no mental scars, no nursed grudges
3-channel video installation, 2022, photographs, 2021
The photos show a young woman inside an empty Bauhaus space in Warsaw. She is adopting her body to the architecture, sometimes protecting sensitive areas such as her neck. Even though the woman leans on the handrail or the wall, her body postures are not natural or comfortable and require muscle tension. For the first time in my practice, I used myself as a model, too - within the series I combined the portraits of me and a choreographer so that it was not obvious how many women were depicted.
The video work presents two young acrobats creating figures together — the older girl becomes a support for the younger. There is also a pose performed individually, however on an object, which is the handstand canes. The exercises are recorded with two cameras, one of which is fixed on a bolt. The robot analyses the movements in close-ups and slow motion, in order that all the gestures and strains are detectable. It is visible in the distance shots and becomes a character himself.
The title of the project comes from Zygmunt Bauman’s From Pilgrim to Tourist – Or A Short History of Identity, from the passage The Player.
no mental scars, no nursed grudges video was realized with and thanks to ia:
Director of photography: Marcin Gołąb
Assistant director: Kuba Gryżewski
Perfromers: Zuzanna Ćwikła, Magdalena Wróblewska
Studio, bolt, cameras: bites studio
Lenses: Fast Media
Postproduction: Black Photon
The exhibition in eastcontemporary gallery in Milan in January 2022, when the project was shown for the first time, was produced thanks to the support of the Consulate General of Poland in Milan, the Polish Institute in Rome, and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.
Documentation of the exhibition in eastcontemporary, Milan, 2022, with the text by Antonio Grulli.
Documentation of the exhibition published by Contemporary Art Library.
Watch the video.
3-channel video installation, 2022, photographs, 2021
The photos show a young woman inside an empty Bauhaus space in Warsaw. She is adopting her body to the architecture, sometimes protecting sensitive areas such as her neck. Even though the woman leans on the handrail or the wall, her body postures are not natural or comfortable and require muscle tension. For the first time in my practice, I used myself as a model, too - within the series I combined the portraits of me and a choreographer so that it was not obvious how many women were depicted.
The video work presents two young acrobats creating figures together — the older girl becomes a support for the younger. There is also a pose performed individually, however on an object, which is the handstand canes. The exercises are recorded with two cameras, one of which is fixed on a bolt. The robot analyses the movements in close-ups and slow motion, in order that all the gestures and strains are detectable. It is visible in the distance shots and becomes a character himself.
The title of the project comes from Zygmunt Bauman’s From Pilgrim to Tourist – Or A Short History of Identity, from the passage The Player.
no mental scars, no nursed grudges video was realized with and thanks to ia:
Director of photography: Marcin Gołąb
Assistant director: Kuba Gryżewski
Perfromers: Zuzanna Ćwikła, Magdalena Wróblewska
Studio, bolt, cameras: bites studio
Lenses: Fast Media
Postproduction: Black Photon
The exhibition in eastcontemporary gallery in Milan in January 2022, when the project was shown for the first time, was produced thanks to the support of the Consulate General of Poland in Milan, the Polish Institute in Rome, and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.
Documentation of the exhibition in eastcontemporary, Milan, 2022, with the text by Antonio Grulli.
Documentation of the exhibition published by Contemporary Art Library.
Watch the video.
Supports
Medium format analog photographs, 2020-
While taking a walk through the University of Warsaw Botanical Garden, I noticed sculpture-like, rickety, steel structures used for shaping plants. I immediately thought they may resemble the scaled skeletons of the living creatures in the garden's premises. Although their purpose is to define how the plants will grow and in which direction they should develop, they also restrict their movement.
I am observing and analyzing these architectural constructions and making analog photographs of them. They are black and white in order to focus on the composition of lines. Taking pictures is a part of the process that could lead me to realize an installation inspired by plant supports: thinking about how to take them out of their natural context, reshape and rescale them, and change the material they are made of to open them up to different meanings.
One of Supports (100x100) was presented in the group show in Palazzo Franzone Spinola di Luccoli, Genova, 2022, and, framed in steel and behind the museum glass - during Warsaw Gallery Weekend, 2020.
