Galeria Schody - Warszawa, Poland

NOT RECOMMENDED
An attractive address does not always indicate an attractive place, as obviously seen in this case. The Gallery Schody is located in the basement of a yard with a narrow staircase leading to the entry door. It consists of two rooms. The first one is completely unattractive and improper as an exhibition space. It contains a distasteful sofa bed with some equipment hidden behind it, which the owner refuses to remove - because apparently "this sofa is a great idea to serve as a cloakroom." There is also a low, rather large, square table on which lie the advertising materials. There are high windows and a door to the store room, leaving very little space to display artworks. The second space is bigger in size but congested by a huge unattractive table in the middle, under which broken equipment can be obviously seen. There is also a big black chair that you can remove at least for the opening evening, after some negotiating. The place only has dodgy cellar windows so there is very little natural light and the artificial lighting is average at best.
THERE ARE NO WINDOWS FACING THE STREET NOWY SWIAT, so you will not be able to see anything happening there while walking down the street. No random passer-by are able look in there, so you can only count on the people who are informed by you or your friends about the exhibition. The gallery is closed on Saturdays and Sundays. Sometimes the lights are extinguished during the opening hours of the gallery, or the door to the gallery is closed, and on them is a sloppily scrawled message to call the phone number and wait 20 min for the owner to appear. The interior is generally neglected , the walls in a very bad condition and the concrete floor in probably an even worse state. You have to pay quite a lot (3,000 zlotys for 12 days rent) but considering it's not open on weekends, it's essentially for a total of 8 days. The gallery owner makes no credentials / invoices for renting the gallery, or any credentials for the sold painting. The commission for the gallery on the price is 40 % - but 'maybe' you can negotiate. The gallery has a miniscule place for advertising current events on the front wall of the building, which is about A3 size (on the right when entering the gate). There are no professionally printed folders of information about the artist or the show - the only thing that can be found on the previously mentioned large table is a home printed A5 pseudo-folder.
The atmosphere at the opening night has nothing to do with the place as such. It only depends on the people who would come, and often they are just great friends of the artist. I am an interior designer and artist. My experience with this place is very unpleasant. If you are an artist and looking for place to exhibit your work there are better places in Warsaw. I am left with huge disapointment...