Inspired by science-fictional worlds and informed by urbanism studies, Katarzyna (Kate) Balug’s practice flows from performance and installation to research and curation. Her work addresses the place of imagination in urbanism and has been shown at Muzeum Sztuki Lodz in Poland, Isles Art Initiative in Boston, and FARO Tláhuac in Mexico City, among others.
With anthropologist Maria Vidart-Delgado, Kate is a co-founder of Department of Play, a lost city department that examines play as a powerful form of collaboration between residents and urban systems. Department of Play received a 2015 ArtPlace America grant for the creation of momentary public fictions in liminal spaces between Boston neighborhoods. Kate is also a co-curator, with architect Mary Hale, of a forthcoming exhibition on inflatable structures at the Boston Society of Architects’ BSA Space in Boston.
Kate is a Ph.D. student at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
- Katarzyna Balug’s Twitter
- Katarzyna Balug’s Bio
Meet the Creatives Behind Boston Creates
A conversation between the Barr Foundation’s San San Wong and Katarzyna Balug, co-founder of Department of Play, about the role of artists in Boston’s cultural planning.