Konrad Smoleński

B
objects, sound, site-specific project, 2014

Konrad Smoleński is an artist known for his loud (literally!) projects that rely on the synergy between visual arts and sound. The Gdańsk audience can remember, for instance, his last year’s soundbombing, which took place on the streets of Dolne Miasto and was performed together with the band BNNT.
This time, however, the artist has decided to refer to the viewer’s perceptiveness. For B is a work which subtly blends into the urban tissue and which can be observed only owing to the viewer’s focused attention. Its basic non-formal element is the experience of extraordinary coincidences and their recognition.
In the context of this year’s theme of NARRACJE, Smoleński’s work acquires a metaphorical sense and can be viewed with reference to James Redfield’s text in which he describes the subsequent stages of learning about the world and of spiritual development. According to Redfield, when we start to realise the existence of extraordinary coincidences, it is a sign that we are beginning to shake ourselves from our mental habits. We are changing our perception of the world and we can see it as a miraculous place!

Konrad Smoleński (b. 1977), lives and works in Bern and Warsaw.
Visual artist and musician. Deals with various media, such as video, installation, performance, sound. In the recent years, the artist has focused on projects that make the viewers’ bodies resonate. His large-scale installations evoke the sense of emotional anxiety and tension. Important aspects of his practice are live actions and DIY activities.
Graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań (2002). Between 2002 and 2009, he worked there as an assistant. A major point in Smoleński’s practice was his contact with the Audiosphere Studio run by Leszek Knaflewski.
Member of the Poznań artistic group Penerstwo, which borrows from low-brow creative instincts hidden in housing estates and tenement gates, far removed from the so-called fine arts. He co-created or still co-creates bands: Mama, Kristen, K.O.T., Sixa, BNNT. Since 2003, animator of the Pink Punk scene. In 2011, awarded the Deutsche Bank Foundation Award “Views”. In 2013, Smoleński represented Poland at the 55th Venice Biennale of Art with his project Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More, which is currently on display in a slightly modified form at the Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw.
Smoleński also cooperates with the Leto Gallery in Warsaw.
www.konradsmolenski.com