Mikolaj Czerwiński

Mikolaj Czerwiński serves as a Lecturer in the Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), teaching foundational courses including World Cultures and Civilizations and Global Modernisms.

Education

• PhD in Art History, University of Illinois at Chicago

Research Focus: His scholarship examines transnational design practices during the Cold War, specifically analyzing connections between Eastern Bloc nations (particularly Poland), Western states, and postcolonial territories. His dissertation ‘An Intelligent, Complex, and Human Design Project’: Design as Social and Political Practice in Poland 1956-1976 investigates Polish industrial design's relationship with broader European movements, framed through globalization theory and modernity studies. Theoretically grounded in the works of Bruno Latour, Dipesh Chakrabarty, and Homi Bhabha, his research reveals how designers across ideological divides negotiated modernity.

Awards

• Fulbright Research Award (2015-2017) supporting dissertation fieldwork

Teaching Practice: Courses emphasize experiential learning through Art Institute of Chicago collections, connecting historical art to contemporary practice. His curriculum develops visual literacy by tracing prehistoric-to-19th-century artistic developments (ARTH 1001) and analyzing modern/contemporary theoretical frameworks (ARTH 1002), with scheduled instruction for Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 terms.