When the Council of the City of Bydgoszcz declared 2012 to be the Year of Wyczółkowski, I took up the challenge set by the Director of Municipal Gallery bwa, Wacław Kuczma, and decided to carry out a project commemorating the artist, or being a dialogue with his work.
As an artist, I work in the domain of visual arts, often using analogue photography. In the work titled Look from Beyond the Grave I used a camera obscura, that is an optical darkroom the simplest and at the same time original form of a photo camera. The element of an arrangement for the camera built of cardboard for this purpose was the burial place of the painter, his tombstone at the cemetery in Wtelno. While I appreciate the work Wyczółkowski, it is not an art that is especially appealing to me; however, I was surprised by the modernist form of the painter’s gravestone, contrasting with his work, and it became the starting point for my work. The cardboard camera became a part of the construction of the monument, and on the tombstone I arranged a still life referring to the work of Wyczółkowski and photographed it. The final result of the project presented on December 3 at the Municipal Gallery bwa would be the image of the paper negative with the exposed still life, and a video documenting the construction and installation of the camera, still life arrangement and exposition. The key for the perception of the work are the connotations of the concept of a negative in the domain of photography and a broader context of contemporary culture. Marek Noniewicz
Open 2012.12.03
End 16.12.2012