Info

A JURIED EXHIBITION

opening: Tue, 15 March, 7 PM

exhibition through 3 April

The exhibition is accompanied by a conference:

Koncepcje i praktyki badań, kreacji i dydaktyki na kierunkach medialnych uczelni artystycznych
15-16.03.2016

Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design, Wroclaw
Centre for Applied Arts and Innovation, 19/21 Gen. Romuald Traugutt St.

Artists and works

Barbara Formella, Beautiful Deformations (2015)
objects + video, 1:27

supervisor: Wojciech Zamiara, Prof.
Studio of Audio-Visual Space
Intermedia Department
Faculty of Sculpture and Intermedia
Academy of Fine Arts, Gdansk

Barbara Formella, born in 1991 in Gdansk, graduated in Intermedia Studies from the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk. She works mainly with sculpture and video. In her works, she raises the subjects of social acceptance and the art—pop culture relationship.

Beautiful Deformations The project consists of six sculptures of deformed hands in a 1:1 scale, made of resin and metal. The objects look like cosmetic prostheses, but it is impossible to adjust them. Kept in one aesthetics, they remind of rather fancy gadgets. The items are accompanied by videos that look like an advertisement.

The project intends to raise the issue of the contemporary canon of human beauty in the context of disabled people.

Michał Fryc, Webstuhl (2015)
audiovisual performance

supervisor: Artur Chrzanowski, PhD
course: Art Education
major: Intermedia Studies
Photography Studio
Department of Visual Arts
Strzeminski Academy of Fine Arts, Lodz

Michał Fryc, born in 1986, a graduate of the Strzeminski Academy of Fine Arts in Lodz (Visual Projects, 2012; Intermedia Studies, 2015). A Lodz-based painter, DJ, author of industrial music. He performs within his solo VON project. Together with Ewelina Masztanowicz, he creates an artistic duo called SRCH. In his work, he usually deals with ideology, understood as a justification of power relations in society.

Webstuhl An audiovisual performance, during which there is an improvised soundtrack to a short video piece arising. The image is built of slow motion sequences of a home sewing machine, Archer (Polish: Łucznik). The artist takes a look inside of a machine of his mother, who earned a living by sewing in the 90s of the 20^th century. The title of the work (German: Webstuhl, Polish: Loom) refers to the documentary, Gefesselt an den Webstuhl that tells the story of Indian children, working nowadays in the textile industry for almost the same rate as the artist’s mother then. In this way, the artist builds a bridge between the global processes of post-industrial era and a unique individual experience.

Adrian Kolarczyk, 311-g (2015)
objects + two videos, 7:11, 5:17

supervisor: Andrzej Syska, Prof.
Intermedia Department
major: Intermedia Studies
Faculty of Multimedia Communication
University of Arts, Poznan

Adrian Kolarczyk, born in 1990, graduated in Film Studies from the Jagiellonian University in Cracow. Since 2012, a student of the Faculty of Intermedia at the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow, where he moved from to Poznan to make his bachelor’s degree under the supervision of professor Andrzej Syska and dr Piotr Bosacki. He now continues to study Intermedia Studies at the University of Arts in Poznan.

311-g Before the start of the third year of studies, the artist thought to himself that a bachelor’s degree should be something more than just a one-off event held in the school room. Thinking about his future and education, given to him by completing of an art school, he decided to enroll in a welding course, which would give him permission to practice as a welder, and to make the exam for welder, held at the end of the course, as the subject matter of his Bachelor’s thesis defense, being at the same time a ticket to continue the studies.

At the exhibition there are steel plates presented of 14 cm x 8 cm, made by the artist during the 80-hour-long welding course (the artist made altogether 167 of such plates), and a video documenting the defense of the two diplomas – professional and Bachelor’s in the Kolektyw 1a gallery in Poznan.

The title of the work, 311-g, names one of the welding techniques.

