Tomasz Grusiecki
Associate Professor | Early Modern European Art and Material Cultures, Boise State University
tomaszgrusiecki@boisestate.edu
Tomasz Grusiecki is Associate Professor of Early Modern European Art and Material Cultures at Boise State University. His research focuses on Central and Eastern Europe, particularly on artifacts that reveal stories of cultural interactions, connecting the Germanic and Slavic peoples of the region with the wider world, especially Eurasia. This approach aims to decenter Europe and expand understanding of this diverse subcontinent among students, researchers, and broader audiences. He is the author of Transcultural Things and the Spectre of Orientalism in Early Modern Poland-Lithuania (Manchester University Press, 2023).
As a co-investigator on the AHRC-funded research project, Connected Central European Worlds, 1500–1700, his work involved actively engaging in and driving debates about methodological approaches to artifacts produced and consumed in this underrepresented and undertheorized region of Europe. In 2022, he served as a steering committee member of From Kyivan Rus’ to Modern Ukraine: Virtual Conversations on History, Art, and Cultural Heritage, a year-long public lecture and roundtable series co-organized by Dumbarton Oaks, North of Byzantium, and Connected Central European Worlds. This series, now being developed for publication, also resulted in professionalization workshops aimed at assisting scholars at risk from Ukraine.
In December 2023, he was voted President-Elect of the Society of East European, Eurasian, and Russian Art and Architecture for a three-year term. His active involvement with Central and Eastern Europe extends to broader scholarly efforts aimed at bringing attention to this typically overlooked region through public scholarship, mentorship, and fundraising.
During his time as Visiting Professor at McGill, he is working on his second book, provisionally entitled Ecocide Art: Sigismund III of Poland-Lithuania, Extinction Management, and the Material Culture of Aurochs and Bison Remains.