instytut adama mickiewicza
The Adam Mickiewicz Institute is a national cultural institution, whose mission is to develop and disseminate the cultural dimension of Poland by fostering international collaboration and cultural exchange. Over the last 20 years, the Institute has organised more than 6,000 cultural events with almost 55 million participants.
Thinking About the Future
One of the Institute’s core programmes is Lem and Thinking About the Future, which celebrates the centenary of Stanisław Lem’s birthday. The programme revolves around the topicality of issues addressed by the writer such as modern technology, social alienation, human responsibility, and climate crisis. His writing still captures the imagination of artists and scientists alike, hence the rich programme of events organised by the Institute.
culture.pl
The Institute also publishes the Culture.pl web portal with daily updates on the most interesting events related to Polish culture across the world. It is available in three languages: Polish, English, and Russian, with selected content also available in Ukrainian, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese.
The Adam Mickiewicz Institute operates under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport.
Uncle Stanisław Lem & I: An Interview with Michał Zych
Author: Janusz R. Kowalczyk
Stanisław Lem’s nephew Michał Zych sat down with Culture.pl’s Janusz R. Kowalczyk and told him all about a certain memorable summer spent at his beloved uncle’s home
13 Things Lem Predicted About The Future We Live In
Author: Mikołaj Gliński
E-books and tablets, smartphones, Google and even ‘The Matrix’ were all conceived in the mid-20th century by the author of ‘Solaris’. Here’s how Stanisław Lem predicted the future we live in.
Stanisław Lem: Did the Holocaust Shape His Sci-Fi World?
Author: Mikołaj Gliński
A giant of the sci-fi genre, Stanisław Lem is one of the most famous Polish writers of the 20th century. So much about him and his literature is known. But a 2016 book about the author sheds surprising light on his writing and his past – and in doing so challenges ways in which Lem has been read for the last half a century.
Humorous Horrors: How Lem Taught His Nephew to Write Flawlessly
Author: Mikołaj Gliński
In the summer of 1970, sci-fi master Stanisław Lem wrote a series of 68 short text exercises intended to help his young nephew with the tricky art of writing Polish. What he came up with that summer is surely Lem’s text – but is it also literature? And what can it tell us about the mind of Stanisław Lem?
Philip K. Dick: Stanisław Lem is a Communist Committee
Author: Mikołaj Gliński
In September 1974, the FBI received a letter. The accusations in the letter were shocking – it told of a communist conspiracy aimed at the hearts and minds of America through propaganda in the subtle guise of… science fiction. The accuser: Philip K. Dick. The perpetrator: Stanisław Lem.
The Many Masks & Faces of Stanisław Lem
Author: Mikołaj Gliński
Stanisław Lem was a bundle of opposites: a technocrat but also a humanist. The oddest part, however, is that the famed science-fiction author held the genre he worked in in low esteem. Why?