The 11th edition of the Young Art Biennale “Fisheye”/ “Rybie Oko”, a project in which, for more than 20 years, the jury have been honouring the best works by young graduates of Polish art schools, is behind us. The competition concludes with an exhibition presenting works, which address subjects important for young artists setting future directions for Polish contemporary art. I meet the winners of this year’s edition – Zuzanna Kozłowska, graduate of Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, the winner of the Grand Prix for her work “W słońcu” (“In the Sun”), and Dominik Horodyński-Garstecki, graduate of the University of Arts in Poznań and student at the Academy of Art in Szczecin, awarded the Prize of the Marshal of the Pomorskie Voivodeship Mieczysław Struk for his work “Spectral Archive”. With commitment, warmth and joy, they talk about their experience of the competition and their first steps in their artistic careers.
Katarzyna Boch: You are among the winners of the 11th edition of the Young Art Biennale “Fisheye” (Rybie Oko). What is the meaning of the awards you have received?
Zuzanna Kozłowska: Currently I am living outside of Poland. I am a student at the Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen Programme for Art in Public Space in Denmark. The award is meaningful not only because it is an important financial support, which is a huge help for further implementation of various projects and visibility on the Polish art scene. I wouldn’t want to get to the point where I disappear from the Polish artistic environment and remain active only abroad. I want to maintain my bond with Poland, and living and working in Denmark makes me feel constantly in between. I am happy to have projects planned in Poland in the near future. I am also very excited to be working with Agnieszka Kilian, the new director of the Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art in Słupsk and curator Marta Kudelska. I think it will be a fruitful collaboration, which I am looking forward to.
Dominik Horodyński-Garstecki: In my view, the award is important because making art is a very solitary activity: sitting in a studio, creating things that are often uncommunicative and come strictly from within. Receiving the distinction serves as an external validation of my art. During the creative process, one does not know where one stands, how good or valuable the work is, whether it would make sense to someone else, and an objective opinion from the outside seems very important to me. It is even more valuable considering the level of the competition in terms of the skills of the participants and the output of those selecting and evaluating the pieces.
KB: Tell us about your winning works then. Where did your concepts come from? What was the creative process like?
ZK: I graduated from the Faculty of Graphic Arts and my work is an annex to my master’s project. The work is a nod to printmaking, which is where all my artistic journey began. I was influenced by attending classes at other faculties, especially Dr. Wojciech Bąkowski’s Poetics Studio, where I began to explore new inspirations and possibilities. From there, the idea for the competition piece emerged. I wanted the object to be a synthesis of materials, wood, or rather plywood, which is the main element of my work, and an ordinary wood stain. The ephemeral images that appear on the walls of the building both outside and inside are created from sketchy rubbings that I made on the panels with sanding paper.
DHG: My work is an undergraduate thesis I prepared at the University of Arts in Poznań, where I graduated in photography. It stems from my fascination with rubble as a material, as well as subsequent analyses of where my interest in this material comes from, what fascinates me about it. The work was created over a period of two years, during which I collected individual elements and explored what attracted me to them. I made many attempts as regards the form of the work, from photography through visual arts, which eventually led me to the idea of making a copy of a single block. Working with material was a very intuitive process for me.
KB: The key theme of the bienniale is young art. What topics are relevant to budding artists nowadays?
ZK: Since I live abroad and don’t have much direct contact with art created by young Polish artists, it was an amazing experience to see the presentations of the other participants in the competition. I had the opportunity to find out what the other artists were focusing on, what they were interested in. In my opinion, what particularly stood out was the great sensitivity of the young people, their close focus on everyday life, capturing fleeting moments, details that we don’t pay attention to on a daily basis. There were also many works exploring the theme of identity.
DHG: A recurring theme was also home, the shelter, the hearth. This type of motif was the most prevalent.
KB: Do your works also reflect these tendencies?
ZK: What is important in my artistic practice is the poetics of space and everyday objects, how we understand it, how the work I create is shaped by my own experience and other sources of inspiration. The form of the work itself relates to a house – it has four walls and a floor. I am interested in the duality of space, creating rooms within rooms, balancing the inner and the outer.
DHG: Through the lump of rubble, my work also directly refers to a building. The rubble is an actual fragment of a building, so from it one creates a shelter that brings safety. I was surprised how many people explored similar ideas in their works.
KB: Staying on the subject of young artists, let’s focus on the artistic market. Is it difficult for young people to make a name for themselves due to the high level of competition? Or do the modern tools make it easier?
DHG: The times of social media certainly help with self-promotion, which can translate into a market presence. For now I have little experience, but I hope to get to know this area better. It is hard to say whether this is a good time for young artists, as everyone has their individual path, although there is no denying that the internet helps in making new contacts and promoting your work. Thoughts of competition, however, don’t bother me that much, since art is not a sport. There are a lot of people creating amazing things on Instagram, which we can easily access. Comparison can make you doubt yourself, but I try to focus on the fact that I just really enjoy making art and it is an important part of who I am.
ZK: You definitely need to have some distance from the competition and social media. I have also never had a “dead end approach”, I would lose all the pleasure of creating otherwise. For me, art is about development, about creating something that is important to me and that others might find interesting. The longer I make art, the more I find that in addition to my individual projects, I would like to be able to work with others – to participate in collective projects or to organise joint exhibitions. As long as the work comes out of us, it will remain sincere and will always defend itself.
KB: Have you experienced any other challenges in your first steps as artists?
ZK: It is easy to encounter problems related to the size of the work, such as storage and transportation.
DHG: In that respect I certainly envy the painters (laughs).
ZK: The organisers of the 11th Young Art Biennale “Fisheye” helped a lot with the transport of the work and with its installation in the gallery, leaving me with a more coordinating role.
KB: What are your future artistic plans?
DHG: I will be creating my next project together with Zuza and Julia Laszczka, with whom we met during the Young Art Biennale. Apart from that, I want to continue working at my studio, finish the works I have started and continue to develop.
ZK: It’s an intense time in terms of creating for me now. I am working on a project related to the program I mentioned earlier and the upcoming exhibitions in Poland: one at the turn of February and March associated with the Young Biennale and the other in early April at the Promocyjna Gallery.The most current topic, however, is our joint project that Dominik mentioned.
The competition exhibition will run until 28 December. Zuzanna Kozłowska’s work “W słońcu” (“In the Sun”) can be seen at the Centre for Artistic Activites in Ustka, and Dominik Horodyński-Garstecki’s work “Spectral Archive” at The Witches’ Tower in Słupsk.
