Tomasz Dobiszewski

If on a winter's night a traveler / Jeśli zimową nocą podróżny
solo exhibition in Geppart Gallery, Wrocław curated by Patrycja Sikora

The contemporary world is characterized by the intense mediation of reality through digital media, which redefine our ways of experiencing, perceiving, and interpreting our surroundings. In this new space, virtuality becomes "nature"—a source of inspiration, a place of discovery, and a field of exploration for creators. At the same time, this situation prompts an essential question: how does modern perception, shaped by fragmented data, function in a world that demands constant interpretation? On one hand, the digital mediation of experiences expands our knowledge through global access to information. On the other, it limits it by relying on selective, incomplete, or distorted representations of reality. The works presented in the exhibition attempt to show how these processes influence art—becoming both a source of inspiration and a tool for critically analyzing the contemporary world.

Inspired by the multilayered literary experiments of Italo Calvino, I have created an exhibition that highlights the fragmentation of experiences in a world saturated with images and data. It also emphasizes the continuous process of interpreting reality, in which the viewer’s perception becomes an integral part of meaning-making. Calvino’s book is based on perpetual beginnings—stories that break off at crucial moments, requiring the reader’s active participation in completing them. Similarly, the works in this exhibition each tell a different story, represent distinct styles and media—photography, animation, video, graphics, or objects—while forming an open structure in which the viewer becomes a co-creator of the narrative. Art, as a means of reflecting on the processes of creation and perception, much like in Calvino’s work, does not offer ready-made answers but instead poses questions about how traces, signs, and fragments can be assembled into new narratives.

The aim of the exhibition is not only to showcase new directions in artistic exploration but also to expand the language of art through intermedial connections and formal experimentation. The strategies of image-making presented here attempt to shift the ways in which reality is perceived, suggesting new forms of dialogue between the virtual and the material. The exhibition invites the viewer on a mental journey through traces that together form an image of the contemporary world—fragmented, ambiguous, and requiring active engagement in its completion and understanding. It is a reflection on reality, which is never given in its entirety but is always composed of elements that we connect, forming only a temporary and subjective whole.

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1. Peripheries
[archival prints, AI, various dimensions] 2024

The frame of a photograph is categorical, concealing what lies beyond it. We can only speculate about what happens outside its borders, relying on clues contained within the original image. This project seeks to reverse that situation and explore the margins of famous photographs by creating images that include the edges of the original pictures. The generatively created peripheries will, albeit not always successfully, evoke associations with the original in our memory. Meanwhile, what lies beyond the desired photograph does not exist—it has been generated, and only through it can we recognize the original images, relying on our collective pop culture memory. The project examines the crisis of representing reality and the fleeting nature of truth in the digital age. Using AI-generated photographs, it raises questions about the authenticity of images and the limits of perception in a world where reality and fiction are increasingly intertwined.

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2. T|h|i|n|g|s
[objects: aluminum, plexiglass, cherry wood, various dimensions] 2024

- Alloy – The Doll (dir. Wojciech Jerzy Has)
- Glass – Ashes and Diamonds (dir. Andrzej Wajda)
- Totem – Inception (dir. Christopher Nolan)

The *T|h|i|n|g|s* series presents symbolic objects known from Polish and global cinema. Film props are not just elements of set design—they are carriers of meaning, helping to understand hidden ideas and the material culture presented in films. They also possess something personal, forging a bond with the viewer and providing a sense of continuity and permanence. In the *T|h|i|n|g|s* series, flat images from films have been transformed into three-dimensional objects. The props were “cut out” from consecutive film frames using digital techniques and then assembled into three-dimensional objects. As a result, each object is built from a sequence of frames, as depicted in the cinematic shot. This process allows for a new perspective on film props, revealing their changing forms over time and uncovering new meanings.

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3. Spaces of Alienation
[cyanotypes, AI, 24 x 30 cm] 2024

The project presents a hypothetical vision of Iceland transformed by Poles—the largest national minority on the island. AI-generated photographs depict how Polish culture, customs, and architecture could influence Iceland and its natural environment, considering the most characteristic locations in the Icelandic landscape. The use of analog photographic techniques enhances the impression of authenticity.

Co-author: Anna Krukowska

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4. 7700
[plotter on the wall, variable dimensions] 2024

This work presents the traces of interrupted flight paths of airplanes that have crashed. *7700* is the emergency transponder code signaling danger to an aircraft (seven seven—go to heaven).

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5. Postpostcards
[digital print, 18 x 13 cm, mail-art, public space interventions] 2020—2024

A series of computer-generated postcards created independently of the actual locations they reference. They serve as souvenirs from a virtual journey, redefining the traditional function of a postcard as a medium documenting physical places. The first distortion occurs in the function of the postcard itself. The second distortion concerns the image: generated using Google tools that merge satellite photo networks, they become imprecise, distorting real locations—sometimes subtly, other times in a striking and significant manner.

For projects in Crete, Malta, Corsica, Sardinia, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Georgia, Chile, and Iceland, the postcards were taken to the places they depicted. Some were mailed to recipients as part of a mail-art initiative, while others remained on-site, placed in postcard racks.

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6. Postpostcards bis
[photocopy prints, 42 x 29 cm] 2022

Documentation of the confrontation between Google Earth-generated postcards and real-life locations.

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7. Ephemeral Topographies
[public space intervention, GPS, video, animation, 3:38] 2021

This project combines field action with technology. A springtime bike ride left a trace in the form of an invisible drawing, which was revealed through GPS technology. Animation and camera recordings document the act of creating this ephemeral topography, while also providing a compressed image of urban space and its dynamics.

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8. 17012022
[animation, 12:22] 2022

A record of air traffic over Poland throughout January 17, 2022—one month before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, before international flight routes radically changed. Abstract lines form the outline of the country, traversed by aircraft.

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9. Like Tears in Rain
[video, 1:45:32] 2023

Inspired by the beauty of Chilean nature, especially the stark landscapes of the Atacama Desert—the driest place on Earth—I created a piece that highlights both the creative power of nature and the destructive impact of human activity. At the heart of this project is a process that uses chlorine compounds as a tool for both creation and destruction. Photographic layers, saturated with chemicals, undergo a slow transformation. Initially resembling the mineral formations of the desert, the images gradually dissolve, blur, and deform, succumbing to unpredictable chemical forces. This results in abstract compositions that are both mesmerizing and unsettling, revealing the destructive potential of the substances used.

The material of the Chilean soil dissolves into chemical landscapes, creating fascinating organic textures. This aesthetic of destruction serves as a reminder of the threats posed by toxic human activities. The images, subject to gradual erosion, act as an allegory of memory—just like recollections, they lose their integrity over time, blurring details and leaving only fleeting echoes of the past. The project's title, taken from the famous monologue in *Blade Runner* by Ridley Scott, refers to the concept of transience—of human life and the traces we leave behind. It is a meditation on the fragility of existence, memory, and materiality itself, as well as an attempt to capture beauty in this inevitable process.