Stefan Wojnecki, born in 1929 in Poznań, graduated in physics in 1952 from the University of Poznań, today’s Adam Mickiewicz University. Since 1956, he was participating in artistic life as a creator, animator and theoretician of photography. Artist of experimental photography, considered to be a photographic neo-avant-garde, animator, theoretician and inventor in the field of photography. Since 1952, he was a member and then for many years the Chairman of the Poznań Photographic Society. In 1971, he was admitted to the Association of Polish Art Photographers, where he held a number of positions, including the Chairman of the Presidium of the Main Board. Until 2008, he was a long-time member of the ZPAF Artistic Council. He was also the curator of several dozen photographic events – exhibitions, plein-airs, workshops, symposiums and seminars on a national and international scale – including cyclical ones, and the exhibition Polish Intermedia Photography of the 1980s (1988). In the years 1976-1985 he was a program consultant in Gorzów Wlkp., and in the years 1991-2006 he managed nine editions of the International Photographic Workshop PROFILE in Skoki (since 2002 he was a co-director together with Prof. Piotr Wołyński). He was the initiator of six editions of the Biennale of Photography in Poznań.
Initiator of higher education studies in the field of photography in Poland
Initiator of higher education studies in the field of photography in Polish art education – he was the initiator of the creation of full-time master’s studies in photography and Extramural Studies of Photography at the bachelor’s level at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań (currently the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of the Arts Poznan). In 1993 he received the academic title of the Professor of fine arts. The first titular professor in the artistic discipline of photography in Poland, and according to prof. Josef Baran from the Czech FAMU, he was the first professor to the East from the Elbe. Since 1978, he was working at today’s University of Arts in Poznań (formerly PWSSP and ASP), where in 1987-1993 he was the Dean of the Faculty of Painting, Graphics and Sculpture as an associate professor. From 1993 to 2002 he was a member of the Council of Higher Artistic Education as an expert, he was also a reviewer of the State Accreditation Committee in 2002-2005. In 1998, he initiated the establishment of the Scientific Society of Photography.
His works are in numerous collections in Poland and abroad.
During his long-term creative activity, he was the author of several dozen individual exhibitions and from 1956 he participated in about a hundred group exhibitions, including prestigious presentations in the country and abroad. He took part in such prestigious exhibitions as Step into Modernity (1957), Seeking Photographers (1971), Polish intermedia photography of the 1980s (1988). The most important individual presentations are Faces, Duograms – an information series, Alternative Art, Hyperphotography, Identity Photography, I write my world order, Y art, Alchemy of the slotted hole, Network societies and the multimedia show Towards Nirvana. In 1999, his retrospective exhibition Fractures – towards simulation was held at the Arsenal in Poznań, accompanied by an exhibition of fellow artists and a symposium devoted to his creative activity. His works are in numerous collections in Poland and abroad.
Theoretical contribution
Stefan Wojnecki’s creative activity also concerns theoretical contributions. He is the author of several dozen articles and longer texts on the theory of photography, and the editor of several collective publications in the field of photography. In 1999, he developed the script My Theory of Photography (supplemented many times, updated in 2009), and in 2007, the ASP in Poznań published his book Photography – a double star of culture. He wrote several dozen reviews of doctoral and postdoctoral dissertations, as well as proceedings for the conferment of the title of professor. His figure is related to the concepts of intermedia and post-media photography.
During over 50 years of creative work, he received a number of distinctions, awards and important honors, including international ones. Among others the laureate of the Artistic Award of the City of Poznań, the Scholae Bene Merito medal of the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań and the Gold Medal for Merit to Culture Gloria Artis.
His creative activity has been described in numerous articles, diploma theses and publications, including biographical ones.
Stefan Wojnecki’s works are in the collections of the National Museum in Wrocław, the National Museum in Poznań, the Bieńkowski Brothers Collection, the Artoteka Fotografii Collection of the University of Zielona Góra, the Brno City Gallery (Czech Republic) and other collections.
Stefan Wojnecki puts his order in the world
Stefan Wojnecki died on January 11, 2023 at the age of 94. To commemorate his achievements, professor Andrzej P. Florkowski created the film titled ‘Stefan Wojnecki puts his order in the world’. The film will be presented at many film festivals.
Written by Prof. Andrzej Florkowski from the UAP Photography Department and the UAP Film Studio
