LALA
The Lausitz Academy of Living Art (LALA) is an art school in the cross-border region of Lusatia.
The
school combines contemporary art with a socially and spatially rooted
practice operating within industrial ruins. Through this approach, the
school empowers students to actively shape future ecological and social
transformation through art across the region and beyond.
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upcoming
02–04 October 2026
Symposium & Exhibition
sign up*
*please briefly sign up for the symposium using the registration form. We will contact you afterward.
supported by
The Municipality of Leśna (Gmina Leśna)
funded and run by
Fundacja TOHU&BOHU
contact
LALA at the Former Dolwis Textile Factory
ul. Sienkiewicza (and surrounding area)
59-820 Leśna
Lower Silesia, Poland
Implemented by: Fundacja TOHU&BOHU
Email
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Symposium___& Exhibition
02______04 October 2026
poster
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up*
We teach. We learn. We live.
Art is not a market; it is a way of living. We move away from the rigid and the standardized to create space for collective growth. This is an active campfire of practice—a place where knowledge is born from raw necessity, not expectation. We dismantle the hierarchy. We work without grades, without standard semesters. Instead, we embrace fluid, nomadic structures. Our campus is the landscape, the city, the open room. In small, dedicated mentorship pods, we build real relationships. We cook, we build, we discuss, we fail, and we begin again.
Processes outweigh results. Doing eclipses listening. We bring artistic interventions into real spaces, creating meaningful responses to real-world problems. This is an accessible, collaborative counter-model to an exclusive art bubble. We do not merely observe the world. We actively shape it. This is our declaration, our shared commitment, our path to lifelong growth.
Together.
LALA is a school, an academy, a vision, and a future—but most of all, it is about people and relationships. The founders, guests, friends, and students transform LALA into a living art school in the Upper Lusatia border triangle. Rooted in a decade of artistic practice centered on living art and social design, the LALA idea now grows naturally with the people who join, operating from a physical studio space where we work, live, and radiate outward.
LALA has a clear, concrete structure built around two interconnected departments: Art and Design. These departments give the program tangible form while preserving a non-hierarchical spirit and collective responsibility.
the two departments living art
Living Art dissolves the boundaries between art, life, and environment. It actively practices structural change on-site rather than observing it. Education shifts from passive knowledge transfer to a physical, site-specific experience. Work becomes a relational practice in direct dialogue with people and nature. Art acts as a guiding force, redefining post-industrial spaces through lived, ecologically grounded actions.
social design
Social Design applies creation as a concrete tool for societal solutions. It builds functional social systems, collaborative processes, and future-oriented work structures instead of isolated objects. This holistic practice empowers communities to actively rebuild their surroundings. We operate directly within the transition—using design as an applied, participatory method to shape structural change pragmatically.
dolwis former textil factory
the LALA headquarters is located in Leśna, Poland, within the former Dolwis textile factory. Operating from 1855 until 2011, the site transitioned from a center of textile production into a post-industrial space for artistic and social transformation.
The factory space acts as a hub for living workshops, artist and student
studios, temporary exhibitions, thematic shows, and occasional
festivals—all rooted in the core ideas of human relationships and
sustainable life. It functions as both a public platform and a modest
revenue source.
Dr. Daria Wartalsky-Matysik
Social and Product Designer
Born in 1986, Polish designer and educator Daria Wartalska-Matysik runs tohu and bohu studio from the countryside. Her "living design" practice merges sustainability with sociology through local, handcrafted production and recycled materials. Holding a PhD in sustainable product design, she fosters self-sufficiency by involving consumers directly in the making process.
daria@lala-education.com
Dr. Elena Vertikova
Relational Artist
Born in 1984 in Tomsk, now based in Poland. She lives at the foot of the Jizera Mountains. Works with non-textual narrative in video art and light installations. Explores the narrative of light and how light influences the construction of human relationships. In December 2025, she defended her doctoral thesis: Visual storytelling with light. A relational form of light art. Economy education in background.
elena@lala-education.com
Prisca Wüst
Artist in public spheres
Born in 1987, Swiss artist and researcher Prisca Wüst, currently a PhD candidate at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, focuses on self-organized art schools and collaborative learning. Her "site-based" practice creates "unnatural" spaces—settings and models—that foster unusual relationships among diverse groups, generating new knowledge through shared experience.
prisca@lala-education.com
www.priscawuest.com
Prof. Reiner Maria Matysik
Artist
Born in 1967 in Duisburg, he now lives in Berlin and the Giant Mountains of Polish Lusatia. His work bridges art and science, challenging traditional boundaries through objects, installations, and videos. Focusing on the structure and formation of organisms, he uses soft, adaptable materials to symbolize evolution's fluidity. Blending critical inquiry with imaginative speculation, he invites reflection on humanity’s impact on nature, creating public engagement and dialogue on the consequences for our future.
reiner@lala-education.com
www.matysik.de