Info

First edition of the competition for best media arts graduation projects in 2014 submitted to the departments and faculties of media art at public art academies in Gdansk, Katowice, Cracow, Lodz, Poznan, Szczecin, Warsaw and Wroclaw.

Artists and works

More: http://wro2015.wrocenter.pl/site/exhibitions/first-best-media-art-diploma-work-competition/

Jury and verdict

Joanna M. Krysa (Kunsthal Aarhus), Alexandra Waligorski (NODE – Forum for Digital Arts), Michał Woliński (Piktogram)

‘We are delighted with the opportunity to be part of this new initiative of the WRO Media Art Biennale. It is the first time that the biennale includes artworks by graduating students from art academies in Poland.

There are 8 academies represented with one work from each of them. And while the preselection of the 2014 diploma works was made by the WRO Foundation team, our task as a jury was to choose particular works from this shortlist. We are very certain that presenting the works of graduating students, or rather the works of emerging young artists, as part of such a prestigious internationally renowned forum, provides an important inspiration for art education in Poland.

The jury had a challenging task, however, we would like to unanimously highlight two works that stand out for us:

B-612, by Natalia Balska from the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow

Inversion, by Marta Mielcarek from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw

B-612 – for moving the discourse from interactivity as an exclusively anthropocentric position to one that engages with the non-human: including the combination of algorithmic and biological entities as part of a neural feedback system. We were also impressed by the highly developed formal execution and visual set-up of the work as it is presented to the gallery audience.

Inversion – for developing a striking visual language based on precise choreographic movements and sound, evoking retro analogue video processes merging into new post-digital aesthetic. The work negotiates the relationship between individuality and uniformity derived from the ancient greek choir as well as the movement choir of Rudolf Laban. Simultaneously the work puts it into context of current issues such as cloning and digital multiplication.

We hope this competition becomes a regular fixture in the Biennial programme in the future, and the support for emerging artists will encourage the development of diverse artistic practices that are experimental, at the forefront of new ideas and that engage with the current contemporary art discourse more globally.

We congratulate the winners and all the artists in the diploma competition for their participation and their outstanding works.’

Winners (equal)

Marta Mielcarek, Inversion
Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw

Natalia Balska, B-612
Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow

Selection committees

Gdansk: Iwona Bigos, Sylwester Gałuszka, Dominika Kluszczyk, Dorota Nieznalska, Małgorzata Sikorska

Katowice: Sławomir Brzoska, Paweł Janicki, Marta Lisok, Stanisław Ruksza, Kama Wróbel

Cracow: Mariusz Front, Delfina Jałowik, Klio Krajewska, Agnieszka Kubicka-Dzieduszycka, Krzysztof Siatka

Lodz: Dagmara Domagała, Klio Krajewska ,Daniel Muzyczuk, Grzegorz Przyborek, Izabela Robakowska

Poznan: Izabela Kowalczyk, Piotr Krajewski, Magdalena Kreis, Katarzyna Kucharska, Sławomir Sobczuk

Szczecin: Danuta Dąbrowska, Bartosz Konieczny, Piotr Krajewski, Magdalena Lewoc, Aurelia Nowak,

Warsaw: Piotr Krajewski, Izabela Maciusowicz, Natalia Sielewicz, Michał Szota, Stanisław Welbel

Wroclaw: Mariusz Jodko, Piotr Krajewski, Ireneusz Olszewski, Iwona Rosiak, Agata Saraczyńska