Zwrotnica ( Polish: The Switch) was an avant-garde magazine which was one of the significant publications in Poland. It appeared in Kraków in two periods: first between 1922 and 1923, and then between 1926 and 1927. Despite its short run, it is the first Polish avant-garde magazine that had an international audience. ^[1]

Zwrotnica was established by Tadeusz Peiper in Kraków in 1922, ^[2] and its first issue appeared in May that year. ^[3] After being published for one year, it ceased publication. ^[2] Peiper was the editor-in-chief of Zwrotnica between its start in 1922 and its closure in October 1923. ^{[3] [4]} The magazine was restarted in 1926 and was permanently closed down in 1927. ^[2]

Zwrotnica first adopted a futurist approach, but the magazine abandoned it in its second period between 1926 and 1927. ^{[2] [3]} Later, the magazine became an avant-garde publication which was the major platform for a Polish group of avant-garde artists from Kraków called Awangarda Krakowska. ^[4] One of them was Julian Przyboś who published both poems and prose in the second phase of the publication from 1926 to 1927. ^[5] The other notable contributors of the magazine included Jan Brzękowski and Jalu Kurek. ^[5] In addition, the writings of the Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti were featured in the magazine. ^[6]

Zwrotnica was also an advocate of constructivism, and Henryk Stażewski, a Polish constructivist painter, collaborated with the magazine. ^[7] Kazimierz Podsadecki became the typographic editor of Zwrotnica in 1926. ^[7]

Tadeusz Peiper developed a literary program of Zwrotnica which was shared by other avant-garde groups in Europe. ^[8] It was based on the view that the nature of history was linear. ^[8] It also emphasized the necessity of technological and scientific developments as well as social utopia. ^[8] In addition, Zwrotnica managed to be part of the European network of avant‐garde publications which shared articles and other work. ^[9]