Aleksander Janicki. Identity

Aleksander Janicki’s exhibition, which comprises multimedial and interactive installations, is a sort of summing-up of many months of work which resulted in a program produced in Cracow by the artist in cooperation with Jasper Tilbury, within an international project called "Identity".

The works of art which were created within the project deal with the problem of the identification of an individual in the rapidly changing reality of the "global village". Poland, being a country where the political structure as well as the moral norms are in the progress of transformation, is a particularly fascinating space. The exhibition is supposed to be an artistic description of those changes. The multitude of plots, the variety of artistic expression, and finally its international context are all a perfect opportunity to take a look at the contemporary world in an analytic way.

The exhibition is at the same time a playful project which tackles the matter of identity and identification. An uninitiated eye may be easily involved in an amusing qui pro quo game, if they take illusion for reality, and reality for a virtual construct. Within the game the border between the curator of the exhibition, the initiator of the project, the artist or the group of viewers becomes fuzzy. The exhibition demands paying close attention and suspicion towards what only seems real.

It may be an impulse for considerations on many levels. It leads through various degrees of building a human being’s identity starting from the moment of birth. It shows the way culture in which you are brought up influences the process of shaping your personality in different moments of your life – during the periopd of education, growing up, sexual initiation, shaping of an identity of a citizen, having family, and finally death. The exhibition presents two most important vehicles of identification that is time and space, revealing at the same time their complexity and conventionality.

Many of the works which are presented at the exhibition are interactive ones. They become a catalyst thanks to which each of the viewers can individually search for and discover his or her identity. Going deeper into the space of the exhibition you should not only look for the answer to the question of who you are, but also think about who or what are:Jarring, Adrift, Nearer, Item, Comme, Kaif, and Ichi whose names can be seen as captions under particular parts of the project.

Aleksander Janicki (born in 1963) studied at the Cracow Academy of Fine Arts. Graphic designer, photographer, designer, stage designer, multimedia and video artist. Started OUTart society which performs projects in the public space. He is also the co-author of the Pomniki Nowej Huty (Monumnets of Nowa Huta) project which is being done in Nowa Huta, and SOCland, done in co-operation with Andrzej Wajda’s foundation. Janicki’s works were shown at the following individual exhibitions: Re-produkce I (Okna), a street event, cooperation: Zderzak Gallery, Cracow [1995], Re-produkcje III, street event, cooperation: Galeria Zderzak, Kraków [1995], Re-produkcje V(Oczy), Galeria Zderzak, Kraków [1995], Re-produkcje VI-¯ywio©¯y I(Ogieñ),Teatr Bückleina, Kraków [1996], Re-produkcje IX- Pojekcje I, Galeria Zderzak, Kraków [1997], Re-produkcje X-VISITOR, (independent event, courtesy of Galeria Zderzak, Kraków), Kassel-Münster-Venice (Germany- Italy), VISITOR, Art Forum Berlin (Germany), Galeria Zderzak, Kraków, Ma©¯a Galeria ZPAF, Warsaw [1997], Re-produkcje VISITOR, (individual presentation with Galeria Zderzak), Art Frakfurt (Germany) [1998], Re-produkcje, XII-Projekcje II, Lilla Weneda [1998],Transmisje – The First Simultaneous Exhibition, CSiTJ Manghha, Galeria Zderzak, Galeria Starmach Kraków, ARCO Madrid (Spain), Art Forum Stockholm (Sweden) [1999], Silver Box, Galeria Zderzak,Kraków [1999], Nie wypadaj bez sensu, Galeria Zewnêtrzna AMS (billboard), Re-produkcje (Visitor, Projekcje), Erfurter Kunstverein (Germany) [2000/2001], Czes©¯aw Mi©¯osz, autentyczny autograf wykonany przez Janickiego-fetysz, UMK [2000], Hiroszige, interactive installation, CSiTJ Manghha, Kraków [2002], Memento, steet event on the premises of the former Jewish ghetto in Cracow. Also took part in over a dozen shared exhibitions, such as.: Fort Sztuki, Cracow [1996], Fort Szuki-projekcje, Cracow [1998], International Festival of Free Arts, „Solnzevorot”, St. Petersburg (Russia) [1999], Miêdzynarodowy Festiwal Sztuki Ulicy, Warsaw [2000], Junge Kunst von Krakau, Frankfurt (Germany), Galeria Prowincjonalna, S©¯ubice [2000],Visual art simple life.Video and media art from Poland, Oldenburg (Germany) [2000], Miêdzynarodowe Biennale Sztuki Mediów WRO 01, Cracow, Wroc©¯aw [2001], Monument, Walzer, Wahrsagen?, a project in public space, Karlsplatz, Vienna (Austria) [2002], Press-fiction, Ma©¯a Galeria ZPAF, Warsaw [2002], Festival Audio Art , interactive installations in public space, Cracow [2002], Aichi – installation “Echo”, Japan, Simultaneous Projection Japan – Zachêta 2005. Co-author of the design of the Polish Pavilion in Aichi (Japan) presented at Expo 2005 (Project of the Year 2005 – SARP ).

Pressetext

Aleksander Janicki. Identity
Kurator: Jasper Tilbury