Architecture

fot. Wojtek Olech

The building, designed by Edward Lach, architect from Wroclaw, is the first venue dedicated to contemporary art in Poland since 1939.

 

CoCA means:

/ 8,236.59 sq m: floor surface
/ 4,146 sq m: exhibition space
/ 552.27 sq m: usable floor area at the observation deck
/ 1,554 sq m: Wi-Fi range  
/ 457,63 sq m: studio and kitchen
/ 5 storeys
/ 3 lifts
/ 3 staircases
/ 13 office rooms
/ 80 parking spaces in the underground car park
/ 10 bicycle parking spaces in the underground car park
/ 40 seats in the café
/ 136 seats in the cinema
/ 1 swimming pool
/ 1 cloakroom
/ 1 multimedia library with a reading room
/ 1 bookshop
/ 1 outdoor café
/ 1 conference room
/ 1 openable window 
/ 42 pieces of furniture in Studio & Kitchen
/ 446 works of art in the collection
/ 3.70 metres: height
/ 7.26 metres: height of the largest room
/ 328 base lights
/ 22 pillars

 

The structure was erected by Toruń Municipality thanks to subsidies granted by the European Union (as part of the Integrated Operational Program of Regional Development) and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. Architectural barrier-free, the building is accessible to people with disabilities.

The architectural design was made by Leszek Rubik's R2 Studio.

 

• Cinema Centrum

The cinema programme includes the latest international films. Apart from daily repertoire, Cinema Centrum presents thematic reviews of feature, art and documentary films as well as video art; authorial meetings and special screenings are organized. The cinema belongs to the Polish network of studio cinemas.

The cinema has 136 comfortable seats, a multimedia projector,  professional sound system and 2 microphones.; the projection room is equiped in the 35 mm projectors.

The room is accessible to people with disabilities.

 

• Studio&Kitchen

Feasting together is an aesthetic experience comparable to visiting a museum. Studio & Kitchen (S&K) has been established to serve as a place for the celebration of social rituals, including meals together, afternoon naps, reading books or playing chess… The new place to hang around is open and casual, devoted to small pleasures. The unique interior designed by Tomek Rygalik Studio is dedicated to workshop meetings and creative relaxation. It is, at the same time, the first exhibition of contemporary design in Toruń that can be put to practical use according to individual visitors’ needs. S&K is also fitted with Ela Jabłońska’s Kitchen.

 

• Art Bookshop

The only bookshop in Toruń specializing in humanities books and offering CoCA’s publications and gadgets. Apart from albums, books and magazines dedicated to art or reflection on art, the bookshop stocks books from such subjects as cultural studies, philosophy and ethnology, as well as dictionaries, encyclopaedias, science books, academy books for the general public and children’s books. The Art Bookshop sells books from prestigious publishing houses, including MIT Press, Routledge, Yale University Press, Thames and Hudson LTD, Chicago Press, daab Publishing, Phaidon Press, Assouline, or Taschen.

 

• Reading Room

The Sömmerings' Reading Room is a modern space of distributing knowledge on visual culture - it's a place for research, an archive and a freak room, in one. A space that breaks out its readers from their every day routine by the means of letters.

We present books that Kafka described as biting and stinging, making us think. The Reading Room, with its friendly lightining conditions and comfortable furniture, gathers the ever growing set of publications from the wide area of contemporary art and visual culture, all set in a functional catalogue system.

The collection is  developed by a few ordering categories, such as : Visual Culture and Art, Catalogues and Monographies, Islands of Books, gathering selected topics. Apart from books, we offer magazines from all around the world, dictionaries, terminals with internet access, e-book collection and wi-fi, as well as thematic exhibitions and literature events.

 

• Café Tal

Situated on the gallery’s ground floor, CaféTal offers not coffee but also quick snacks. On sunny days, our guests may sit in our outdoor boulevard area.

 

• Undeground Car Park for cars and bicycles

The CoCA building has a supervised underground car park, available exclusively to our visitors. The parking fee is 3 zlotys per hour, parking permits are also on sale.