Spaces of Grzegorz Przyborek’s Imagination

Film directed by Andrzej P. Florkowski

The film KOAN is devoted to the extensive work of prof. Grzegorz Przyborek. The film was inspired by a retrospective exhibition of Przyborek’s works at the Contemporary Art Gallery of the District Museum in Bydgoszcz. In the author’s story, we visit among others Arles, where the author of the film tries to find the sources of the great change in the artist’s creative path, which began in this unique place, during his stay at the École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie in 1989/90. Andrzej Florkowski’s second film is a form that combines a documentary with a film essay, leaving space for the analysis and contemplation of the photographic image and Targanescu’s music.

In the summer of 2018 I proposed to my friend Grzegorz Przyborek to make a film. The starting point for the realization was the KOAN retrospective exhibition at the L. Wyczółkowski Regional Museum – Gallery of Modern Art in Bydgoszcz in 2019. This is where the photos from the vernissage and the exhibition come from. This exhibition gave me the opportunity to register objects that are usually not available. In September this year we shot locations in Provence and the famous school of photography in Arles. Because in my assumption, the unique visuality of Grzegorz Przyborek’s art was shaped there and I could not imagine a film without a visit to this unique place. In Lodz, I visited the Professor’s studio many times when he was working on the COVID series. Grzegorz Przyborek speaks in the film, revealing his decisions and the circumstances of the creation of a number of works. To discuss the Professor’s art, I invited dr hab. Marianna Michałowska. Professor of the UAP and prof. Ryszard K. Przybylski, outstanding experts on contemporary trends in photography and contemporary culture. Starting from the assumptions of the KOAN exhibition and the aesthetics of the Professor’s art, I tried to subordinate my film image to these assumptions and fill it with symbolic shots. Although the film is devoted to ‘silent’ art, in my assumption, music will play a large role. I invited three artists from the Poznan-based Targanesku team: Katarzyna Klebba, Arnold Dąbrowski and Paweł Paluch to enter into a dialogue with the photographic and film image. The element that appears in the film from the very exhibition in Bydgoszcz is water. This motif refers to the Zen philosophy, so often appearing in the film.

Screening at 19:30, more info:

Film – The premiere of KOAN. Grzegorz Przyborek’s realms of imagination

Andrzej P. Florkowski