Mateusz Matysiak

(b. 1990), graduate of the Jagiellonian University, since 2015 employed by the Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology in Krakow, where he is in charge of the  Andrzej Wajda Archive. Has taken part in preparing the exhibitions Andrzej Wajda. Sketchbook (8 March – 28 August 2016, Manggha Museum), ‘Dybbuk’ and Other Drawings by Andrzej Wajda (23 September 2016 – 15 January 2017, Synagogue Complex Museum in Włodawa), ‘Pan Tadeusz’: From Dzików to the Film Set  (15 May – 30 June 2017, Historical Museum of the City of Tarnobrzeg), Wyspiański (10 November – 17 December 2017, Regional Museum in Stalowa Wola), Wajda (17 May – 15 July 2018, Schoen’s Palace Museum in Sosnowiec), Perspective of Adolescence. Szapocznikow – Wróblewski – Wajda (23 June – 30 September 2018, Silesian Museum in Katowice), Wajda (6 April – 8 September 2019, National Museum in Krakow, and Andrzej Wajda. The Japanese Notebook (21 November 2019 – 6 March 2020, Manggha Museum).

Description of the speech

Andrzej Wajda the Archivist

Since 2011, the Andrzej Wajda Archive has been one of the collections of the Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology in Krakow. It is a unique legacy, relevant to all of Wajda’s creative work (both in film and theatre) and his social and political activism, in addition to including his private correspondence. The collection goes beyond the common understanding of the term ‘archive’. It also comprises singular awards and distinctions, commemorative medals, film and theatre posters, and even stage props.

Based on the director’s guidelines found in his private notes and letters, the Museum strives to order this legacy the way he would have wished it.

The uniqueness of this archive is determined by its size, the diversity of the accumulated material, and also the fact that, almost from the outset, the director not only kept but also creatively used or allowed others to use his archived resources in artistic and research projects. The Andrzej Wajda Archive has never been a ‘lifeless’ set of items, even if for years his priority was to order his archival legacy.