Michal Martychowiec and the Game of Go as Art
Michal Martychowiec, born in 1987 in Lublin, Poland, is primarily known as a contemporary conceptual artist who works between Berlin and London, employing photography, film, drawing, neon, sculpture, and installations. Yet his work also explores the game of Go—or “weiqi” in Chinese—as a conceptual metaphor, linking strategic play, historical narrative, and symbolic systems.
In his project “Reading History”, Martychowiec draws on the ancient board game weiqi (Go) to frame a broader hermeneutic investigation: he writes that the game, with its patterns of surround and capture, serves as a metaphor for “structures of history, artistic expression, universal historical thought.” In his words, he examines “ancient Chinese board game Weiqi, in English known as Go … using it as a metaphor” for his practice as a whole.
Martychowiec himself studied at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London (graduating with distinction) and later moved to Berlin at the end of 2011. His artistic language draws on both Eastern and Western philosophical and cultural traditions—a context in which his reference to Go becomes meaningful.
To him, Go is not merely a board game; it becomes a symbol of thought, decision-making, spatial awareness, and historical layering. In the interview “Go, history and modern art” published by the European Go Journal, his use of Go in his work is explained as a way of “reading” history through the game’s logic and aesthetic. michalmartychowiec.com
Although Martychowiec is not described in the sources as a tournament Go player himself, his engagement with Go is evident in his artistic practice and his participation in cultural dialogues about the game. His choice to integrate Go into his work suggests that the board and its pieces act as a medium for exploring broader themes: heritage, memory, strategy, and the intersection of East and West.
His trajectory—from a Polish-born artist educated in London, to living and working between Berlin and London, to engaging with Go as art—illustrates the way a traditional game can transcend boundaries and become a lens for contemporary cultural reflection. Martychowiec’s work invites viewers to consider not just the moves on the board, but the deeper significance of patterns: the opening, the middle game, the endgame—and beyond.
In this sense, Michal Martychowiec embodies a unique “Beyond the Board” story: the board is there, the stones are there—but the game is also a map of history, identity, philosophy, and artistic innovation. For everyone who sits down to play or to watch Go, there is more than the next move: there is a conversation with time, movement, culture, and thought.
References
“Go, history and modern art”, European Go Journal. michalmartychowiec.com
Interview: “THE INTERVIEW IN|DEEDS: Michal Martychowiec”, ART@Berlin. artatberlin.com
Martychowiec official website / About. michalmartychowiec.com+1