More about the series on guestrooms.xyz thanks to Magdalena Adameczek & Romuald Demidenko.
To see the whole catalog of the series, click here.
The video inspired by the series, realized during the residency in Luxembourg, thanks to European Investment Bank, 2021.
Medium format analog photographs, 2020-
While taking a walk through the University of Warsaw Botanical Garden, I noticed sculpture-like, rickety, steel structures used for shaping plants. I immediately thought they may resemble the scaled skeletons of the living creatures in the garden's premises. Although their purpose is to define how the plants will grow and in which direction they should develop, they also restrict their movement.
I am observing and analyzing these architectural constructions and making analog photographs of them. They are black and white in order to focus on the composition of lines. Taking pictures is a part of the process that could lead me to realize an installation inspired by plant supports: thinking about how to take them out of their natural context, reshape and rescale them, and change the material they are made of to open them up to different meanings.
One of Supports (100x100) was presented in the group show in Palazzo Franzone Spinola di Luccoli, Genova, 2022, and, framed in steel and behind the museum glass - during Warsaw Gallery Weekend, 2020.
More about the series on guestrooms.xyz thanks to Magdalena Adameczek & Romuald Demidenko.
To see the whole catalog of the series, click here.
The video inspired by the series, realized during the residency in Luxembourg, thanks to European Investment Bank, 2021.
Supports
Video, 2021
Work realized during the Artist Development Programme, 2021 - residency in Luxembourg thanks to EIB Institute, as a continuation of Supports photographic series about constructions used to shape plants.
Choreographer and performer: Elisabeth Schilling
Location: Philharmonie Luxembourg
Music: Żaneta Rydzewska
1/3 edition is in the collection of the European Investment Bank
Watch the video.
Video, 2021
Work realized during the Artist Development Programme, 2021 - residency in Luxembourg thanks to EIB Institute, as a continuation of Supports photographic series about constructions used to shape plants.
Choreographer and performer: Elisabeth Schilling
Location: Philharmonie Luxembourg
Music: Żaneta Rydzewska
1/3 edition is in the collection of the European Investment Bank
Watch the video.
Bloodstream
Installation, thermal wire, 2019
Bloodstream refers to the floating movement made by employees within the Spectra building. In a significant communication route, we put a symbolic blue vein made out of thermal wire and connected it with a wall of the company premises. The shape of the installation resembled the topologist’s sine curve characteristic for the study of continua. By choosing the thin line and this particular colour we wanted to reflect on Edward Krasiński whose works are a part of Starak Family Foundation’s collection.
While going down the passageway, the perception of this organic system changed. It was possible to touch the cable and feel the energy that responded to ambient temperature.
Duo work with Michał Szaranowicz for the Starak Family Foundation, presented in the Spectra Art Space in Warsaw, 2019.
Phot. Michał Szaranowicz
Installation, thermal wire, 2019
Bloodstream refers to the floating movement made by employees within the Spectra building. In a significant communication route, we put a symbolic blue vein made out of thermal wire and connected it with a wall of the company premises. The shape of the installation resembled the topologist’s sine curve characteristic for the study of continua. By choosing the thin line and this particular colour we wanted to reflect on Edward Krasiński whose works are a part of Starak Family Foundation’s collection.
While going down the passageway, the perception of this organic system changed. It was possible to touch the cable and feel the energy that responded to ambient temperature.
Duo work with Michał Szaranowicz for the Starak Family Foundation, presented in the Spectra Art Space in Warsaw, 2019.
Phot. Michał Szaranowicz
H (Reconstruction Of Position)
Video, 2018
The work reconstructs the positions on the archival photographs in Neuengamme, Hamburg. As opposed to the documented event, in the video, no one influences the girl’s posture by holding her body - she repeats the choreography after somebody standing behind the camera.
Girl: Maria Kamińska
Choreography: Magdalena Fejdasz
Sound: Żaneta Rydzewska (Delirium-Edition - organisation for tomorrow’s art)
Camera operator: Krzysztof Werner
Location: former Bersohn and Bauman Hospital in Warsaw
The project was financially supported by the Masovian Voivodeship.
