The 1990s were a decade of contrasts in Poland. The newly emerged democracy began experiencing the influx of Western consumerism through the capitalist system, giving the capital unique free market advents such as the Cricoland, the first McDonald’s restaurant, Yugo-kiosks, and the iconic Jarmark Europa that surrounded the city's stadium. These splashes of otherworldly colours greatly contrasted with the grittiness of a dilapidated post-communist landscape that can still be found in Warsaw to this day. Amidst the grey of urban, the 90s were defined by strikes, poverty, and a wealth of drug problems spurred on by social disenfranchisement. 

Gloss, Matte, Colour. Photography and Warsaw in the 1990s presents a huge collection from noted international photographers (Edward Hartwig, Tadeusz Rolke, Chris Niedenthal, Anna Beata Bohdziewicz, Anna Musiałówna), in addition to the introduction of a young generation which was entering the 'free media market' in the 1990s (Maria Zbąska, Piotr Wójcik, Krzysztof Miller), artists (Zofia Kulik, Paweł Althamer, Teresa Gierzyńska), press photographers (Kacper M. Krajewski, Anna Biała, Adam Marzec), feature and documentary filmmakers (Marcel Łoziński, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Barbara Sass). Additionally, one section of the exhibition is dedicated to non-professional photography—amateur, family, commemorative. Thanks to the involvement of more than 40 people who responded to the call for a collection of non-professional photographs depicting Warsaw in the 1990s, photographs from their private collections were included in the story of memory co-created by photography, pointing to the subjects invisible from the perspective of photojournalism or from the field of art.