The Absolute Factory

2024.06.26-09.02

Introduction

Ⅰ
In his art practice, Andrzej Wasilewski refers to the relationship of contemporary man with technology, communication, economy, archaeology, research methods and climate change, the nature of which has caused the current ethics, interdependence of genres, and finally creativity itself to become outdated.

The Absolute Factory is a site-specific audio-visual piece created especially for the show at Boxes Art Museum. The concept of the massive apocalyptic work combines a scientific approach with a sense of absurdity and black humour. The exhibition spaces of the building features a set of complementary installations, in which the artist uses the language of primitive technological forms, industrial iconography and pop culture to take up the complex topic of coal and fossil fuels in the context of climate change and new social and political utopias.

At the same time, The Absolute Factory is a play inspired by the spirit of neo-Dada or fluxus practices, stripping away the pathos of inflated values that envelop the language of the world of culture and “disguise” the bloated aesthetics of works in the spirit of art & science, sound-art, archive or minimalism.

The titular motif was taken from the classic Czech dystopian novel The Absolute At Large by Karel Čapek, in which a visionary inventor constructs a carburator – a device extracting inexhaustible energy from coal. In doing so it releases into the world the Absolute, the spiritual essence held within all matter. If God is omnipresent, is it possible to extract the divine substance from any object? As the matter transforms into the concept of the Absolute, events get out of humanity’s control, causing a series of violent socio-political changes. While the carburator continues to release the Absolute, the process brings chaos, wars, and last but not least, nearly complete destruction of the human race.

（By Stanislaw Ruksza, curator)

Ⅱ

The concept of "absolute" is one of freedom, yet it also represents lawlessness. In the dystopian novel Továrna na absolutno by the Czech science fiction writer Karel Čapek, a scientist invents a carburator that devours fossil fuels. This carburator generates an inexhaustible supply of cheap energy by completely annihilating matter, while also releasing another kind of spiritual byproduct, the "absolute." Once released by the carburator, the "absolute" influences the thoughts and outlook of everyone, intensifying religious and ethnic fanaticism, leading to ideological confrontations and cultural conflicts. The "absolute" is originally a spiritual essence embedded in and permeating all matter. It seems to have a deep connection with the concept of absolute metaphysics in Western philosophy, the concept of "Brahman" in Indian philosophy, the concept of "Dao" in the Chinese "Tao Te Ching," Schelling's idealism, and the "Absolute Spirit" in Hegel's philosophy.

Andrzej Wasilewski's installation "The Absolute Factory" is actually a deliberate physical model that embodies the "absolute" carburator in the real world. It refers to emptiness, boundlessness, and infinity. Regardless of whether it faces traditional cultural genes, aesthetics, readymades, or experiences of the retina, knowledge systems, or logical structures. "The Absolute Factory" is constantly doing subtraction. It intends to deconstruct and devour grand narratives and mind maps through a kind of reverse logical deduction, bringing everything back to zero.

Perhaps humans are one of the most important carbon-based species in the universe with a self-destructive complex and capacity. The concept of "absolute" cited by Polish The idea of the Absolute, invoked by Polish artist Andrzej Wasilewski, is becoming a pervasive and omnipotent superpower, super-consciousness, and super-intelligence in the 21st century with the explosion of artificial intelligence technology. It has even brought humanity to face the end of the world more directly as it becomes embroiled in conflict and war. What is seen at the museum, Andrzej Wasilewski's perception of people and objects, seems to be confined by his own physical conditions and life experiences. The tangible world he witnessed also seems to have been replaced with various fragments of epistemic inertia. However, as long as the Absolute Factory work is present and on display, no matter who is there, once the inner view is deep and free from the constraints of the phenomenal world, one can perceive the flowers and trees in the mountains that have nothing outside the mind.The future is promising for those who have a good conscience in this way.

（By Gu Zhenqing, curator）

artist

Andrzej Wasilewski

Artist

Andrzej Wasilewski is visual and sound artist. Derived from the spirit and practices of counterculture, his art combines philosophical and social concepts. Wasilewski’s works have been exhibited in Poland and abroad; the artists has been invited to a number of residences. His pieces are held in collections in many countries across the world. Co-author of the installation Wolne Miasto Szczecin (“The Free City of Szczecin”) on the façade of the TRAFO building.

