Arsenal Gallery in Białystok, November 5^th-6^th 2021

Participants: Piotr Cichocki, Piotr Fortuna, Michał Krzykawski, Jerzy Stachowicz, Matylda Szewczyk, Tomasz Rakowski and persons liaised with the 3D and Virtual Occurrences Studio, Faculty of Media Art, Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (Agata Chodera, Przemysław Danowski, Andrei Isakov, Krystyna Jędrzejewska-Szmek,  Palina Komarova, Agata Konarska, Mateusz Kowalczyk, Dobrosława Król,  Jakub Wróblewski).

The exhibition “Liminal – State of Transition” has been designed to present a selection of works by students and collaborators of the 3D and Virtual Occurrences Studio, Faculty of Media Art, Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, under Jakub Wróblewski, Ph.D., in co-operation with Andrei Isakov and Przemysław Danowski.

The accompanying event schedule includes a workshop seminar – an attempt at offering a theoretical portrayal of a phenomenon in process, an effort to critically ponder immersive art and the specificity of operating in VR space. We intend to move away from the classic model of conferences and interventions to enable intergenerational dialogue and produce conditions wherein representatives of diverse fields of humanities and arts – having absorbed the oeuvre and working specificity of the 3D and Virtual Occurrences II Studio – will be able to share comments, opinions and findings. We are hoping for lively, creative and inspiring debates, all related notes, records and conclusions a palpable trace of the research process, and foundation for a conference follow-up publication.

We do not see the exhibition – or the accompanying conference – as an ultimate linchpin summarising the phenomenon of working with VR space. Our take is one of opening a lively debate, extending an invitation to co-operate: much remains to be done when it comes to describing transmedia space and related practices.

We hereby invite you to join us in pondering the kinship of experience, the methods and objectives of transferring impressions, the political nature of these actions. We would also be curious to learn to what extent Virtual Reality-associated activities are political or class-related in nature. We will ponder their ethical and empathetic dimensions, particularly curious about identifying the cultural backdrop and specificity of cultural practices giving rise to VR exploration and (potentially) redefinition.

We will try to resolve whether 3D performance and Virtual Reality realisations and experiences must/should be interpreted against artistic intervention only. Many interesting developments have been taking place in the field of language as well – firstly, the translation of stories by particular authors into the language of VR expression; secondly, reflections regarding virtuality as a phenomenon in the context of “democratising” language. Another subject we are planning to raise.

Do join us in our shared speculations!

Moderated by: Zuzanna Sękowska

Co-ordinator: Eliza Urwanowicz-Rojecka

Technical support + documentation + stream: 
Kacper Gorysz, Bartek Krot, Kamil Popko (Infotech), Aleksander Sakowicz, Maciej Zaniewski

Fb support + contacting the audience online: Gabriela Owdziej

Visual identity: Renata Motyka

Copy-editing and proofreading: Ewa Borowska

Seminar organisers: Institute of Polish Culture, University of Warsaw, Arsenal Gallery in Białystok, 3D and Virtual Occurrences II Studio, Faculty of Media Art, Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw

Technological partner: The event was co-financed by the University of Warsaw, including from the programme Excellence Initiative – Research University

Exhibition by 3D and Virtual Occurrences  II Studio, Faculty of Media Art, Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw

Participating Artists: Agata Chodera, Przemysław Danowski, Andrei Isakov, Palina Komarova, Agata Konarska, Mateusz Kowalczyk, Dobrosława Król, Krystyna Jędrzejewska-Szmek, Jakub Wróblewski

Curator: Zuzanna Sękowska

Co-ordinator: Eliza Urwanowicz-Rojecka

Visual identification: Renata Motyka

Arsenal Gallery in Białystok
October 22^nd – November 10^th 2021

The exhibition Liminal – the Transitional State is a presentation of selected projects by a group of artists of the 3D and Virtual Occurrences II Studio, Faculty of Media Art, Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, headed by Jakub Wróblewski, Ph.D. The exhibit was designed in collaboration with Andrei Isakov and Przemysław Danowski, and will i.a. include the following works: Jakub Wróblewski, Andrei Isakov and Przemysław Danowski’s Lovestory, Agata Chodera’s Master of Reality, Palina Komarova’s Lunatyk, Agata Konarska’s Let’s Pray, Mateusz Kowalczyk’s Undermining, Dobrosława Król’s NeoWarszawa (NeoWarsaw), and Krystyna Jędrzejewska-Szmek’s VR Lab.

The exhibition is an attempt at exploring and discussing the “virtual event” phenomenon, and identifying its cultural and culture-formative dimension, as well as the purpose of related practices.

Transferring impressionality, sharing impressions, translating narratives into technological activities; sensitising others to shared and mutual presence, caring practices, the collective nature of actions – such are the essential issues we have defined as contributors to the show’s script and storyline. We proceed to ask how and to what purpose stories are actually told in the practice of new media/ transmedia reality artists, and which aesthetics and technologies we can define as applicable in the creative process.

Fundamental issues seem to include the dimension of community and community-formative nature of working with virtual reality/ new media, and the potential of creating communalities of experience. We perceive the studio as a field of experimenting and delegating authority, space where temporary collectives are formed and disbanded. The ultimate goal is to capture the trace of the communication method, as it were, alongside whatever has evolved as a permanent spirit or specificity of labour in the artistic habitat.

The exhibition has been designed as an open case, an exercise, a theoretical trip – operating as a process of participating, and including recipients therein. The conference accompanying the exhibition is intended as a seminar workshop, an attempt at initiating a critical examination of the local specificity of practices focusing on multimedia reality, including the perception of virtual events as proposed by the 3D and Virtual Occurrences II Studio – and, more broadly, of the specificity of working with augmented reality in general.

Once all aforementioned activities have been completed, a follow-up publication will be produced, theoretical critical commentary included – a collection of experiences involving the “transfer” of Studio activities to the Arsenal Gallery in Białystok, and crucial conclusions regarding the theoretical workshop. The exhibition and accompanying activities are a yet another brand for the cycle of events presenting 3D and Virtual Occurrences II Studio accomplishments at the Arsenal Gallery.