Polish Paradise
Fotofestiwal
English
Contributing Artists Pawel Jaszczuk, Kaja Rata, Jan Cieslikiewicz, and Antoni Zdebiak & Magda Hueckel
Softcover
5 Folded A3 Posters
297 x 420 mm
2018
ISBN Not Available
The theme of the 7th edition of the Triennial of Photography in Hamburg is “Breaking Point.” This year, the leading festival of photography in Germany tackles the most current social issues, such as alienation, nomadism, migration and safety. A variety of events- panel discussions, meetings with the artists, talks, portfolio presentations and international conferences- orchestrated in collaboration with the major institutions of culture, museums and art galleries situated in Hamburg, encompasses the following exhibitions of the Polish artists.
(source: http://fotofestiwal.com/2018/en/fotofestiwal-2018/#manifest)
Featured Work
¥€$U$ (JESUS) by Pawel Jaszczuk
Having returned to his home of Poland after a decade living abroad, Pawel Jaszczuk was surprised at the ubiquity of religious objects in everyday contexts. Jesus had become a pop culture icon: holy Christian images appeared on underwear, as chocolate, as floating bathtub accessories, earrings, lamp-stands, tattoos, sex toys and other mass-produced objects. Capitalism’s relentless usurping of anything and everything does not make exceptions for sacred imagery.
paweljaszczuk.com
Kajnikaj by Kaja Rata
The coal mines have become an unprofitable industry and are slowly disappearing. Sometimes, I get the feeling that my town is vanishing beneath my feet.
This is all the more significant since the ground is riddled with subterranean tunnels, left behind by years of coal excavation. These tunnels have lit up the imaginations of the locals, resulting in dozens of legends and local rumors.
For me, living here, the only way to escape this place is by getting into my space ship and flying into outer space.
Pictures in shades of pink and blue present what remains of the grey destroyed monuments of the Soviet era. Empty shifts and abandoned underground tunnels dominate the Silesian landscape.
kajarata.com
Null Hypothesis by Jan Cieslikiewicz
The modern world rejects randomness and shuns ambiguity. It strives for understanding, predictability; it gives an illusion of control. The media is full of experts confidently foretelling the future. The past is explained away with little room for doubt. Not having a stance is considered a sign of weakness. Yet the natural state of human psyche, and our whole existence, our “null hypothesis,” is a state of confusion and uncertainty.
jancieslikiewicz.com
Self-performance by Antoni Zdebiak & Magda Hueckel
Zdebiak’s and Hueckel’s works inscribe into the movement of performative photography. The photographs do not register performance as such, but the act, the process and finally the sequence have a special importance here. In performative photography the image reamains the main goal, and all the events and activities are created for the purpose of this very image.
hueckel.com
About the Publisher
Fotofestiwal was established in 2001 as one of the first photography events in Poland. It was a spontaneous initiative of students and lecturers of the Sociology Department. Since then, photography and ways of organizing cultural events have transformed. The same has been true for Fotofestiwal itself – we have a different perspective towards the program, we work differently, our viewer’s needs have changed. Still, Fotofestiwal remains a space for presenting various forms and types of photography, a forum for discussion about art and society, a motivation to search for alternative methods of discussing and exhibiting photography. But first of all, invariably, it is a place where people meet.
fotofestiwal.com
(source: http://fotofestiwal.com/2018/en/about/)