The video was presented ia as part of the group show in Palazzo Franzone Spinola di Luccoli, Genova, 2022, and Three Plagues exhibition in the Labirynt Gallery in Lublin, 2019. It was selected for the Ducato Prize, 2021.
Watch the video.
Video, 2018
The work reconstructs the positions on the archival photographs in Neuengamme, Hamburg. As opposed to the documented event, in the video, no one influences the girl’s posture by holding her body - she repeats the choreography after somebody standing behind the camera.
Girl: Maria Kamińska
Choreography: Magdalena Fejdasz
Sound: Żaneta Rydzewska (Delirium-Edition - organisation for tomorrow’s art)
Camera operator: Krzysztof Werner
Location: former Bersohn and Bauman Hospital in Warsaw
The project was financially supported by the Masovian Voivodeship.
The video was presented ia as part of the group show in Palazzo Franzone Spinola di Luccoli, Genova, 2022, and Three Plagues exhibition in the Labirynt Gallery in Lublin, 2019. It was selected for the Ducato Prize, 2021.
Watch the video.
Sluice
3-channel video installation, oyster shells, 2018
In Warsaw, on the East bank of the Vistula, across the river from the Museum of Modern Art, an investment in Port Praski (in English: Praga Harbor) is being realized. Between 1885-2012 the area served as a harbor, which was surrounded by rather poor tenement buildings and a green wasteland, there was also a slaughterhouse. The ambitious emerging housing development should change the place’s aura and turn it into a European-class district (the architects even refer to the City of London).
The investment cannot be finished until a water lock is built. In our installation, we would like to touch upon Port Praski and point out the lock’s function - as a mechanism that changes the level of the substance that flows through it.
For the exposition, we chose a room that contained different levels. The space was located in the vicinity of Port Praski.
Master’s degree duo work with Michał Szaranowicz realized in Mirosław Bałka Studio of Spatial Activities, presented in Komputer Gallery in Warsaw, 2018. Shown also in MOS, Gorzow Wielkopolski, 2020.
Watch the video documentation.
Phot. Michał Szaranowicz
3-channel video installation, oyster shells, 2018
In Warsaw, on the East bank of the Vistula, across the river from the Museum of Modern Art, an investment in Port Praski (in English: Praga Harbor) is being realized. Between 1885-2012 the area served as a harbor, which was surrounded by rather poor tenement buildings and a green wasteland, there was also a slaughterhouse. The ambitious emerging housing development should change the place’s aura and turn it into a European-class district (the architects even refer to the City of London).
The investment cannot be finished until a water lock is built. In our installation, we would like to touch upon Port Praski and point out the lock’s function - as a mechanism that changes the level of the substance that flows through it.
For the exposition, we chose a room that contained different levels. The space was located in the vicinity of Port Praski.
Master’s degree duo work with Michał Szaranowicz realized in Mirosław Bałka Studio of Spatial Activities, presented in Komputer Gallery in Warsaw, 2018. Shown also in MOS, Gorzow Wielkopolski, 2020.
Watch the video documentation.
Phot. Michał Szaranowicz
Primary Swarm
Video, digital photograph, 2020
Duo work with Michał Szaranowicz, next chapter of Sluice (2018)
From Swarm in (Non-)Motion by Anna Ptak:
Swarm relies on an event developing in a given time. A group of Explorers traverses a cocoon-like space. Its rounded shape defines the manner of movement. The space on the outside plays the role of the queen bee. The figures look as if they had to learn to walk anew: slow-paced movement, careful gesture, the absorbing hole of the turbine where the eponymous swarm thrusts into. The movement from the point A to the point B. The other image, however, placed on the opposite side of the gallery, though belonging to that part of the cycle, counterpoints the adventurous nature of this journey. It is a photograph presenting an antihero: a child mannequin whose movement is being analyzed. Here, this is how the movement occurs. An infantile body’s single achievement of acquiring the ability to move, of defying gravity and oneselve’s idleness is framed by a photograph, an anthropometric device that photography proves itself to be - continue reading.
