Magdalena Tutka-Gwóźdź – doctor of cultural studies and music teacher by education, by choice – producer of culture and audiovisual programs “ Polska w Twoich oczach, Norwegia w moich oczach”, creator of the festival Polish Film Days – Polske filmdager organized in Fredrikstad and Oslo (12th edition, continuously since 2014) and several other independent projects of interdisciplinary and integrative profile implemented in Norway. Initiator and manager of the European project RE-IMAGINING SUSTAINABILITY, RE-IMAGINING EUROPE (in the preparatory phase) in cooperation with the Emigration Museum in Gdynia, the Center for Sustainable Development of the University of Gdansk and the “Student City” (“Studentski grad”) House of Culture from Belgrade.

In 2011 she defended her doctoral dissertation at the Faculty of Management and Social Communication at the Jagiellonian University, later published in an expanded version as an English-language monograph entitled Shattered Mirror: the Problem of Identity in the Post-Yugoslav Documentary (Krakow, 2014). At the same time, she is the author of the bilingual (Polish-Norwegian) theater script Dzieci w Ekokrainie / Barna i Økoland(2017), song lyrics in Polish and Norwegian, poems, essays, poetry translations and compositions. She has performed as a jazz vocalist in Poland and Norway, including in the author’s bilingual project “Jazz for Fredrikstad” (2016).

Magdalena is passionate about intercultural dialogue as a sphere of encounters across borders, exploring the potential of art and culture in building deep relations between nations, communities, as well as everyday human relations.

Positions held in the cultural sector:

  • director and founder of International Creativity Workshop AS registered in Norway
  • Director, producer and initiator of the Polske filmdager festival polskefilmdager.org
  • Producer of the series of bilingual mini-interviews “Poland in your eyes, Norway in my eyes”
  • Founder and President of the InDialog Association (2015-2017)

Positions held in higher education:

  • Senior lecturer, Institute of Media and Communication, University of Oslo (2011-2013)
  • Senior lecturer, Department of Scandinavian Studies, J. Tischner European University in Krakow (2019-2021)
  • Senior lecturer, Institute of Scandinavian Studies, University of Gdansk (2024)

Awards and decorations

  • Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland – for outstanding merits in popularizing Polish culture in Norway
  • Distinction in the competition “Outstanding Pole in Norway” – in the category “Culture”
  • Cultural scholarship of the Municipality of Fredrikstad – for “building bridges between Poles and Norwegians”.

Professional experience

  • Managing independent cultural projects in the non-profit sector
  • Strengthening and deepening the processes of intercultural integration through art and creative activities at local, regional and international levels
  • Consulting in the above-mentioned areas
  • Polish-Norwegian and Norwegian-Polish translations

Research interests

  • The role of arts and creative activities in intercultural dialogue and identity processes
  • Relationships between art, social sciences and ecology
  • Multilingualism in the world of culture and art
  • Polish-Scandinavian cultural differences