Focusing on the particularity and embodied nature of artistic encounters, the curators of WRO Biennale 2025 emphasised the “irreducibility of subjectivities” in the reception of art, operating at the intersection of media, sensation, and affect. As such, this year’s theme, qualia, invited reflection on the intricacies of perception — the unique, irreducible ways in which art is experienced through the body, senses, and emotions.
Among the standout participants in the Best Media Art Graduation Projects Competition was Igor Warykiewicz, a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice. With his practice exploring themes of transformation, liminality, and impermanence — thresholds between presence and absence, stability and flux, his multimedia work was awarded Contemporary Lynx’s special mention. We spoke with Igor about the social dimension of contemporary art, the role of empathy and shared vulnerability, and whether it’s possible to create a sense of community and togetherness through art in today’s fragmented world — despite (or perhaps because of) its deeply personal nature.
Izabela Kaczyńska: In Nie mogę rozmawiać (I Can’t Talk) you tackle the extremely difficult issue of alcoholism, which still resonates widely in Polish society but remains a taboo. Where did the inspiration and decision to tackle such a topic come from?
Igor Warykiewicz: At first, I wanted to tackle a topic specifically related to depressive disorders and loneliness. Generally “less” taboo. However, in the course of the work, my focus naturally started to wander into this more sensitive area. There was a problem of alcoholism in my family, so I guess I just needed this. I wanted to use the momentum I had caught to create something that could also be as important to someone.
The people I encountered while working on the project had a big influence on its creation. For example, while attending theatre classes at the Klub Wysoki Zamek in Katowice, I met people in crisis of homelessness and struggling with alcoholism. As I listened to their stories, I began to feel more and more understanding towards their experiences and I think this strongly influenced the final version of my work.
I.K.: Yes, you engaged people from different backgrounds in the creative process – addicts, therapists. What did such a collaboration look like?
I.W.: It all started with the collaboration I already mentioned with the Club. It was mainly conversations that gave us a common space to get to know each other on many levels. Thanks to the theatre classes, the conditions of our meetings were very relaxed. This had the effect of making my interviewees open up in a way that would have been impossible when interacting with a stranger. It was important to me that these conversations were safe and comfortable for them, so I consulted all my steps with their mentors. One of the people I met in our classes, Wojtek Adamski, agreed to lend me his voice in the role of the main character’s brother.
At the same time, I talked with my psychologist friends, consulting on the validity of the characters’ motives and behaviours in my script. Back then, these were only short conversations, like: “Yes, this could indeed happen”. However, addiction therapist Wioletta Iwanicka-Richter had the greatest influence on the final result. When I was already at the stage of running the recordings, I also attended several AA meetings. I think they also affected my understanding of the subject matter on an emotional level – helping me, for example, when making the recordings and directing the voice actors in a specific direction.
“I like the description of art as a shared space, because it means something that brings people together. It creates a certain community, a ground for safe sharing of experiences.”
— Igor Warykiewicz
Has working on this project influenced how you see the role of the artist or the way art operates as a shared space?
I.W.: You could say so. It certainly allowed me to learn about different perspectives and made me realise how much artistic action can convey. I like the description of art as a shared space, because it means something that brings people together. It creates a certain community, a ground for safe sharing of experiences. This is something I’m very keen on in my recent work – to make people feel comfortable and closer to each other. To eradicate their sense of loneliness.
I also realised that the role of my actions can be more than just reflecting an aesthetic impression. It can have a social significance, be something important to someone, something that stays with the viewer for a while. Here, I speak based on the feedback I received from Bogdan, a friendly AA representative, among others. Bogdan was a great support to me during the writing of my thesis, and later appeared at my thesis defence and the screening of my project. He said that: “he doesn’t know how I did it as a person who has never been addicted, but the way he experienced this work felt exactly like he used to feel himself”. Some people came up to me and opened up – they mentioned that they had been through it themselves, or had a similar problem among their family. Some people felt inspired to change. That, for me, is the greatest value and most important aspect of this work.
I.K.: Why did you decide to choose audio-visual media for this project?
I.W.: At the beginning of my university studies, I worked mainly with visual media – printmaking and painting – but at some point, this was no longer enough for me. I needed my work to be set in context and to have elements that interacted with the viewer.
In fact, in my second year at university, I started to become more and more interested in the medium of sound. It has always been with me, mainly as a source of inspiration. Music has always inspired me a great deal, mainly when creating visual works. And somehow, little by little, it started to sneak into my work along with sound art. So basically, the choice of these media was driven mostly by my current interests and the skills I had developed.
With sound, I can act on the imagination by creating entities and abstract situations that could not be shown visually. A bit like hearing a strange scream in the forest, it turns out that we hear a fox or an owl and not a monster. The sound environment is very rewarding for a climate of unreality, abstraction and stimulation of the imagination. As for the visuals – they were meant to act as complements to the story. The set design of the demolished room, together with the mapping, was to be something that would also capture the imagination with its surrealism. I prepared the visuals based on scans of my intaglio prints, which were created during my experiments with graphic structure. Projected onto the white scenography I had prepared, they themselves acted as kind of ephemeral prints.
“I am dedicated to being able to evoke certain feelings in the viewer with my works. In order to do so consciously, it is necessary to know the other person intimately.”
— Igor Warykiewicz
I.K.: And this year’s WRO Biennale encouraged people to push their own boundaries of perception, something that the audience certainly experiences in I Can’t Talk. So was working on this project also such an experience for you as an artist?
I.W.: Working on this project definitely allowed me to push my own boundaries, forcing me out of my comfort zone. It gave me the motivation to face a subject that was difficult for me, to work through it from different angles.
It motivated me to expand my factual knowledge of the problem of addiction and to understand how people feel, both in active addiction and those who have overcome their addiction and remain sober. Direct contact with these people was something particularly meaningful for me. Also on the technical side, the project required a lot of my own work. I had to set aside time to experiment, learn the software, consult the script. This taught me to plan precisely and helped me develop both technical and interpersonal skills.
I.K.: So would you say that these collaborations with people outside the art community have opened up new directions for you? Do you plan to continue this thematic or methodological line in the future?
I.W.: Certainly, the project helped me to open up to working with people outside the art community. It was very meaningful for me and essential for working with this subject matter. I believe that when working artistically, it is wise to reach out for help from outsiders. For me, research is a very significant part of the work. I think that my next artistic endeavours could be a continuation of this audio drama or will take on similar taboo themes. I would like to help deconstruct it to allow the average person to talk about it in a more comfortable way. With my next work, I would like to give the viewer hope again to improve their own condition or that of a loved one.
I.K.: Affection, tenderness, and attentiveness towards others resonate strongly in your works. What does empathy mean to you in the creative process?
I.W.: Yes, recently, empathy has been playing a big role in my work. I am dedicated to being able to evoke certain feelings in the viewer with my works. In order to do so consciously, it is necessary to know the other person intimately – for this, I use my empathy and try to foster it. I use it, among other things, as a tool for my work. I don’t want this to sound objectifying, because the word “work” in relation to living matter can sound like that. However, to take on a difficult and complex subject, one needs some way of structuring, of systematising the work.
Empathy is something that also allows me to work on myself as a person. It lets me learn, be open to other people’s experiences and views, especially those that may differ from my own. I think that there is value to be drawn from many conversations, even with random people on the street, and that you can be inspired by them. When we talk using empathy, we can make even a brief chat into something meaningful.