Magdalena Łazarczyk, On the First Floor on the Right, There is No One (2015)
object + two-channel video, 7:00

supervisor: Mirosław Bałka, Prof.
Studio of Spatial Activities
major: Media Art Studies
Faculty of Media Art
Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw

Magdalena Łazarczyk, born in 1985 in Bialystok, is a young artist living and working in Warsaw, Poland. In her works, she uses different media, such as photography, video, installation. In 2013, she received her Bachelor’s degree at the University of Arts in Poznan (Photography Studies, 2010-2013). In 2015, she completed her Master’s degree at the Faculty of Media, Studio of Spacial Activites, Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw. Finalist of the Young Art Biennial «Fish Eye» 7, the Hestia Art Journey competition, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage for outstanding artistic achievement award, honorable mention at the national exhibition «Esteemed Graduates of the Polish Academies of Fine Arts 2015» in Gdansk, the ZAIKS Award for the best diploma in New Media Arts at the Coming Out exhibition «Best Degree Pieces», Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw, 2015.

On the First Floor on the Right, There is No One Empty cabinet spaces, just like empty flats, always point to the transient state between the past and the coming, between the exit and the entrance, between the emptying and refilling – the emptiness is always something alien from them. The cabinets, just like interiors of houses, are supposed to be filled ­– with things, or with life. When we find ourselves in an empty interior, or we look into empty cupboards, cabinets or niches, we begin to notice and read all traces left behind. In the empty space, everything is intensified, it gains on meaning and begins to speak. Traces are an evidence of the emptiness, deficiency, passing, absence, as Gaston Bachelard put it: “What would be the point of all these images if there was no dual sense? They live at the point where the home and body blend into one.”

Małgorzata Michałowska, Dowry (2015), three-channel video
(Scales, 1:38, Stoning, 7:02; Scouring, 19:30)

supervisor: Kamil Kuskowski, Prof.
Workshop for Audiovisual Work and Animation
Faculty of Painting and New Media
Szczecin Academy of Art, Szczecin

Małgorzata Michałowska, born in 1990, graduated in Multimedia from the Faculty of Painting and New Media, Szczecin Academy of Art (she made her bachelor’s degree at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin). She took part, among others, in the Trzy Czte Ry! Performance! Scena jako miejsce wynegocjowane project in Zielona Gora (BWA Zielona Gora, 2015), 6th Triennale of Young Artists in Oronsko (2012), the International Festival of Action Art «Interactions» in Piotrków Trybunalski (2011). In 2015 she received a honorable mention at the national exhibition «Esteemed Graduates of the Polish Academies of Fine Arts 2015» in Gdansk.

Dowry Having a dowry can be connected with an enormous responsibility – it often serves as a tool for manipulation and exerting pressure. To feel the physical and symbolic “weight” of money, the artist cashed a deposit that parents have opened for her, in the form of coins so that their weight equal her own weight, thereby referring to the medieval traditions and legend, when it was paid for a woman as much gold as she weighed.

During a hour-long action, which we see in the first video, that is partially recorded by the camera, the artist plays alone the coins in the bathroom, standing its grounds against physical tangibility of money and her own limitations. Throwing coins in the second video stands for a symbolic stoning (the artist opposed to the will of her parents when withdrawing money from her account), and also refers to the tradition of throwing rice and coins towards a newly married couple. In the third video – inspired by Marina Abramovic’s performance, Balkan Baroque – the artist is cleaning the money to restore its respect. The last, unregistered element of the work, was giving the dowry back to parents.

Jacek Piotrowicz, A Street (2015)
video, 6:40

supervisor: Krzysztof Kiwerski, Prof.
Studio of Animated Film
Faculty of Intermedia
Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, Cracow

Jacek Piotrowicz, a student of the eight semester in the Animated Film Studio under the supervision of professor Krzysztof Kiwierski, Faculty of Intermedia, the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow. He cooperated, among others, with Norman Leto (he created music for his films: Sailor andButtes Monteaux). He now works on the Limbo project for the Munk Studio in Warsaw.

