Kacper Kępiński — architect, architecture critic, curator of numerous exhibitions and editor of the A&B portal — has taken over as Deputy Director of the National Institute of Architecture and Urbanism since June this year. Congratulations!
Kacper Kępiński is a graduate of the Faculty of Architecture at the Cracow University of Technology, a scholarship holder of the French government at École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Paris-Belleville, who also gained student experience at universities in Amsterdam and Copenhagen. Since 2020, he has been the editor of the A&B portal, and is also a co-founder of the Krakow-based association Space-People-City and a member of the board of the Institute of Architecture Foundation, where he has coordinated such projects as the Krakow Modernism Route and Pomoszlak, among others. Since September 2022, together with Zuzanna Mielczarek, he has been teaching a course on inclusive housing at the Faculty of Architecture of the Brno University of Technology.
He has been working at the National Institute of Architecture and Urbanism almost since its inception — in 2018 he was an education specialist, later he was in charge of external projects and exhibitions (since 2019 as head of the department). He co-created such exhibitions as "The Eastern Wall. The Architecture of Zbigniew Karpinski", the high-profile „Anthropocene” and "Humanistic Modernism. Maciej and Stanisława Nowicki", which was recently presented at the United Nations in New York. An exhibition curated by Kępiński, "Tectonic Movement", can be seen at the Museum of Architecture in Wroclaw until September 30 this year; the exhibition, dedicated to the post-war architecture of the Świętokrzyskie region, is accompanied by a book with the same title.
© NIAiU
As NIAiU Deputy Director was appointed in June 2024.
In accordance with the principle already adopted, the deputy director is primarily responsible for the Institute's activities in the field of education, exhibitions and external projects, which we carry out with many partners. This includes a growing number of international projects and partnerships that we have continued for years. In addition to these, I will of course face a number of tasks related to the daily work of the institution — Kacper Kępiński tells A&B in response to a question about the tasks and challenges he will face in his new position.
What plans and ideas does Kępiński have for the Institute's activities?
As our experience shows, the most popular projects are those in which we combine historical themes with the present and seek solutions to the problems affecting our common space. Such was „Anthropocene” — our attendance hit, and it is precisely such complex projects, combining reflection on heritage and looking to the future, carried out in a multidisciplinary team, that I find most valuable. They show that architecture and urban planning are complex fields that require the involvement of experts in various fields, but also have a huge impact on our everyday life, health or climate. While realizing projects dedicated to the history of architecture, I always try to give them contemporary relevance, to draw conclusions for the future, because it is the future — in the face of the climate crisis, but also the situation in the housing market — that is most important at the moment. I would like to see the projects carried out by the various departments of NIAiU more interconnected and make full use of the enormous potential of our team, precisely as we managed to do in the case of the aforementioned „Anthropocene” — explains Kacper Kępiński.
