Kunowski, Dariusz
graduated in set design from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, graduating in 1992 with the Zenobiusz Strzelecki Award for the best diploma in set design.
He has worked as a set designer since 1991, including at the Rozm aitości Theatre in Warsaw, as well as for other theatres and television. He has cooperated with directors including Adam Hanuszkiewicz, Krzysztof Zaleski, Barbara Sass-Zdort, and Jacek Bunsch. Since 1989, he has also created his own productions, including Pojazd at the Academia Theatre; Łagodna, based on Fyodor Dostoevsky (directing award at the Łódź Theatre Meetings and an award for Best Lower Silesian Actor at the One-Actor Theatre Festival in Wrocław); Discus at the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art; Kaleva, based on the Finnish epic Kalevala (presented at the Mały Theatre in Warsaw); David, based on biblical motifs; and Gilgamesh, inspired by the Sumerian epic. Since 1997, he has cooperated with the Association for Culture and Education, cocreating theatre productions involving children at numerous Warsaw theatres, including Lalka (Dziady, O bohaterach i bestiach) and Na Woli (Alice in Wonderland).
In 2005, under the auspices of the Pracownie Twórcze Lubelska 30/32 Association, he founded his own theatre, Scena Lubelska 30/32, where between 2007 and 2015 he staged Czarna Mańka Królowa Przedmieścia, Wiech na 102, Pan Tagruelski, Historyja o chwalebnym Zmartwychwstaniu Pańskim, Oberki do końca świata, Tango Muerte, Aleksander Marzec, and Ferajna pana Dropsa. In 2014, he established the Scena Lubelska 30/32 Foundation, of which he is President. The Foundation has organised community events including Święto Skaryszewskiej – ulica otwarta, Skaryszewska – z okazji 100-lecia Grochowa, and Wietnam – Ba Lan 2; educational projects including Podróże do wczoraj i do dziś and Mały Warszawiak; as well as theatre productions including Róża ze Skaryszewskiej, Wiech po żydowsku, Pędrek wyrzutek, Król i morze, and Rany Julek!.
He has also created thematic and interactive exhibitions, including Deklaracja Praw Człowieka for Amnesty International and Janusz Korczak at the Institute of Jewish Culture in Warsaw. He is coauthor of the design and script for the Warsaw Uprising Museum and the Museum of Sports and Tourism in Warsaw.
His distinctions include a Munk Studio Film Scholarship, an award for David at the Festival of Ritual Theatres in Warsaw, Gold Cross of Merit for his work on the Warsaw Uprising Museum, the Kamień Kamionka award for distinguished community work in Warsaw’s Praga Południe district (2017), and the Warsaw Cultural Education Award (2019).