture at Impact — a presence that’s no longer an addition, but a force taking centre stage. This shift signals a powerful awareness emerging among business leaders and policymakers in Poland: culture is not decoration, it is direction. What stood out?
On the main stage, Amma Omenaa Mensah delivered a compelling Power Speech. Known for boldly connecting the business world with social impact, she shared her personal story, leadership philosophy, and long-term vision of how diversity, responsibility, and culture can drive meaningful change. Her words set the tone for the OmenaArt Foundation panel, moderated by Natalia Bradbury. In this emotionally resonant conversation, internationally acclaimed artists Ibrahim Mahama, Rita Mawuena Benissan, and Lisa Vandy spoke about how African creativity can enrich and challenge global cultural narratives.
The Krupa Art Gallery (Krupa Art Foundation) presented a visionary exhibition, “There Is Nothing to Be Afraid Of”, curated by Katarzyna Mlynczak-Sachs (Ph.D) and Magdalena Basak. Featuring 15 artists, including Aleksandra Waliszewska, Wojciech Fangor, Salvador Dalí, Oleg&Kaśka, Pola Dwurnik, and Joanna Woś, the exhibition offered a poetic, layered challenge to patriarchal and anthropocentric hierarchies.
The Impact Art Zone – the Impact Collection also included Irmina Staś’s work from her “Chlorophyll and Blood” series. We were especially proud to see this piece unveiled, having recently interviewed the artist for Contemporary Lynx.
We were also inspired by Olga Tokarczuk, who talked about how we are living at a turning point when it comes to storytelling in the “Through ‘tenderness’ and ‘literalism’ in search of new words for the present” panel with Katarzyna Kasia. And the panel “Leaders invest with Purpose” moderated by Justyna Szylman, featuring Grażyna Kulczyk, Eliza Łoś-Strychowska, Piotr Augustyniak, and Maciej Wróbel.
We met our friends and partners – the Polish Culture Institute’s stand to learn about all the current and upcoming exhibitions of Polish artists in the world (Anna Godlewska and Paulina Latham).
Great insights were shared by Anda Rottenberg from the role of culture today to the female side of art collecting. We also had the pleasure of participating in the Impact Art programme with talks moderated by Alek Hudzik from Mint: magazyn o kulturze, like the one with Borys Szyc and Magdalena Boczarska on the challenging roles that shaped their acting careers and those chosen on screen, stage, and beyond. We left the event with one clear takeaway: If we want to design the future, artists must be in the room!
