Info
The work centers on a performative action involving an analog camera modified by the artist. At its core is a recording of the process of creating a self-portrait with the device.
The uniqueness of the photograph lies in the recording method: the shutter was removed from the camera, and the photographic film was exposed using a film-winding mechanism. The recorded image appears as a colored streak on a positive film. At a certain moment during the exposure, a flash of light appears. The techniques employed enabled the clearest possible registration of events during the exposure.
Another element of the installation is a flash mechanism separated from the camera, synchronized with the recorded performance. Although it fulfills its function, it no longer participates in recording reality. It becomes a looped device, an echo of the photographed event. In this form, it functions more as a tool for measuring time.
The uncomfortable feeling associated with being photographed thus turns out to be illusory. Perhaps it does not stem from a fear of an unflattering shot, but from a fear of time slipping away unnoticed – amid the monotonous hum of the film advance mechanism and the bright, rhythmically recurring light of the flash.
The work continues the line of thought explored by artists associated with the Łódź Film Form Workshop.
Józef Jakacki (b. 1998) – a visual artist based in Szczecin. His practice combines art installations, the registration of reality with analog techniques, and performative actions. His work focuses on the materiality of the image, the relationship between infrastructure and symbol, and the tension between personal experience and the structure of reality.
His film Conversations about Death has been screened and awarded at numerous film festivals. In 2023, he won the Grand Prize at the Młode Wilki 23 festival in Szczecin and the Jury Prize at the Baza festival in Poznań. The artist’s works have been exhibited in galleries such as Trafostacja Sztuki in Szczecin, Galeria Labirynt in Lublin, and Galeria WY in Łódź. In addition to his creative work, he is developing his curatorial and organizational experience – he has worked at Trafostacja Sztuki in Szczecin and also served as caretaker of Galeria OS 17.
Selection committee members: Andrzej Witczak, Dominika Łabądź, Marlena Chybowska, Mariia Serhiienko, Zuzanna Jaworska