Investigation of the Impact of the New “Space” On Our
Existence.
I have received a predominantly classical education and was born in the conservative and troubled country of Poland.
However, this has made me hungry to experience and understand beyond the obvious. I genuinely struggled with finding a place for myself and refining my identity as a person. I have always had intrinsic curiosity, sensitivity of perception and ideas for moving things forward. These qualities are the foundations of my creative practice and a major driving force throughout my adult life.
I started my adventure with the UAL, when I instigated the move for all FE courses in my co-ordination area to UAL Awarding Body. I was fascinated by the main shift in paradigm from BTEC regulation driven compliance to the ethos based on experimentation and critical analysis – the deeper understanding behind the making; using the visual language to formulate a personal response to the turbulence and complexity of life in the contemporary world.
Risk-taking, questioning and extending the existing boundaries while discussing ideas in new environments have become the key focus of my professional interests.
I am a keen traveller and have been to many exciting destinations – 97 in total! Two years ago, I went to the 20th Sydney Biennial. The leading theme of this enormous exhibition was inspired by a comment made by a science-fiction author William Gibson – “The future is already here — it’s just not evenly distributed”.
This implied that technology had already surpassed our vision of the future. It also acted as a reminder that access to information, the internet and other resources is not universal. It was particularly intrigued by names, which were given to the ‘embassies of thought’. These were designated as safe spaces for thinking, and reflected on the dynamics within the contemporary society, post globalisation, uncontrolled growth of population, immigration and politics. They were named after themes emerging from Rosenthal’s conversations with artists as follows: ‘Spirits’; ‘Non-Participation’; ‘Translation’; ‘the Real’; ‘Transition’; ‘Disappearance’; and a Polish visionary writer ‘Stanislaw Lem’.
I was inspired by the visual dialogue and distinction between the virtual and physical worlds, especially in the work by Korakrit Arunanondchai and his “Painting with history in a room filled with people with funny names”
I immediately wanted to extend my current practice to further blur the boundaries and confuse the dichotomy between the traditional understanding of existence and the new and ever-expanding HI TEC reality of being. I am particularly interested in experimenting with discussing these ideas in the context of our diverse and overpopulated Universe.
I have drawn from the work by the French-Armenian artist called Melik Ohanian, who won the 15th edition of the Marcel Duchamp Prize and represented Armenia during the 56th Venice Biennial.
His often works somewhere between photography, sculpture, video and installations and pays a particular attention to the relationships between visual arts, science and astrophysics.
I am also inspired by the work of Alma Haser, who exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery in March 2018. Her photographs confuse boundaries of existence and manipulate unity, which is interwoven into both forms of being: real and digital.
In March this year, my Foundation Art students and I collaborated at the Tate Exchange with UAL Chelsea, Wimbledon, Central St Martin’s and 5 international partners. The key areas of questioning have reinforced my commitment to this research area and developed my thinking further. The overall project was divided into several “incubators” as follows:
- Are humans sustainable?
- What is the future of interaction?
- Bionic Art
- Un-conference space
- Practice as research wall
The work produced questioned the impact of technological innovations on the future of our existence, coping with the pace of change and the associated sense of nervousness, loneliness and isolation.
Digital projects, which were designed to connect and unite humanity have actually created new barriers to our interaction in all contexts and spheres of life: social, psychological, cultural, economic, political and religious.
If successful in my application, I propose to explore the new role of technology in the future. I would like to question and re-think its impact on our lives and existence. Humans and technology, let’s update together! I would like to experiment with ideas in a completely new “space”, suspended somewhere between physical and digital, intrinsic and extrinsic, traditional and ultra-contemporary – cutting edge.
Digital creation is parallel to our thought processes and lacks a physical manifestation. However, a symbiotic relationship and collaboration between the two forms completely new and with endless possibilities, perhaps also dramatically transforming our being and existence.
I would like to reflect on the future potential of these ideas by establishing a sense of unity and cohesion in this new digital agora – and initiate a metaphysical dialogue between our anxieties of the unpredictable reality and non-physical existence in the digital world – the new space.
A Masters course is largely directed by your art practice and your research interests. For the interview please prepare some answers to the following questions:
Your research question: What is the question or issue you wish to explore through the MA course?
Research issue:
FUTURE
Research problems:
- Uncertainty and anxiety
- Radical changes and consequences to Hi-tech developments
- The paradox – more certain life becomes the more uncertain and anxious we feel
- Obsession with control and organisation of data
- The old certainty has vanished. Nothing is permanent and the temporary has become ultra-ephemeral
- Looking for certainty in the wrong place
- Trying to replace permanence with temporary gratification
- Unachievable race to be current and up-to-date
- The more you learn about it the more you do not know
- Being unsure of self
Research question:
The extent to which we are able to deal with uncertainty in a “certain”, monitored and over-analysed world.
The context: Who are the key artists/designers/writers or other creative individuals related to your project? What are the key ideas or developments that are central to your area of interest?
Bruce Nauman –
la Biennale di Venezia – Biennale Arte 2015
Life, Death, Love, Hate, Pleasure, Pain
Setting the boundaries of life – isolating the essence of what life is about
Heads or Tails? Uncertainties and Tensions in Contemporary Thailand
Sundaram Tagore Gallery
Oct 12th – Nov 4th 2017
New York, 547 West 27th Street
Thasnai Sethaseree
Thasnai Sethaseree was born in Bangkok, Thailand in 1968. Recurrent themes in his practice have included issues of memory, migration, and a philosophical questioning of the nature of knowing. Sethaseree is best-known for his conceptual and relational works, usually ephemeral in nature; his practice has recently turned to sculpture and painting. His turn to painting recently premiered at the prestigious Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco as part of a project organized by Rirkrit Tiravanija.
20th Sydney Art Biennale ‘The Future Is Already Here – It’s Just Not Evenly Distributed.’
Neha Choksi in collaboration with Alice Cummins ‘In Memory of the Last Sunset’.
“The image of a curtained sun came to me years ago when I was working on various photographs of the sun being burnt in different works,” Neha told Indian Link, as she described the development of ‘The Sun’s Rehearsal.’ “I decided to expand on the idea of the death of the sun as a companion piece to a series of birth related drawings I have been slowly making that refer to the scientifically recorded activity of the sun during the nine months I was in my mother’s womb and did not experience the sun’s light directly.”
Mattia Insolera
Italian photographer
Born: 1977 (age 41 years), Bologna, Italy
Surviving Greece at La Caixa Forum, Madrid, 2015 also
Awards: World Press Photo Award for Daily Life
Methodology: How will you go about researching your question? What are the particular means that you will use i.e. interviewing, visiting particular collections, processes or production for making?
Methodology: How will you go about researching your question? What are the particular means that you will use i.e. interviewing, visiting particular collections, processes or production for making?
Following the theme of the biennial, “The future is already here — it’s just not evenly distributed”, I would like to interview people in first and third world countries to triangulate their responses and, perhaps juxtaposition and highlight the findings.
I am preparing to visit Haiti and Dominican Republic next month for 7 weeks. This should give me a chance to interview a cross-section of people and record the nature of the uncertainties in their lives contrasted the experiences in the West.
Resources: Are there particular resources or equipment that you plan to use for your Research Project? If this does not come under the facilities available at Camberwell – what are your plans to gain access to this equipment?
Self-resourcing:
The trip, digital cameras and voice recorders
HYPNOTIC REPETITION 