Gerard Lebik

Dorota Walentynowicz / Gerard Lebik
site-specific installations, 2014

During two evenings of NARRACJE, the space of a former shop in 8 Do Studzienki Street will witness a presentation of two installations, which – each of them in a different way – show the feedback between the sphere of sound and the sphere of image.
The archetype of the sage is represented in this project through a technological aspect. A sage is a contemporary type of artist who constructs his own working tools, does not rely on a given (existing) technology but creates his or her own apparatus of artistic expression. The artists who participate in the exhibition combine in an unconventional way various audiovisual media: Dorota Walentynowicz uses a simple optical device, camera obscura, coupled with a moving mirror, while Gerard Lebik taps into magnetic technology (VHS). Both works were created on the basis of analogue processes: electric voltages and the physical movement of sound and light waves.
In turn, ghost is an invisible thread of feedback which cuts across specific elements involved in the production of projects – an invisible electromagnetic wave, which materialises at the subsequent stages of installation.
The location of the works is not a matter of coincidence. The place – a burgher house which is set to be demolished very soon – will dematerialise to yield space to a new, broad avenue. That the action takes place here is to highlight the fact that both the artists and the creators of this year’s Narrations are not indifferent to the fate of such beautiful architecture and are struck by the lack of reflection betrayed by such municipal activities.
Let’s meet in this place for the last time and enjoy the spirit of the district which is disappearing in front of our very eyes.

Gerard Lebik: VHS ESP
sound installation, concert, 2014

Changes in the illuminance and light saturation as well as fluctuation of the magnetic field of old video tapes trigger micro-changes in the sound captured from video recorders. In order to create a visual space, Gerard Lebik uses VHS cassette recorders and analogue monitoring sets based on the feedback of kinescope TV sets and infrared cameras, controlled by the frequencies of pure acoustic waves created by the generators Zopan KZ 1406. The use of analogue devices allows the artist to generate image by means of acoustic waves as well as to influence the modulation of sound by means of the analogue image. The effect is a visible and audible feedback of image and sound.

Gerard Lebik (b. 1980), lives and works in Wrocław.
Musician, sound artist. Active in the field of improvised, experimental and intermedial music. Deals with sound installations and interventions. Relies on improvisation, musical notation and manipulations of the sound material, using acoustic and electronic media. Investigates the field of audible phenomena by means of various technologies, devices and instruments, such as saxophones, ZOPAN wave generators, air compressors, VCRs, video objects, software.
Graduate of the Musical Academy in Wrocław (2007). He has collaborated and performed with many artists, such as: David Maranha, Eryck Abecassis, Kazuhisa Uchihashi, Keith Rowe, Clayton Thomas, Satoko Fuji, Brian Labycz, Hernani Faustino, Miguel A. Garcia, Gabriel Ferrnandini, Noritaka Tanaka, Bettina Wenzel, hans w. koch, Joker Nies, Rodrigo Pinheiro, Christian Marien, Marc Riordan, Sebastian Meissner, Paweł Janicki, Piotr Damasiewicz, Artur Majewski, Kuba Suchar, Ura Hiroyuki, Yamaguchi Jin Lang.
Participant in: V:NM-Festival in Graz, Music Biennale Zagreb, Tokyo Jazz, TodaysArt Festival in The Hague, Umbrella Musci Festival in Chicago, Musica Electronica Nova, Sibiu Jazz and More, Avant Art, Musica Polonica, Survival Art Review, SuperDeluxe-Tokyo, Alte Feuerwache in Cologne, De Werf-Brugge, Pit Inn Shinjuku-Tokyo, Ftarri-Tokyo, Quite Que-Berlin, and others.

http://www.gerardlebik.com, http://gerardlebik.blogspot.com/