In his art practice, Andrzej Wasilewski refers to the relationship of contemporary man with technology, communication, economy, archaeology, research methods and climate change, the nature of which has caused the current ethics, interdependence of genres, and finally creativity itself to become outdated.

For more detailed information about the artists, please visit the following website:
https://www.instagram.com/neuromonter/
https://vimeo.com/user6938082

Individual exhibitions:

2023

The Absolute Factory, TRAFO Center for Contemporary Art, Szczecin (Poland)

2013

Les Fleurs du Mal, Piekary Gallery, Poznan (PL)

2012

barophobia, Salt Warehouse, Cracow (PL)

sacred mobiles, Gdańsk City Gallery, Gdańsk (PL)

looping, Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art, Witches Tower, Słupsk (PL)

2011

love will tear us apart, M2 Gallery, Warsaw (PL)

fallout, XX1 Gallery, Warsaw

tolerance of error, Otwarta Pracownia Gallery, Cracow (PL)

2010

pin-ups, Zone of Contemporary Art, Lodz (PL)

feedback, 2.0 Gallery, Warsaw (PL)

being and time, New Century Gallery, Zielona Gora (PL)

2009

agal azahab, Center of Contemporary Art Łaznia, Gdansk (PL)

re,- re,- revitalisation, Leon Wyczolkowski Museum, Bydgoszcz (PL)

2008

Experiment arbiterium, Piekary Gallery, Poznan (PL)

Experiment nequitum, Manhattan Gallery, Lodz (PL)

2007

Life is elsewere..., For Gallery..., Torun (PL)

(not) to be continued, XX1 Gallery, Warsaw (PL)

2006

TRANSFUSION_#02 (alfa), Orangery Gallery Center of Polish Sculpture, Oronsko (PL)

TRANSFUSION_#01 (betatest), ON Gallery, Poznan (PL)

2005

memine, Pokaz Critics’ Gallery, Warsaw (PL)

2004

Falsification of objects of art, On the Vistula Gallery, Torun (PL)

2003

meteopatic anomaly, Water pressure tower, Bydgoszcz (PL),

canning, Pokaz Critics’ Gallery, Warsaw (PL)

nothing, Wozownia Gallery, Toruń (PL)

Selected group exhibition:

2024

SAKKADs AND COMPANY, ICS Institute of Art Cybernetics, Gdańsk (Poland)

CALLART3 Virtual Window, Contemporary Museum, Wrocław (Poland)

2023

The Scars and Tattoos of TRAFO A story about the spirit and body of the place, TRAFO Center for Contemporary Art, Szczecin (Poland)

Face to Face, Four Domes Pavilion, National Museum, Wrocław (Poland)

2022

Make love not war, Salt Warehouse, Cracow (PL)

Wasn't Built in a Day. 20th edition of Krakow Photomonth, Bunkier Sztuki Gallery, Cracow (Poland)

2021

Little Whirlpools out in the Middle of the Ocean, Mieczysław Karłowicz Philharmonic, Szczecin (Poland)

Made [IN] Ready - things, symbols, actions, BWA Gallery, Jelenia Góra, (Poland)

Фестивалю аудіовізуального мистецтва ТЕТРАМАТИКА (Festival of Audiovisual Art TETRAMATYKA) RadioGarage, Lviv, (Ukraine)

2020

Look Street Art Fes., Uptown Koenji Gallery, Tokyo (Japan)

They cast increasingly elongated shadows across the plain, Municipal Art Center, Gorzów Wielkopolski (PL)

Spa, Salt Warehouse, Cracow (PL)

Fear Industry - Taipei Annual 2020, 435 Zhongzheng Road, Banqiao District, New Taipei City (Taiwan)

Ex Machina 2, Gallery Of The Cyclades, Hermoupolis, Syros (Greece)

Made [IN] Ready - things, symbols, actions, Bielska BWA Gallery, Bielsko-Biała, Municipal Art Center, Gorzów Wielkopolski (PL)

