I’m an actress, educator, and run my own Body and Emotions Studio in Katowice. I graduated with a degree in Philosophy from the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Silesia in Katowice. Together with Jarosław Fret, I founded Studio Wachowicz/Fret.
Truth accompanies me in my work. It guides me regardless of whether or how I am perceived. Of course, I wanted to be understood and, above all, heard. The space of my work is the body and what fills it from within, that is, IMAGINATION. It works through my body, becoming my German. IT BECOMES A WORD. The following tools are available: safety, precision, use, devotion, retention, love… everything is already there, and it should be found within them.
My world seems infinite to me, with nooks and crannies I myself am unaware of, which is why I am so drawn to MYSTERY. In my world, I can be a Warrior of Beauty, a Tender Barbarian, a Gallery Maid of Sensitivity. I have no ready-made recipe for TRUTH, but I assure you that the tool available to me is Myself, like a Ship, so that I can share this world, be a Bridge for others. Ultimately, I devote myself to traveling around the Ocean, sometimes drifting, but always in harmony with myself.
On International Theatre Day 2026, I received the Award of the Marshal of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship for outstanding achievements in the field of culture.
I received a Scholarship in the field of culture for 2026 awarded by the Marshal’s Office of the Silesian Voivodeship.
In May 2025, at the invitation of Megumi Eda (an artist from Japan), we jointly launched the project How You Look at It / Re-Framing 8:15, work-in-progress. The project was presented at the Sakura 2025 Festival in Wrocław. youtu.be/-2Jdq47V-No.
In 2024, Monika received the award for performance THE BORDER: The Scotsman FRINGE FIRST 2024 and nomination for The Brighton Fringe Excellence Award at Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
In the winter of 2024/2025, together with Jarosław Fret, she prepared the performative installation La Fin.
The performance/installation Kairos καιρός received an invitation to represent Poland at the World Theatre Day Ceremony in Langfang, China.
In 2023, Monika was nominated for the Best Actress award in the solo performance category (for Hourglass) at the International Theatre Festival SAINT MUSE in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, organised by the Mongolian branch of the International Theatre Institute.
In Spring 2023, Monika created the performance installation B O R D E R. She invited Jarosław Fret to collaborate, alongside two artists from the Ukraine, the performer Antonina Romanova and the painter Olena Matoshniuk. The work has many possibilities, it may also be presented as a solo or in collaboration with other female émigré artists. The première was in April in Wrocław (Laboratory Theatre Space) as part of Interstices 2023 : Women in the Performing Arts.
In Summer 2023, Monika and Jarosław Fret created the performance installation S E V E N inspired by the short documentary “Seven Women of Different Ages” (1978) by Krzysztof Kieslowski. The première was in August as part of the 12th edition of the Hommage á Kieślowski Film Festival in Sokołowsko, Poland.
In 2022, Monika and Jarosław Fret created the performance installation KAIROS (gr. καιρός). The photographer Joanna Nowicka was invited to collaborate and she prepared the photographs on the fabrics which became part of the set design. The première was in December in Wrocław (Laboratory Theatre Space) followed by a presentation in Katowice (Theater Ateneum).
In 2021, she began a new direction of works with Jarosław Fret, creator of the Theater ZAR.
Since June 2021, she has been cooperating with the Grotowski Institute in Wrocław, acting as a curator of the performance projects Intersections. Women in Performing Arts. As a teacher of the State Academy of Theater Arts at a branch in Wrocław, she conducts acting classes for 1st year students.
In 2021, Monika and Jarosław Fret prepare the project SHEOL / שאול, a theatre study on Death and Love by Wachowicz/Fret. The premiere was in December in Wrocław (Laboratory Theatre Space) and Katowice (Theater Śląski)
In April 2020, Monika graduated the course Evolution in Culture – Emotions: An Interdisciplinary Frame, at the Faculty of Anthropology in Copernicus College in Cracow and a course in Contemporary Art organised by the Contemporary Art Galleries in Opole.
During the Summers of 2020 and 2021 she collaborated with the Teatr Biuro Podróży on their Carmen Funebre show directed by Paweł Szkotak.
She has conceived and realised The Remains of the Life, an art performance/installation. The Private View was in the Korez Theatre Gallery, Katowice, on 21.11.2020. The performance connected with the exhibition of Artur Turek’s photos of Monika’s solo show V. In the Spring, she invited Jarosław Fret to cooperate with Crumbs. Their journey continues.
From September 2019, Monika is the president of the Art for Life Foundation of Marta Paradecka: sztukadlazycia.pl
Monika has also acted with Amareya Theatre in 2018 and, in 2018/19, on the stage of Edinburgh’s Leith Theatre as part of their co-production with Teatr A Part and Theaterlabor Bielefeld of Germany.
She realised the solo performance, In Suspension, directed by Arti Grabowski with texts by Marta Paradecka. Its first show was on 18.11.2018 at Teatr Rozbark in Bytom.
In 2017, she brought to life, created, Monika Wachowicz Body and Emotions Studio where she explores her own artistic method: www.wachowicz.studio
In 2017/2022, Monika created a photo session, The Particles, with photographer Joanna Nowicka.
In 2016, she realised and directed her solo project V.
In 2015, with Małgorzata Wachowicz, Monika realised and directed Body, a poetic reading with elements of performance and installation.
Monika has received scholarships from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and the Marshal of the Silesian Voivodship in the field of culture for the projects Bellmer Circus in 2011, Künstlerspiele. Scenes from the Great War in 2014, and The Remains of the Life in 2020.
In 2010, I obtained a diploma for a drama actor issued by the Association of Polish Stage Artists in Warsaw.” tabindex=”-1″>In 2010, I obtained a diploma for a drama actor issued by the Association of Polish Stage Artists in Warsaw.
In 2009, she established the women’s theatre group KoME in cooperation with Karolina Pietrzykowska from Cracow and Ewa Blazer from Berlin. They created the project DNA, which premiered at Cantabile 2 in Denmark. The Danish Ministry of Culture interviewed KoME following a Copenhagen Artist Talk and Presentation in 2009.
Since 2007, I have been involved in the production and organization of the A PART International Performing Arts Theatre Festival in Katowice and run the A PART Acting Studio at the Theatre (2016-19).
More information: apart.art.pl
Since 2004, I have been associated with Teatr A Part in Katowice, whose director is Marcin Herich. There, I also began working on solo projects, including “The Hourglass,” “Sketches about Ophelia,” “Transparency of Emptiness,” and “The Abyss of Depth.” Each of these projects stemmed from a need to express myself, to open up to the delicate strings of my imagination and the world I live/have lived in. I greatly value this type of collaboration; it creates a unique dialogue with the director, allowing for an intimate encounter with the audience. Our joint monodramas have been presented at numerous festivals and important artistic venues around the world.
In 2004, I performed in productions at the Cogitatur Theatre in Katowice. As part of my work at Teatr A PART, I also collaborated as an actress with the Gliwice Musical Theatre and the Banialuka Puppet Theatre in Bielsko-Biała (the performance “Tsunami”), the Cantabile 2 Theatre in Vordingborg, Denmark, and Theaterlabor Bielefeld in Germany (the performances “Venus’ Labyrinth”, “Haiku”, “Kunstlerspiele” and “In the Jungle of History. Variety”), the Amareya Theatre (the performance “FOUR”), and in a co-production with Theaterlabor Bielefeld in Germany and the Leith Theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland (the performance “The Last Days of Mankind”).
In the years 1998-2002 I was associated with the Portable Content Theatre in Będzin.
