Notations to the Camera by Józef Robakowski
Two original compilations, comprised of historical records of performances by a multitude of artists. The first set contains my recordings of Polish artists, while the second is a recording of my own artistic achievements. The first notions of this activity dates back to the early 70ties, as part of documentation done for Warsztat Formy Filmowej, that was formed in 1970 at the Łódź Film School. This later developed into my specialty. Since then I have completed over 60 recordings of both Polish and foreign artists. The majority of them are friends and acquaintances of mine. This unique collection is often made available to the public, and is currently part of the Galeria Wymiany archive. I prepared two representative sets, that highlight quite clearly, the nature of this camera documentary. When realizing these recording I focused primarily on a faithful representation of reality, as opposed to creative improvements. This conscious objectification has always been the essence of my journalistic activities as a curator, museologist and art historian. Galeria Wymiany is the producer of many of the recordings.
Józef Robakowski /2015/
Józef Robakowski– born in 1939 in Poznań. A creator of films, photographic series, video tapes, installations, drawings, objects, conceptual projects, initiator artistic actions, editor and theoretical critic. He graduated from University in Toruń (Department of Fine Arts) and Film, Television and Theatre State Academy in Łódź (Camera Department). He was an academy lecturer (1970-81). He lives in Łódź. Co-founder of the Avant-garde group “Zero-61” operating in Toruń (1961-69) and groups “Oko”, STKF “Pętla”, “Krąg”. Co-organiser of Film Form Workshop and Television Creative Group Station “Ł” in Łódź, which undertook experimental work in connecting film picture and sound, permanently entering the Polish arena of conceptual art of the 70s. Since 1971, he has been running a private gallery – Galeria Wymiany (Exchange Gallery) which collects films, videotapes, documentation and it is a contact office for the international artistic movement INFERMENTAL.
