ph. Igor Omulecki
Exertitia photosophicalia. Photosophical Activities is the project that initiates the public activity of the Photosophical Archive of Andrzej Różycki. After the artist’s death, most of his works were entrusted to the University of Lodz to become the leaven stimulating the growth of the artistic practices and intuitions which he defined as “photosophy”. The Archive aims to creatively process the works of Andrzej Różycki, inoculate the ossified institutions of art with a rejuvenating ferment, and daringly animate the archived matter.
Two artists have been invited to contemplate the work of Andrzej Różycki: Igor Omulecki and Bartłomiej Talaga. Talaga’s audiovisual installation entitled The Time of Development, and Omulecki’s Creative Intervention in the Archive of Andrzej Różycki reveal, each in its own way,individual creative dialogues with the persona and legacy of Andrzej Różycki.
Calling Time
Bartłomiej Talaga explores mystical sentimentalism, weaving threads of the past with the works of Andrzej Różycki. The title hints at a journey — development through time — as a subtle meditation on the meaning of the past, rendered through the prism of the memories evoked. The exhibition inaugurating the opening of the Photosophical Archive centres around the installation titled Studni_dno.
Through his works, Talaga engages in unique dialogue with Andrzej Różycki’s creations, filling the Stu_dni project with new, deep echoes that resonate both in the realm of sound and image. This exhibition is not a mere walk down the passageways of time but a profound intellectual dive into the pit of the past. It becomes a well of inspiration and contemplation on the nature of history’s impact on the present. Calling Time immerses us in a processing bath of artistic dialogue; where our present is exposed to the light of the past, while subtle emotions and deep memories emerge, developed by the surrounding sounds.
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Bartłomiej Talaga – photography, sound, video and installation. His interests include the interpenetration of the fields of art, where sound, image and space mutually drive each other to provoke energetic impulses. The frequency of the resulting audio/visual interference leads to RESONANCE – the primary material of his artistic practice. Graduate and lecturer at the Lodz Film School. When teaching, he shares his own experience, focusing on the intentionality and relevance of gestures that lead to personal and authentic expression. Co-founder of the TON magazine (ton-mag.pl). Designer of photography books.
Curatorial tour: 22 June at 18:00
Coordination, exhibition production and curatorial collaboration: Sebastian Stasiek vel Staszczyk
Igor Omulecki undertakes creative intervention in the archive of late artist Andrzej Różycki. The artistic interventions by Omulecki relate to the earlier creative acts of Różycki himself. The latter’s work on the archives of, among others, Zofia Rydet became a distinctive practice intertwining artistic creation, art-based research and personal work on the memory and reminiscence of the deceased loved person. Różycki’s series of works, FotoAndrzejoZofia, turned into a ritualised process of recalling the deceased photographer through the medium of unfinished photographs. Through this intervention, Omulecki explores the re-working of his unique relationship with Różycki, which has a familial and personal level, as well as an artistic one. Simultaneously, it represents an individual creative act pursued through his own artistic idiom. Therefore, nostalgic Różycki is subject to the intervention by matter-oriented Omulecki; spirituality and mysticism are confronted with perception and materiality, and sacrality is put against nature.
The Creative Intervention of Igor Omulecki in the Archive of Andrzej Różycki at the University of Łódź has a special place in this newly established institution. It aims to spark reflection on the creative re-working of artistic archives, inoculate a fertile ferment into the ossified institutions of art, and daringly animate archived matter.
Curatorial collaboration: Karol Jóźwiak and students of the University of Łódź.
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Igor Omulecki – (born in 1973 in Łódź) is a visual artist, photographer and educator. Holder of a scholarship from the Minister of Culture and the City of Warsaw, winner of many awards and distinctions, including the IPA Award, PMH, ExhibitA, Photo Lucida Critical Mass, Cannes Lions, Europe’s Premier Creative Award. His recent work has focused primarily on visual perception and forms of visual representation. Omulecki’s output also includes hundreds of press publications and numerous exhibitions. His work has been exhibited in many prestigious venues, including the Barbican in London, the Centre for Contemporary Art in Tel Aviv, the Matadero in Madrid, the Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw, and the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.
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Biedermann’s Palace / Wozownia Gallery 1/5, University of Lodz, Franciszkańska St.
DID YOU KNOW THAT Biedermann’s Palace witnessed some tragic events?
The Palace of Alfred Biedermann was built in 1912. Just behind it, there was a factory at the river Łódka, almost entirely damaged now. After Alfred’s death, his brother Bruno lived in the palace with his family. In January 1945, after the Soviet army entered, they were ordered to leave immediately. As a result of these events, Bruno, his wife and their daughter Maryla, who had been active in the Polish resistance during the war, took their own lives. Bruno wrote a letter: “I have shot dead my wife, my daughter and myself. Please, bury us in the garden. Do not plunder our private belongings in the house; share them in a fair manner”. The tragedy took place in room no. 208.
According to their last will, they were buried in the palace garden. After the war, a preschool daycare for children was located in the palace… In the spring of 1977, the bodies were exhumed and translocated to the Old Cemetery in Łódź (Ogrodowa Street).