12–13 September 2026 |  Southwark TradeStars, Copperfield St, London SE1 0EA

Exhibition Overview

THE LAKE BOY is an immersive exhibition that offers a fresh perspective on the relationship between art and design. By blending light, imagery, ceramics, steel, and film, the project demonstrates how artistic elements can serve simultaneous aesthetic, spatial, and functional purposes.

The exhibition creates a “design for a good place” – a fluid architectural environment where the human body can rest, transform, and find its own form.

Core Artistic Pillars

• The Cinematic Frame & Painting: Artist Jakub Łączny uses water structures and light particles to depict the self-organization of matter, positioning his work at the intersection of film and canvas.
• The Living Tool (Art Film): The exhibition features auteur films resembling monodramas. Featuring an athlete in the acting role, the film explores body awareness, physical exertion, and sensory practices, treating the body as a living, self-regulating organism.
• Regenerative Poetry: Inspired by Stanisław Grochowiak’s poetry cycle “Boyhood Games” (specifically the poem “The Lake Boy”), the concept reflects on bodily memory, coming of age, masculinity, and identity.
• Designing a Good Place: Large-format paintings serve as architectural modules alongside multidimensional light installations, pictorial scenography, and the “Black Desire” ceramic series—whose fluid forms evoke traces of sweat and liquid.

About the Artist

Jakub Łączny (Ph.D.) is a painter, researcher, and educator whose work focuses on the relationship between painting and light, specifically how color structures create uniform, luminous, large-format spaces.

• Current Roles: Head of the Painting Form Studio at the Institute of Painting and Drawing (Wł. Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź); Lecturer at the Łódź University of Technology.
• Education: WSHE in Łódź (Audiovisual Communication under Prof. Józef Robakowski); UAP in Poznań (Painting under Prof. P. C. Kowalski); Dartington College of Art (UK); Ph.D. from the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź (2020).
• Exhibitions: Extensive portfolio of solo and group exhibitions across Poland and internationally.

Exhibition Team

Artist: Jakub Łączny
Curators: Magdalena Komborska-Łączna, Zbigniew Olszyna, Kuba Szkudlarek
Text Author: Magdalena Komborska-Łączna
Set Design Consultant: Monika Staniec
Visual Identity: Mariusz Andryszczyk

Film Production

Director, Writer, Photographer: Jakub Łączny
Cinematography & Post-Production: Jakub Łączny
Lighting: Tytus Diakun, Dawid Znyk
Editor: Kajetan Kachel
Actor: Sebastian Chrząszcz
Coach: Jakub Cholewiński

Organisation & Funding

Producer & Organizer: Publish Art
Institutional Partners: MBWA Gallery in Leszno, Galeria Wiele Sztuki, POSK, Ceramika Paradyż Sp. z o.o.
Financial Support: Co-funded by the Wielkopolska Region Government. Under the patronage of the Mayor of Leszno.
Media Patrons: Designdoc.pl, NN6T, Habemus Design, SZUM Magazine

For more information visit : https://www.designdoc.pl/jakub-laczny-the-lake-boy-london-design-festival/