2019

Symularis, OCT Boxes Art Museum, Foshan City (China)

2nd South Sour Water Performance and Visual Art Festival “The Heterogeneous Taste: Frivolous or Calm Main Strategy?", Bopiliao Historic Block, Taipei (Taiwan)

Szara Zona, Gallery of Contemporary Art Elektrownia, Czeladź (PL)

Exoteric, Greenhouse, Berlin (Germany)

Pavilion 02, Transtational Pavilion of a common bio and cyber future, GAD – Giudecca Art District, GAD Project Space #01, Venice (Italy)

The New Dictionary of Old Ideas, Trafo Art Gallery, Szczecin (PL)

2018

Mediations Biennale – Virtual Garden, Raczyński Library, Poznań (PL)

The New Dictionary of Old Ideas, Open Studio, Meet Factory, Praga (The Chech Republic)

Flowers of Evil, State Art Gallery, Sopot (PL)

Skeletons have to get up, Gdańsk City Gallery, Gdańsk (PL)

SzIT – the School of Ins-Tallation, Szczecin's loft of culture K4, Szczecin (PL)

Uncanny Valleys of a Possible Future, The CTM Festival 2018, Kunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethanien, Berlin

2017

Фестивалю аудіовізуального мистецтва ТЕТРАМАТИКА, Lviv (Ukraine)

Osmosis Audiovisual Media Festival, Korner, Taipei (Taiwan)

Nakanojo Biennale Symbiosis, Nakanojo (Japan)

Through the Looking-Glass, Krajské galerie výtvarného umění, Zlín, (The Czech Republic)

No means no. Sound sacrilegious actions, XX1 Gallery, Warsaw (PL)

2016

The Media State of Emergency. Music scores, National Museum, Szczecin (PL)

Narrations Festival #8 Kingdom, Bishop hill district, Gdank (PL)

Mediations Biennale Fundamental, National Museum, Poznan (PL)

Error X - Ostrale 016, Drezno (Germany)

4th Show. Collection of Bielska BWA Gallery, Bielska BWA Gallery, Bielsko-Biała (PL)

Anarchy and New Art. Contenary of Dada, Center of Polish Sculpture, Oronsko (PL)

2015

So it is so. Visual onomatopoeic action, Salt Worehouse, Cracow (PL)

Relations reverse, City Art Gallery, Gorzow Wielkopolski (PL)

Border Crossing, Biała Gallery, Lublin (PL)

State of Life. Polish Contemporary Art within a Global Circumstance, National Art Museum of China, Beijing (China)

Ars Moriendi – The art of dying, BWA Tarnów, BWA Olsztyn (PL)

Who makes Europe, Gdańsk City Gallery, Gdańsk (PL)

PENvolution, Galerie Kubus, Hannover (Germany)

2014

PENvolution, Mediations Biennale, Poznan (PL)

Great accumulation, casino Casinos Poland Andersja Hotel, Poznan (PL)

The Media State of Emergency 3, Back to school, National Museum, Szczecin (PL)

The Silence of Marcel Duchamp Is Overrated, part 2 of the Arena exhibition, Center of Contemporary Art, Torun (PL)

2013

Drawing the music, Siłownia Gallery, Poznan (PL)

Decade, Piekary Gallery, Poznan (PL)

Microutopias of the everyday, exhibition of the collection of CoCA Torun, Center of Contemporary Art, Torun (PL)

Pavilion 0 - transnational pavilion of a country which does not exist of a common future of utopia, Palazzo Donà, Venice (Italy)

Ouroboros, Zone of Contemporary Art, Szczecin (PL)

Rookie Book Fair, the Old Brewery malt-house level +1, Poznan (PL)

The Media State of Emergency II, National Museum, Szczecin (PL)

Winter salon, Branicki Palace, Warsaw (PL)

2012

Art Tranzyt, Sector I Gallery, Jaworzno (PL)

STILLON 35 anniversary of ON Gallery, Old Jewish Synagogue, Poznan (PL)

The Media State of Emergency, EL Gallery, Elblag (PL); National Museum, Szczecin (PL)

digital_ia 12 Festival of Digital Art, 13 Muz Gallery, Szczecin (PL)