The work was presented in Fabbri Schenker Projects, London, 2021, at the exhibition during HER Docs Film Festival in Warsaw, 2021, in Spazio Volta, Bergamo, 2021, in GAMU, Prague, 2020, in Neuer Friedhof St. Jacobi during Berlin Art Week, 2020, and in MOS, Gorzow Wielkopolski, 2020.
Watch a part of the video.
Video, digital photograph, 2020
Duo work with Michał Szaranowicz, next chapter of Sluice (2018)
From Swarm in (Non-)Motion by Anna Ptak:
Swarm relies on an event developing in a given time. A group of Explorers traverses a cocoon-like space. Its rounded shape defines the manner of movement. The space on the outside plays the role of the queen bee. The figures look as if they had to learn to walk anew: slow-paced movement, careful gesture, the absorbing hole of the turbine where the eponymous swarm thrusts into. The movement from the point A to the point B. The other image, however, placed on the opposite side of the gallery, though belonging to that part of the cycle, counterpoints the adventurous nature of this journey. It is a photograph presenting an antihero: a child mannequin whose movement is being analyzed. Here, this is how the movement occurs. An infantile body’s single achievement of acquiring the ability to move, of defying gravity and oneselve’s idleness is framed by a photograph, an anthropometric device that photography proves itself to be - continue reading.
The work was presented in Fabbri Schenker Projects, London, 2021, at the exhibition during HER Docs Film Festival in Warsaw, 2021, in Spazio Volta, Bergamo, 2021, in GAMU, Prague, 2020, in Neuer Friedhof St. Jacobi during Berlin Art Week, 2020, and in MOS, Gorzow Wielkopolski, 2020.
Watch a part of the video.
Trajectory of Bodies
Performative action, 2018
Electronic readers have been installed in all buildings of the ERGO Group. The employees use them when entering or leaving the company premises. The system can identify an employee with his or her personal card and record the exact time spent at work.
I chose thoughts as something unpredictable: something that escapes monitoring and examination with the technical capabilities of ERGO Hestia as both the insurer and the employer. I focused on the relationship between the corporation and the individual. I was interested in control and privacy, risk management, and the limits of predictability. I wanted to move away from the digitization of data and image.
I asked the ERGO Hestia Group employees to write down any dream they remembered. The only requirement was that the report would be handwritten and anonymous. 2624 people were informed about the action.
The card registration system was switched off for one day and 40 boxes for the contributions were placed next to the telematics readers. I have received 232 responses.
The outcomes of the action were presented at the exhibition of the finalists of the 17. Hestia Artistic Journey Competition, in the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, 2018.
In the ERGO Hestia Group’s Collection.
Performative action, 2018
Electronic readers have been installed in all buildings of the ERGO Group. The employees use them when entering or leaving the company premises. The system can identify an employee with his or her personal card and record the exact time spent at work.
I chose thoughts as something unpredictable: something that escapes monitoring and examination with the technical capabilities of ERGO Hestia as both the insurer and the employer. I focused on the relationship between the corporation and the individual. I was interested in control and privacy, risk management, and the limits of predictability. I wanted to move away from the digitization of data and image.
I asked the ERGO Hestia Group employees to write down any dream they remembered. The only requirement was that the report would be handwritten and anonymous. 2624 people were informed about the action.
The card registration system was switched off for one day and 40 boxes for the contributions were placed next to the telematics readers. I have received 232 responses.
The outcomes of the action were presented at the exhibition of the finalists of the 17. Hestia Artistic Journey Competition, in the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, 2018.
In the ERGO Hestia Group’s Collection.
Disciplinary Mechanisms
Digital and analog photographs, moving images, 2016
By analyzing the shape and material of hunting gear, the work examines the oppressiveness of environment geometrization and looks at the analogy between hunting and photography: between firearms and camera, appropriating through firing a shot and capturing within a frame, pulling the trigger and pushing the shutter release button, between the moment of entrapping and recording.
By comparing individual devices according to their size, shape, material, and the way they function, the series poses the question about the limits of interference in freedom.
Grand Prix at 12. Inspirations Festival in TRAFO Center for Contemporary Art in Szczecin, 2017.
See the moving images.
