blow out, installation view, Nowy Teatr International Cultural Centre, Warsaw, 23-26.09.2016
blow out, 2016
six-channel installation, 0’22”, 0’10”, 0’11”, 0’16”, 0’17”, 0’30”, HD, colour, sound, aspect ratio 16:9, loop
MA in Mirosław Bałka Studio of Spatial Activities.
Antonioni's film Blow-up, which shares an almost identical title with Stefański's work, is a hugely influential classic of European cinema that has left its mark on the mass memory of audiences. By addressing the fundamental problem of the objective interpretation of reality in the context of photography and the suggestiveness of park sequences, it also influenced Stefanski's work. Using Barnard Stiegler's concept of a third memory perpetuated by technology, the artist reflects on the role of cinematography in producing an archive of memories. Stefański was fascinated by the model of masculinity represented by the main character of Blow-up, the successful young photographer Thomas. By manipulating the image, breaking down linearity of film montage and removing the protagonist's physical presence from the final scene, Stefański eliminates the trap inherent in this fascination. By erasing the figure of Thomas the artist abandons what represents the male gaze reinforced by cinema. The gesture of emancipating images leaves space for other – also less privileged – gazes and fantasies of alternative endings to the film. (Aleksandra Sadulska)
blow out, installation view, Nowy Teatr International Cultural Centre, Warsaw, 23-26.09.2016
blow out, installation view, Nowy Teatr International Cultural Centre, Warsaw, 23-26.09.2016
blow out, installation view, Nowy Teatr International Cultural Centre, Warsaw, 23-26.09.2016
blow out (2016), installation view, The New Theatre, Warsaw, 23-26.09.2016
