About me
I am a Docent/Associate Professor in Japanese Language and Culture at the Department of Asian, Middle Eastern and Turkish Studies of the Stockholm University. I am an art historian specializing in Japan and East Asia with a transnational education and career (including Poland, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Norway) in museums and academic institutions. I am also an elected member of the Young Academy of Sweden (elected in 2019). And I serve as a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences's International Committee (Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien, Kommittén för internationella frågor).
Education
- 2008 Ph.D., History of Art, Gakushuin University, Tokyo, Japan
- 2002 M.A., Japan Studies, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
- 1998 M.A., History of Art, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
Employment
- 2017 - Associate Professor/Docent (tenured) in Japanese Language and Culture (specialization: Art History), Dept. of Asian, Middle Eastern and Turkish Studies, Stockholm University, Sweden
- 2011-2017 University Lecturer (tenured), Art and Visual Studies of Japan, Leiden Institute for Area Studies, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
- 2008-2011 Guest Curator, Museum of Japanese Art and Technology (Krakow); Museum of Cultural History(Oslo); Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities (Stockholm)
- 1999-2008 Curator, Dept. of Far Eastern Art, National Museum in Krakow, Krakow, Poland
Teaching
My teaching encompasses the following subjects: the arts and visual culture of Japan across genres and periods; early modern print culture and poetry pictorialization; environmental art history; contemporary socially engaged artictic practices; art and gender; art theory, methodologies of art history etc. I am also the Director of the MA Asian Studies Programme at our Department. And I am one of the three Directors of the SU Doctoral School in the Humanities's Theme "Digital Humanities: From Methods to Knowledge".
Research
As an art historian, I am interested in interdisciplinary approaches that intersect art/material culture and social and environmental history. In the past I studied text-image relationships in early modern Japanese visual culture, history of the East-West relations, Japonisme and Orientalism. My current research projects engage with an anthropological theory of visual art, and focus on contemporary socially engaged artistic practices and ecological art. I am also interested in the applications of digital technologies to the study of cultural artifacts and historical processes; and the potential transformative effects that computational methodologies hold for the discipline of art history in general.
Monographs and edited volumes
- 2009 Hokusai`s Hyakunin isshu: Visual Genesis of Japanese National Identity. Brussels: P.I.E-Peter Lang. (peer-reviewed monograph)
- 2016 Too Pretty to Throw Away: Packaging Design from Japan, by Ewa Machotka and Katarzyna Cwiertka. Krakow: Museum of Japanese Art and Technology. (book) [Open Access]
- 2018 Consuming Life in Post-Bubble Japan: A Transdisciplinary Perspective, co-edited by Ewa Machotka and Katarzyna Cwiertka. Amsterdam University Press. (peer-reviewed edited volume) [Open Access]


Grants & Awards (selection)
- The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities, 2020-21
- The Board of Human Sciences, Stockholm University, 2019-20
- The Bolin Center for Climate Research, 2018/2019
- The Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences, 2018
- The Leiden Asia Center, 2013-15
- The DNP Foundation for Cultural Promotion, 2014-2015
- The College Women's Association of Japan, 2009-2011
- The Mitsubishi Foundation, 2006-2007
- The Metropolitan Center for Far Eastern Art Studies, 2006-2007
- College Women’s Association of Japan, 2006-2007
- The Ukiyo-e Ota Memorial Museum of Art, 2004-2005
- The Japan Arts Foundation, 2003-2004
- The Japanese Ministry of Education, 2002-2006
- The Kyoto Art Center, 2002
- The Toshiba International Foundation, 2001-2002