Digital and analog photographs, moving images, 2016
By analyzing the shape and material of hunting gear, the work examines the oppressiveness of environment geometrization and looks at the analogy between hunting and photography: between firearms and camera, appropriating through firing a shot and capturing within a frame, pulling the trigger and pushing the shutter release button, between the moment of entrapping and recording.
By comparing individual devices according to their size, shape, material, and the way they function, the series poses the question about the limits of interference in freedom.
Grand Prix at 12. Inspirations Festival in TRAFO Center for Contemporary Art in Szczecin, 2017.
See the moving images.
Play Down
Video, digital photograph, 2017
Registration of semen collection from a stallion for the purpose of artificial insemination.
Courtesy of Wechta Stallion Station.
The video was projected in Fabbri Schenker Projects in London, 2021, in the Center for Contemporary Art Luigi Pecci, Prato, 2021 and in MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts, Rome, 2021 among the works selected by Julian Rosefeldt from the collection Fondazione In Between Art Film by Beatrice Bulgari, at the exhibition VISIO. Moving Images After Post-Internet curated by Leonardo Bigazzi in Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, 2019, during the 9. Polish Biennale of Young Art in the Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art in Slupsk, 2017, at the exhibition Nothing Happens in The Fort Institute of Photography in Warsaw, 2017.
An edition of the video is a part of the Fondazione In Between Art Film by Beatrice Bulgari.
Watch the video.
Video, digital photograph, 2017
Registration of semen collection from a stallion for the purpose of artificial insemination.
Courtesy of Wechta Stallion Station.
The video was projected in Fabbri Schenker Projects in London, 2021, in the Center for Contemporary Art Luigi Pecci, Prato, 2021 and in MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts, Rome, 2021 among the works selected by Julian Rosefeldt from the collection Fondazione In Between Art Film by Beatrice Bulgari, at the exhibition VISIO. Moving Images After Post-Internet curated by Leonardo Bigazzi in Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, 2019, during the 9. Polish Biennale of Young Art in the Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art in Slupsk, 2017, at the exhibition Nothing Happens in The Fort Institute of Photography in Warsaw, 2017.
An edition of the video is a part of the Fondazione In Between Art Film by Beatrice Bulgari.
Watch the video.
Untitled (Remote Control)
9 x 30x40cm, digital print on dibond, archive paper: Moab Entrada Natural Rag 190gsm
Exhibition of the finalists of the 16. Hestia Artistic Journey Competition (laureate), Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, 2017, phot. Piotr Litwic.
9 x 30x40cm, digital print on dibond, archive paper: Moab Entrada Natural Rag 190gsm
Exhibition of the finalists of the 16. Hestia Artistic Journey Competition (laureate), Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, 2017, phot. Piotr Litwic.
Untitled (Remote Control)
Thermograms, 2017
Topographic series of thermograms featuring places in Warsaw, Poland, where political decisions are being/have been made. The way of depicting deflects the relation between the state and an individual and diverts the direction of observation.
Thermography detects radiation in the long-infrared range and records the temperature emitted by objects. The thermographic camera used in the project exposes the construction of significant, influential buildings, the inside of their organisms as well as their tissues.
The work was presented at the exhibition of the finalists of the 16. Hestia Artistic Journey Competition (laureate) in the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, 2017, as well as within Immobilized show at Fondation Hippocrène, Paris, 2018, promoting the emerging art scene in Poland.
Part of the ERGO Hestia Group’s Collection.
Thermograms, 2017
Topographic series of thermograms featuring places in Warsaw, Poland, where political decisions are being/have been made. The way of depicting deflects the relation between the state and an individual and diverts the direction of observation.
Thermography detects radiation in the long-infrared range and records the temperature emitted by objects. The thermographic camera used in the project exposes the construction of significant, influential buildings, the inside of their organisms as well as their tissues.
The work was presented at the exhibition of the finalists of the 16. Hestia Artistic Journey Competition (laureate) in the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, 2017, as well as within Immobilized show at Fondation Hippocrène, Paris, 2018, promoting the emerging art scene in Poland.
Part of the ERGO Hestia Group’s Collection.
