Grzegorz Stefański (he/him), born in 1983 in Człuchów (Poland), is a Polish artist based in London since 2017. After earning his Master's degree in philosophy, he studied art under Mirosław Bałka at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and earned an MFA from The Slade School of Fine Art in London in 2018.
He works primarily with multi- and single-screen installations and photography. His practice, strongly influenced by phenomenology and performance, is located at the nexus of choreography, psychology and film. Revolving around physical ephemerality and the political power of gesture, his work focuses on identity and the politics of embodiment. The themes he investigates include power dynamics in relationships, masculinities, personal and historical trauma, memory and repetition.
His works have been exhibited and screened at the Louvre Museum (2019), HKW Berlin (2019), Whitechapel Gallery in London (2018), Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (2018), Ujazdowski Castle Centre of Contemporary Art in Warsaw (2018), Manifesta 11 in Zurich (2016). In 2017 he won the Ivan Juritz Prize in London and the Grand Prix at the Biennale of Young Art in Poland. In 2020 he received the Stuart Croft Foundation Award.
He is currently working on a new film installation commissioned by the Imperial War Museum in London and on the second part of a film triptych exploring care-violence relational dynamics supported by the Stuart Croft Foundation (The first part was created in Tokyo in 2023). He also continues infra-red video series sleepers as part of ongoing research on masculinity.
stefanskigrzegorz[at]gmail.com
Education
2018 MA Fine Art, Slade School of Fine Art, London, UK
2016 Masters in Miroslaw Balka Studio of Spatial Activities, Academy of Art, Warsaw, PL
2008 Masters in Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, PL
Solo Presentations
2023 Paride, Decameron, Tokyo, JP
2022 sleeper, TICK TACK, Antwerp, BE
2018 spill, part of CCA Ujazdowski Castle Project Room Award, Warsaw, PL
2018 the third pier, Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art, Ustka, PL
2017 choke, L’étrangère Gallery, London, UK
Awards
2020 Stuart Croft Foundation Award, London, UK ((Jury members: Sam Belinfante, Steven Eastwood, Gilly Fox)
2018 The 13th Busan International Video Art Festival, Busan, KR
2017 Ivan Juritz Prize, London, UK (Jury members: Dexter Dalwood, Julian Forrester, Rachel Cusk)
2017 Grand Prix at The Biennale of Young Art, Ustka, PL
Residencies
2023 Tokyo Arts and Space (TOKAS), Tokyo, JP
2018 Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art, Ustka, PL
2017 Cove Park, Scotland, UK
2017 The National Museum, Warsaw, PL
2015 Apollonia Foundation, Strasburg, FR
Group Exhibitions & Screenings
2023
As Above, So Below, Tokyo Art and Space HONGO, Tokyo, JP
2019
SAA|VAS Open, Royal Scottich Academy, Edinburgh, UK
Les Instants Vidéo, Friche la Belle de Mai, Marseille, FR
Stable, Sarabande Foundation, London, UK
NAE Open, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, UK
Footnote12: No Medium, Exhibitions Bureau, curated by Barbara Piwowarska Warsaw, PL
Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin, curated by Jean-François Rettig and Nathalie Hénon, The Louvre Museum, Paris, FR and HKW Berlin, DE
2018
Can you feel it?, Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art, Cracow, PL
Narracje #10, Gdańsk, PL
The 13th Busan International Video Art Festival, Busan, KR
Departament of Presence, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, PL
Open Screenings, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
2017
Young Art Biennale Fish Eye 9, Ustka, PL
Brave or Stupid, performance, Morskie Oko Park, Warsaw, PL
15th SURVIVAL Art Review, Wrocław, PL
Have You Seen This Women, Chalton Gallery, London, UK
Authentic Tongues, Bloomsbury Theatre, London, UK
2016
Work Work Work, Leipzigerstrasse 63 – Berlin / Marszałkowska street 19, Warsaw, PL
Visual Spa, Blue Tower, Warsaw, PL
Is There Somewhere?, Manifesta 11, Zyrych, CH
Studio for Students: Video Art Now, Studio Gallery, Warsaw, PL
Short Waves Festival, screening, Poznań, PL
Wola Warm+Up, Wola Museum, Warsaw, PL