The Etgar Keret House started as an art installation in 2012, and well...it's still there. Slotted into an existing gap between the buildings at ul. Chłodna 22 and ul. Żelazna 74, the 'house' was designed by architect Jakub Szczęsny for Israeli author Etgar Keret and is technically an art piece as no building licence was granted (as a result it could be removed at any time). 122cm wide at its widest point, and only 70cm at its most narrow, the unique steel-framed construction is a functional dwelling, with electricity and its own custom water and sewage solutions. To get inside the floor drops down to reveal a folding ladder, much like an attic. Inside, it consists of a kitchen (with a fridge that can hold no more than 2 beverages), bathroom, living/sleeping area and two windows (that don't open) over two floors; light also comes in through the translucent glass walls. Apparently Etgar Keret uses the space when he's in Warsaw; when he's not it acts as a studio for visiting artists.

Keret is an interesting character, himself. The son of a Polish Jew who spent three years of the war hiding from the Germans in a compartment under the floor of a Warsaw house, Keret sees this project as an ‘external eye’ on Warsaw and its cultural landscape. He wants to show that Warsaw is a lively and multicultural city totally at odds with the image created by the Ministry of Education in Israel, who he feels indoctrinates Israeli youth in a ‘pilgrimage of hatred’. The location is also significant. Found on what was the border between the large and small ghettos of WWII Warsaw, the building can be found perched between a communist-era block and a pre-war tenement which is meant as a comment on the neighbourhood’s divided past. ‘The buildings were not touching each other which is symbolic of the ignorance during the Communist period’ says architect Szczęsny.

As for going inside, which is a lot more interesting than gazing at the exterior, the Polish Modern Art Foundation occasionally hosts open days, for which a ticket is required (and difficult to get due to demand). To our knowledge, no open day has occurred in quite some time, but you can check the online calendar.