M HKA, Antwerpen
21 September 2024 - 12 January 2025
©Agnieszka Polska - Courtesy of Dawid Radziszewski Gallery, Warsaw - Poland
The first solo exhibition of Berlin-based Polish artist Agnieszka Polska in Belgium, Flowers on the Sun, features a selection of recent works, including her latest film, The Book of Flowers (2023), created with the assistance of AI-tools. The artist used stop-motion animation footage of flowers from the 1950s, which was then transformed into AI-generated imagery.
Based on speculative scenarios blended with elements of science fiction, the exhibition highlights issues like the relationship of humans, non-humans and technology, posing urgent questions about our perception of time and history. The ongoing series Braudel's Clocks (2023-…) reflects on the idea of universal time as a social construct, and the world as a complex set of structures evolving at various speeds. In her work Polska also questions the individual's position in the contemporary world.
During her art studies, Agnieszka Polska began creating animations using traditional techniques (such as the use of a light box). Later, she developed an interest in digital animation and the immersive qualities of the images it creates. In her films, Polska uses different storytelling formats. She explores these narratives not only in video works but also in other mediums such as feature film and theater performance: these different artistic forms extend her artistic practice naturally.
For a while, Polska was interested in the speculative history of avant-garde movements, but now she tends to draw upon stories related to planetary socio-technological systems, global changes and new crises. Her influences include popular visual culture and science fiction works by authors such as Stanisław Lem, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Brian Catling.
Imagination plays a significant role in Agnieszka Polska's work. Her creations, which blend realistic images with phantasmagorical visions, often result in a humorous mix of irony and melancholy. The aesthetics of documentary merge with the aesthetics of fiction in her films. Polska creates her works with meticulous attention to detail, consciously shaping the structure of her films.
Polska writes scripts with the cinematic gaze and viewer engagement in mind, making the audience an integral part of the experience. Alongside the sophisticated and highly refined visuals, the sound design and the hypnotic voice of the narrator play crucial roles. In The New Sun (2017), for example, a star with the face of a child addresses the public with an emotional monologue.
Finally, in her recent projects, Agnieszka Polska hints at a future of filmmaking that may shift towards world-building rather than traditional storytelling.
> Agnieszka Polska, The New Sun, 2017. Video, uhd, 00:12:15.
> Agnieszka Polska, Braudel's Clock - Eclipse 4, 2023. Series, chromalux print on aluminium, uv print on acrylglass, rotating aluminium and steel clock mechanism, 118 x 118 x 17 cm.
> Agnieszka Polska, Braudel's Clock - Kiss 3, 2023. Series, chromalux print on aluminium, uv print on acrylglass, rotating aluminium and steel clock mechanism, 118 x 118 x 17 cm.
> Agnieszka Polska, Braudel's Clock. Hurracane, 2023. Series, chromalux print on aluminium, uv print on acrylglass, rotating aluminium and steel clock mechanism, 118 x 118 x 17 cm.
> Agnieszka Polska, Braudel's Clock. Octopus, 2023. Series, chromalux print on aluminium, uv print on acrylglass, rotating aluminium and steel clock mechanism, 118 x 118 x 17 cm.
> Agnieszka Polska, Braudel's Clock. Our Planet, 2023. Series, chromalux print on aluminium, uv print on acrylglass, rotating aluminium and steel clock mechanism, 118 x 118 x 17 cm.
> Agnieszka Polska, The Book of Flowers, 2023. Video, hd video.