Have Poles divided in recent years, or perhaps they have never been a relatively homogeneous group, and the increasing temperature of political events has only emphasized these lines of division? Or maybe they were simply different, but living in relative harmony on the same patch of land bordered by state lines, with a common set of basic symbols? Whatever the case, unity is a myth situated in the “good old days” that never existed. As a reference point for evaluating today’s events, that myth is entirely useless.

Photos: Adrian Wykrota

Design: Bękarty

Texts: Jerzy Piątek

Editorial: Anna Molter

Prepress: IEVA AUSTINSKAITE / https://www.aust.studio/

Publisher: PIX.HOUSE / Adrian Wykrota

Format: 25×18 cm, unfolded: 25x70cm

Print run: 250 copies basic version / 250 copies author’s version

Cover: hardcover with slipcase

Language: Polish / English

The book is available here —> PIX.HOUSE

In response to the pandemic, many conspiracy theories have emerged. As early as February 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned of a wave of misinformation often referred to as an “infodemic.” This involves the spread of distorted information ranging from conspiracy theories to so-called fake news. For several years, I worked in the media producing information. I used a camera to record, described, and attempted to maintain objectivity. Did I succeed? I don’t know. After the outbreak of the pandemic, I felt overwhelmed by information. Maybe it was fear? I hopped on my bike. I explored different places, started meeting new people. I took different photos. I bypassed the tribal divisions that prominently adorn the landscape of social life. The ambiguous touchlessness of the times we live in took a backseat for a moment. The statistics contained in the publication should bring us back to reality. We cannot remain indifferent to what has happened and is still happening. We live in the age of numbers. Numbers that we do not understand and that no longer move us. We look at all this and feel nothing.

Photography and publication concept: Adrian Wykrota

Photo editing: Krzysiek Orłowski

Editing and proofreading: Michalina Łabiszak

Content supervision: Anna Molter

Design: Andrzej Dobosz / http://dobosz.studio/

Photograph preparation for printing: Ieva Austinskaitė | aust.studio

Translation and proofreading: Konrad Baranowski

Publisher: PIX.HOUSE

Publication coordinator: Adrian Wykrota

Number of pages: 32

Cover: Softcover

Language: Polish and English

Print run: 1000

The book is available here —>PIX.HOUSE

The year 2023 marks a time of heated debate surrounding the continuous development of artificial intelligence and its role in creating reality. It’s also a return to discussions about the truth of images, manipulation, and attempts to develop methods to deal with these manipulations.

One could therefore conclude that just as journalism must return to its roots, primarily based on the role of information verifier, so too should photography (especially documentary photography) be based on credibility, supported by trust in the creator. The publication “Art Beyond Art?” is an attempt to comprehensively define, describe, and analyze the trend of documentary photography in Poland.

But is such definition necessary? Is this medium developed, interesting, significant, and fundamentally autonomous enough to warrant such attempts? Finally, is the Polish context a good field for conducting such an analysis?

This extensive publication (with a total volume of 556 pages, containing 139 photographs) offers a unique perspective on documentation because it is based on the personal reflections of many artists, curators, and individuals from the broad spectrum of Polish photography.

Among the contributors to the book, sharing their knowledge and experience, are:

Michał Adamski, Beata Bartecka, Anna Bedyńska, Marta Bogdańska, Filip Ćwik, Grzegorz Dembiński, Andrzej Dobosz, Mariusz Forecki, Arkadiusz Gola, Karol Grygoruk, Antonina Gugała, Jan Jurczak, Agata Kalinowska, Joanna Kinowska, Julia Klewaniec, Weronika Kobylińska, Aneta Kowalczyk, Kasia Kubicka, Diana Lelonek, Tomasz Liboska, Jukka Male, Ewa Meissner, Paweł Miedziński, Rafał Milach, Ania Nałęcka-Milach, Jędrzej Nowicki, Krzysiek Orłowski, Celina Osiecka, Monika Piotrowska, Silvia Pogoda, Agnieszka Rayss, Łukasz Rusznica, Katarzyna Sagatowska, Michał Solarski, Monika Szewczyk-Wittek, Alicja Wróblewska, Piotr Zbierski.

The foreword was prepared by Paweł Starzec.

Title: Art Beyond Art? Documentary Photography in Poland

Author: Adrian Wykrota

Editing and proofreading: Iwona Torbicka

Book concept and content development: Adrian Wykrota

Content consultation: Prof. PhDr. Vladimír Birgus

Transcriptions: Jagoda Haloszka, Adrian Wykrota

Foreword: Paweł Starzec

Graphic design: Andrzej Dobosz / http://dobosz.studio /

Preparation for printing: Dariusz Nowak

Publication coordinator: Anna Molter

Format: 165×230

Number of pages: 556

Number of photographs: 139

The photographs used in the publication were provided by the authors, institutions, and entities listed in the captions and illustration index.

Publisher: X.PRINT – PIX.HOUSE Foundation

Publication partners: Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts in Kalisz, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań; Institute of Creative Photography, Faculty of Philosophy and Science, University of Silesia in Opava; Arsenał City Gallery in Poznań

Place and year of publication: Poznań 2023

First edition (basic print run + author’s edition): 200 + 300 copies Second edition: 200 copies

Language: Polish

Cover: Hardcover

ISBN: 978-83-968764-0-9

The publication was created as part of the PIX.LAB project – an educational photography laboratory

Project coordinator: Anna Molter

Co-financing: City of Poznań. The book was made possible thanks to the support of Iza and Mariusz Stolarski.

The book available here —>  PIX.HOUSE