A Street An animated film, consisting of a series of episodes, the characters of which are imaginary figures, shaped by observation of the street by the author. The movement of the specific silhouettes is an autonomous custom creation. The aim of the project is not so much of telling a story as to produce a coherent vision of the ambient of the modern city and its outsiders.

Paweł Siodłok, **Satori** (2015)
video, 36:24

supervisor: Grzegorz Hańderek, PhD
Graphic Art – Interpretation of Literature Studio
Faculty of Intermedia and Stage Design
Academy of Fine Arts, Katowice

Paweł Siodłok, born in 1991 in Zabrze, graduated in Printmaking from the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice. He works with graphics, photography and video. He is picked by social issues, in which – by means of the documentation processes – he can re-discover new contexts, referring to common phenomena, places and people. A grantholder of the Poland’s Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

**Satori** “Satori” (Chinese: 悟; pinyin: wù; Korean: 오 o; Vietnamese: ngộ) is a term derived from the Japanese Buddhism, meaning the state of enlightenment, awakening, or truth, the achievement of which is equivalent to liberation, or salvation, from the world full of suffering.

The “Satori” project is a series of short documentary films whose main topic is boxing. In the first part of the film, sport becomes an occasion to observe a man in extreme situations (i.e. a boxer before a fight, while training, etc.), in which both the psychological and corporeal spheres of life clearly influence each other, creating multiple contexts related to the philosophy and sociology of the body. The second part of the project is based on a study of the above mentioned spheres through the prism of time (i.e. a retired boxer), traces left by man (i.e. a training room, a boxing gala) and others (i.e. a coach), assigning the whole a universal character, without drawing any conclusions. Activities performed by the protagonists recall meditation, which is additionally emphasized by the soundtrack that is a combination of several instruments used in contemplation (Tibetan bowls, spring drums, rain sticks, etc.). The film is complemented by the haiku poems, displayed in the form of subtitles to allow the viewer to freely interpret the project.

Maciej Żuk, The Piston (2015)
video, 5:55

supervisor: Ireneusz Olszewski, Prof.
Media Art Department
Faculty of Graphic Arts and Media Art
Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design, Wroclaw

Maciej Żuk, born in Bielsko Biała, graduated in Media Arts from the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wroclaw. He is interested in animation, 2D, film and music. He works in an animation studio.

The Piston The animation depicts the motif of human labor in a solar system. The heroes of the world are responsible for the spinning of a celestial body around its own axis, thus symbolizing the two aspects of the human life: basic needs, ensuring the survival, and the desire to realize their own ambitions. Alienated by the work, the protagonist – putting all his time and energy to sustain life – decides to break out of the vicious circle of existence. This decision will seal his fate.

Jury and verdict

Jury of the Competition: Anna Maria Potocka, Suzanne Prinz, Katarzyna Roj

Second Competition for Media Arts Graduation Projects Award 2015: Małgorzata Michałowska, Dowry

Selection committees

Gdansk: Dagmara Domagała, Paweł Janicki, Martyna Jastrzębska, Piotr Stasiowski, Anna Witkowska
Katowice: Adrian Chorębała, Piotr Krajewski, Agnieszka Kubicka-Dzieduszycka, Stanisław Ruksza, Ewa Zawadzka
Cracow: Mariusz Front, Delfina Jałowik, Viola Krajewska, Piotr Krajewski, Magdalena Ziółkowska
Lodz: Dominika Kluszczyk, Barbara Kręgiel, Daniel Muzyczuk, Wojciech Puś, Dominika Sadowska
Poznan: Paweł Janicki, Michał Krawczak, Małgorzata Sikorska, Sławomir Sobczak
Szczecin: Danuta Dąbrowska, Paweł Janicki, Magdalena Kreis, Magdalena Lewoc, Zbigniew Sejwa
Warsaw: Piotr Krajewski, Agnieszka Kubicka-Dzieduszycka, Izabela Maciusowicz, Stanisław Welbel, Joanna Zielińska
Wroclaw: Krzysztof Dobrowolski, Krzysztof Kucharczyk, Sylwia Serafinowicz, Małgorzata Sikorska, Maja Wolińska