White Marianna
Packshots, 2020
Series of 30 photographs depicting different fragments of so-called white marianna marble taken from closed quarries in Lower Silesia, Poland.
The project was realized for (Un)common Ground conference in the Raffles Europejski Hotel, Warsaw.
More on (un)commongroud.pl.
Packshots, 2020
Series of 30 photographs depicting different fragments of so-called white marianna marble taken from closed quarries in Lower Silesia, Poland.
The project was realized for (Un)common Ground conference in the Raffles Europejski Hotel, Warsaw.
More on (un)commongroud.pl.
Engadin (a wanderer)
Video, 2021
"During this part of the journey, the woman begins her descent. It may involve a seemingly endless period of wandering, grief, and rage; (...) of looking for the lost pieces of herself and meeting the dark feminine. It may take weeks, months, or years, and for many it may involve a time of voluntary isolation—a period of darkness and silence and of learning the art of deeply listening once again to self."
Maureen Murdock, The Heroine's Journey
At the time of recording this video, I was 30 years old. I was spending a few summer weeks in the Alpine valley of the Engadine, by the river Inn. The beginnings of the trip unfold in the company of my mother, who has offered to share the two-day journey from Warsaw with me. According to our plan, after a few days I took my mother to the airport in Zurich - together still, we crossed the Flüela Pass, open for the season, and I returned to Susch, where I temporarily stayed and worked, alone.
Music: Żaneta Rydzewska ("e-t-s #2")
Video was realized during the residency in Muzeum Susch, supported by Fuji Film Polska.
It was shown in the group show in Palazzo Franzone Spinola di Luccoli, Genova, 2022, and was screened during the Her Docs Film Festival in Warsaw, 2021.
To see the whole catalog of the project, click here.
Watch the video.
Video, 2021
"During this part of the journey, the woman begins her descent. It may involve a seemingly endless period of wandering, grief, and rage; (...) of looking for the lost pieces of herself and meeting the dark feminine. It may take weeks, months, or years, and for many it may involve a time of voluntary isolation—a period of darkness and silence and of learning the art of deeply listening once again to self."
Maureen Murdock, The Heroine's Journey
At the time of recording this video, I was 30 years old. I was spending a few summer weeks in the Alpine valley of the Engadine, by the river Inn. The beginnings of the trip unfold in the company of my mother, who has offered to share the two-day journey from Warsaw with me. According to our plan, after a few days I took my mother to the airport in Zurich - together still, we crossed the Flüela Pass, open for the season, and I returned to Susch, where I temporarily stayed and worked, alone.
Music: Żaneta Rydzewska ("e-t-s #2")
Video was realized during the residency in Muzeum Susch, supported by Fuji Film Polska.
It was shown in the group show in Palazzo Franzone Spinola di Luccoli, Genova, 2022, and was screened during the Her Docs Film Festival in Warsaw, 2021.
To see the whole catalog of the project, click here.
Watch the video.
Night Flight
Video, 2019
The work touches upon the ways of sharing and sustaining data and is inspired by Gustawa Jarecka, a writer and archivist. She was supposed to translate Night Flight by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry – a story about a pilot responsible for transporting mail by plane.
Her: Monika Łopuszyńska
Sound: Żaneta Rydzewska
Camera operators: Wawrzyniec Skoczylas, Michał Szaranowicz
The video was presented in the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, 2019, Stary Browar in Poznan, 2019, as well as at Adam Mickiewicz University in Kalisz, 2019.
The project was financially supported by the Greater Poland Voivodeship.
Watch the video.
Video, 2019
The work touches upon the ways of sharing and sustaining data and is inspired by Gustawa Jarecka, a writer and archivist. She was supposed to translate Night Flight by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry – a story about a pilot responsible for transporting mail by plane.
Her: Monika Łopuszyńska
Sound: Żaneta Rydzewska
Camera operators: Wawrzyniec Skoczylas, Michał Szaranowicz
The video was presented in the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, 2019, Stary Browar in Poznan, 2019, as well as at Adam Mickiewicz University in Kalisz, 2019.
The project was financially supported by the Greater Poland Voivodeship.
Watch the video.