book presentation (PL)

Sputnik Photos Mentoring Programme No. 6

10.06 (Sunday), 14:00
Festival Centre (Tytano)

Meeting participants: Weronika Perłowska, Anna Maria Krężel, Magdalena Ubysz, Krystyna Dul, Marcel Borowski, Mateusz Kowalik, Łukasz Szamałek, Marek Żmudzki
Led by: Anka Gregorczyk

 

Text by Rafał Milach

Is there a common denominator for space expedition, a collection of images from the art history course and dealing with the family trauma? The connection seems tenuous. However, it does exist. It constitutes the experience of space in its broad sense. These might be gestures of resistance against the institutionalized power and the imposed social order such as alternative places of spiritual seclusion (Katharina Dubno) or the enclave of those who escaped from cities to live in The Suche Mountains (Mateusz Kowalik).

Space as a territory and a field of expansion constitutes a study of some of the Nazi Germany operations in Pomeranian District (Magdalena Ubysz) as well as the vision — based on facts and extended by the fictional threads — of Madagascar colonized by Poland (Marek Żmudzki). Humankind aspirations to conquer space (Łukasz Szamałek) might be located at the one end of spectrum, on the other end of it we may find the intimate micro-spaces which become an impulse to analyze feelings, traumas and memory (Marcel Borowski, Anna Maria Krężel).

In some cases space is outlined by the very physical walls of the house and the stories behind (Grażyna Saniuk, Krystyna Dul). And finally, space might be also perceived as a clash of the private and what is related to distribution and functioning of images in political (Weronika Perłowska) and cultural contexts (Anna Zagrodzka).

Although many of these collections interpermeate and complement one another, each of them constitutes a separate, autonomous piece. They might be independent, yet they address the important issues, risks and fascinations and this way they become a counterpart of collective experience, moving far beneath the individual space of each of the authors.