NCU News
Events: January 2026
'Palimpsest of Memory' - exhibition
The Faculty of Fine Arts invites you to a solo exhibition by Szymon Pruciak, an interdisciplinary artist and lecturer at the American University of Cyprus. The opening of ‘Palimpsest of Memory’ will take place on 11 December at 12:00 noon at Gallery 9.39 (Szosa Bydgoska 50/56).
In 1878, British photographer John Thomson captured Cyprus through a colonial lens, giving the island a picturesque and ‘semi-oriental’ character. The ‘Palimpsest of Memory’ project revisits these photographs, using artificial intelligence to explore how machines inherit and reproduce this way of seeing. Generative artificial intelligence recreates Thomson's scenes from within, imagining perspectives that correspond to the imperial camera. The resulting images are realised using historical 19th-century photographic methods, combining digital speculation with the earliest chemistry of photography.
The project draws on Walter Benjamin's reflections on mechanical reproduction and analyses them for the algorithmic age, in which images are created from data rather than light. In dialogue with Edward Said, Donna Haraway and Karen Barad, the work treats vision as a shared, entangled act of man and machine. It encourages viewers to re-examine how technologies of vision shape history — and to imagine a future in which the very act of looking becomes an ethical practice.
The exhibition will be open until the end of January 2026.
Szymon Pruciak is a visual artist and lecturer at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the American University of Cyprus. He works with photography, film and video, using both historical photographic techniques and new media. His works have been presented at dozens of group and solo exhibitions in Europe, the Americas and Asia. Some of his works are also part of the French National Collection.
Give a book to children in hospital
The Student Health Clinic is organising a book collection for children staying at the Paediatrics, Haematology and Oncology Clinic of the A. Jurasz University Hospital No. 1 in Bydgoszcz.
The collected books will be given to the youngest patients during fairy tale therapy workshops, supporting them during their difficult time in hospital. For epidemiological reasons, only new books are accepted.
Dates and locations of the collection:
- in Bydgoszcz: 7-26 January 2026 in the teaching buildings of Collegium Medicum at ul. Świętojańska 20, Sandomierska 16 and in the Medical Library;
- in Toruń: 7-20 January 2026 at the Copernicus Integration Centre (ul. Olszewskiego 16).
Exhibition ‘Zmysł/Onubhob/Senses’
The Faculty of Fine Arts at Nicolaus Copernicus University invites you to the exhibition ‘Zmysł/Onubhob/Senses’ by Satabdi Hati. The opening will take place on 14 January 2026 at 5 p.m. at the Dworzec Zachodni ACKiS Od Nowa Gallery (Gagarina 37a Street in Toruń).
‘Zmysł/Onubhob/Senses’ combines works created as a result of the artist's many years of travelling through different countries, cultures and emotional landscapes. Handmade Nepalese Lokta paper, charcoal, hemp fibre, ink, coffee, dry leaves and tea stains create an organic language of forms, balancing between the real and the imagined. In her latest works, the artist also uses inks prepared by hand from avocado skins, beetroots and oak acorns, deepening her relationship with matter and the natural world.
An important element of the exhibition is language, present in many versions: Bengali, Polish, English, Hindi, Sanskrit and French. It becomes a landscape of transition, in which words such as ‘home,’ ‘unknown’, and ‘life’ form a poetic map of experiences of migration, rootedness and transformation.
This series was strongly influenced by the quiet, grey mornings of the Polish winter, slowing down the creative process and directing it towards intuition. Here, paper becomes a space for reflection, confirming Anne Frank's words that ‘paper has more patience than people’.
The exhibition is part of the artist's doctoral research on the use of natural materials in contemporary art. It is an invitation to pause and reconnect with nature and with the inner, silent landscapes that each of us carries within ourselves.
The exhibition will run until 18 March 2026. The curator of the exhibition is Dr Katarzyna Łyszkowska, professor at the Department of Drawing at Nicolaus Copernicus University.
Event on Facebook
Mystery Friend #4 - Mystery Quiz Show
The Amicus Foundation UNC invites you to a meeting in the "Mystery Friend" series, which will take place on January 15 at 5:00 p.m. at the Copernican Integration Centre. The theme of the event will be "Mystery Quiz Show".
"Mystery Friend" is a series of monthly integration meetings full of surprises. Each meeting is a new challenge and a chance to develop in an atmosphere of intercultural exchange and social education. It will provide you with great fun and unforgettable experiences, while teaching you how to cooperate and integrate in a multicultural environment. Their goal is to integrate the entire academic community - students from abroad are welcome.
Join a team quiz where knowledge, cleverness, and teamwork all matter. Mysterious riddles and unexpected clues await, adding a thrilling twist to the competition.
Admission to the event is free, and all necessary materials will be provided on site. Due to the limited number of places, registration is required. You can submit your application using the form available on the Amicus Foundation website.
The project is part of the YUFE 2030 initiative.
Night of Culture at Maius: Rhythms of Time
On 22 January, from 6:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., the fifth Night of Culture will take place at Collegium Maius. The theme of this year's event will be ‘Rhythms of Time’.
Night of Culture at Maius is a free and open event initiated by second-year students of cultural studies, specialising in cultural animation. This year, the event is being organised by students Jessica Drzycimska, Wiktoria Glink, Martyna Kamińska, Aleksandra Pacanowska, and Izyda Zańko, who are working under the supervision of Dr Marzenna Wiśniewska, NCU Prof. The programme and atmosphere of the event are the result of the passion, talent, interests and creativity of the community and friends of the Faculty of Humanities.
Admission to all attractions is free, but some workshops require registration at: nockultury.maius@gmail.com (until 20 January). The event is open not only to NCU students, but also to children and young people accompanied by adults.
More information