Galeria Bielska BWA is the city's contemporary art space, and a more ambitious one than its size suggests. The gallery runs the Bielska Jesień (Bielsko Autumn), a national biennial of painting that has been held since 1962 and is one of the most important showcases of Polish painting still working today.
Exhibitions rotate through the gallery's three floors and tend to mix mid-career Polish artists with international names. The building itself is a sober post-war block on 3 Maja street, easy to find and free to enter for most shows. If you have any interest in what Polish painting is doing now, this is the best place in southern Poland to find out.