Wojciech Bąkowski’s second individual exhibition in Stereo and, simultaneously, the first solo presentation in Warsaw in three years, will consist of his newest pieces: the film “Prospects’ Overview”, the sound object “Standby Map”, and the installation “Finding Oneself”. All of the works are combined with reduced to model representations issue of functioning of a human being in space, and the question of how the sound shapes the consciousness of being in the world. The problems of perception are addressed by Bąkowski by manipulating the relation between the sight and hearing (with the use of film and sound production), as well as by consistently creating synaesthetic situations.
The video animation “Prospects’ Overview” constitutes of several sequences simulating walking the distance. Convergent perspective, taking steps, passing by surfaces and sounds in a loop, are the constituent elements of the film that brings to mind a simple computer game. “Standby Map” is an object in a form of a rectangular fragment of an empty wall on the surface of which the sources of sound were arranged in an irregular manner that play back rhythmically tautological message – the word “wall”. The work asks a question about the direction of attention in the mist of the unknown, devoid of features circumstances; simultaneously suggests wandering in the dark, and also, through the scale and musical layer, imposes a comprehensive overview.
“Finding Oneself” is an installation of a disturbed symmetry. Although the organization of the elements is simple and static – it corresponds with the setup of the eyes and ears in the skull – the content, images and sounds collide with one another, introducing an ironic, in the light of the title, confusion. It seems that Bąkowski sees the world as a system of impossible relations and the stable state is, according to him, a simultaneous perception of the opposites.
The guiding principle of the whole exhibition is the self immersed in the outer space. The initial and characteristic for the artist division of the space into a city, a house and a head is in practice turned upside down in the conviction that the relation between them is equal and all the areas function according to the rules of communicating vessels. The walks that the artist takes cover both the urban sidewalks and complicated thinking paths. It makes no difference in the end.