Archive/Now – Multimedia Master Studio of the Fine Arts Academy in Łódź
Among others: Agata Bielska, Łukasz Pietrzak, Grzegorz Gonsior, Iza Koniarz, Emilia Kuryłowicz, Anna Orlikowska, Wiktor Polak, Adam Szwarc, Justyna Zet
History of the present MULTIMEDIA MASTER STUDIO started at the Faculty of Graphics, State College of Fine Arts in Łódź in 1971. It was then that Prof. Stanisław Fijałkowski initiated the founding of the Film and Photography Master Studio, the only institution of this kind in Poland at that time. Its first administrator was Prof. Zbigniew Dłubak. Between 1975 and 2002 it was administered by Prof. Ireneusz Pierzgalski. Since 2002, the Master Studio of Photography and Video Image has been administered by Prof. Konrad Kuzyszyn and assistant lecturer Łukasz Ogórek. In 2007, it was renamed and has been operating as the Multimedia Master Studio since then. As a part of their curriculum, students get familiar with issues regarding all sorts of electronic media, from still and moving image to their hybrids of all kind. We try not to overrate the medium itself in order not to lose focus on the most important issue – HUMAN and his condition. The curriculum is a kind of an individual timetable with additional workshops and development of general erudite knowledge. Omnipresence of media (multimedia) phenomena in art and in university education is slowly becoming a standard, although their language has not fully developed yet. This ascertainment entitles attentive artists to moderation and doubled caution while employing these languages of the art. Hence, by encouraging students to constant contact with such tools as a camcorder or a camera, we protect them from the PARADOXICAL SYNDROME OF MEDIA EASINESS. We try to make them aware that, apart from the already possessed skills and equipment, the most important thing is to open your eyes and head. In these times of fading high culture, aptitude for reflection is something of a great prize and a precious reserve for the unknown future ahead.
