Artists at Risk (AR) is delighted to welcome the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw as a new hosting partner in our global network supporting artists at risk.
With a mission to foster international collaboration and creative exchange, its renowned residency program has hosted over 300 artists and curators from around the world since 2002. The program provides a flexible, non-pressured environment for experimentation, research, and dialogue—encouraging artists to engage deeply with local contexts and develop innovative practices.
Beyond its long-standing commitment to artistic development, Ujazdowski has also shown strong solidarity with artists in crisis, offering emergency residencies for those displaced or endangered by conflict.
Currently, Ujazdowski is hosting AR-Resident Kholoud Charaf — a Syrian poet, novelist, and human rights advocate focusing on the protection of women and children. She’s been living in exile since 2018.
Charaf draws on her Druze roots as a connection to place, history, and community, without following a sectarian identity. Her work explores memory, trauma, exile, and resistance. She has held international residencies, including ICORN (Poland), PEN (Germany), and the IIE Artist Protection Fund (USA), and is currently based in Graz.
She has published four books in Arabic, translated into over ten languages. Her novel Diaries I Have Nothing to Do With was nominated for the 2024 International Prize for Arabic Fiction, and her latest book, With All My Faces, is her first work published in German.
We’re thrilled to partner with the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art and wish Charaf an inspiring and productive stay in Warsaw!