Nothing in Common, Scope, New Jork (USA)

Geo-Genesis - GEO SpaceLabDoc, 5th International Geoparks Conference of UNESCO, Shimabara (JP)

Cosmopolitan Stranger, Parallel Event to Manifesta 9, Open University of Diversity, Hasselt (BE)

Artificial Fullmoon, Wrocław Contemporary Museum, Wrocław (PL)

2011

Going Green, Corssing Art Gallery, New York (USA)

ArtVilnius'11, LITEXPO Lithuanian Exhibition and Convension Centre, Wilno (Lithuania)

Survival 9, S. Tołpa Park, Wrocław (PL)

2010

PINK PONG, Lenz's Villa, Szczecin (PL)

The Prague contemporary festival Tina B. - solutions and evolution / platonic lives, Nostic Palace, Praga (The Czech Republic)

Mediations Biennale, Beyond Mediations, Centrum Kultury Zameki, Poznan (PL)

ArteSantander 2010 XIX Feria Internacional de Arte Contemporaneo, Palacio de Exposiciones y Congresos, Santander (Spain)

Coexistence, Tembi Contemporary, Yogyakarta (Indonesia)

Glamour, 6 inSPIRATION, Szczecin (PL)

2009

Slick 09, Centquarte, Paris (France)

Erased Walls - Contemporary Art in Central and Eastern Europe, Preises Museum, Berlin (Germany)

Mixed Media Art Communication, 10-box Gallery, Sendai (Japan)

Performance Festival ’09, Aizu Art College, Mishima (Japan)

MMAC International Exhibition, Yamabiko Gallery, Mishima (Japan)

Looking for a NEW EARTH, Sojo Gallery, Kumamoto (Japan)

The First International Contemporary Art Fair ArtVilnius'09, Lithuaniar Exhibition Centre LITEXPO, Wilno (Lithuania)

Art after hours, Center of Contemporary Art Łaznia, Gdansk (PL)

Lucim lives on, Center of Contemporary Art, Torun (PL)

phantoms and fetishes, ABC Gallery, Poznań (PL)

The Epidemic, Zone of Contemporary Art, Łódź (PL)

2008

Entopy – harmony of city, Wozownia Gallery, Toruń (PL)

Berliner Liste 08, Berlin (Germany)

Machines of desire, Zone of Contemporary Art, Łódź (PL)

projekt 8784h, X-Ray Gallery, Luboń near Poznań (PL)

Mediations Biennale - [un]human error, Poznan (PL)

22nd festival of Polish Contemporary Painting, The Castle of Pomeranian Princes, Szczecin (PL)

Area of vision Festival of multimedia animations / video, Center of Contemporary Art, Torun (PL)

5th Triennale of Youth, Center of Polish Sculpture, Oronsko (PL)

The third part, Architecture Museum, Wrocław (PL)

speak to me, more, BWA Studio Gallery, Wroclaw (PL)

Sexhibition, Studio ACH! Group of artistic studios, Warsaw (PL)

Art after hours, Promotion of Youth Gallery, BOK, Łódź (PL)

2007

error_002: perpetuum soundscreen mobile, BWA Studio Gallery, Wroclaw (PL)

Bielska Autumn, Bielska BWA Gallery, Bielsko-Biała (PL)

Festival of young art draft, The Castle of Pomeranian Princes, Szczecin (PL)

TRANSVIZUALIA 007: MEDIASCREAM! [stymulation-symulation], Gdynia (PL)

II IN OUT, Center of Contemporary Art Łaźnia, Gdańsk (PL)

Survival 5, Wrocław (PL)

2006

Like painted pictures, Bielska Gallery BWA, Bielsko Biała (PL)

Screen Festival of Internet art Screen Imagination, Toruń (PL)

Und. Plattform zur Präsentation von Kunstinitiativen in Karlsruhe plus internationaler Gäste, Ehemaliger Supermarkt, Karlsruhe (Germany),

Unga polska konstnärer, Polska Instituten, Stockholm (Sweden),

Konstmässan, Expo Center, Stockholm (Sweden)

2005

6th national painting exhibition / 7th Eugeniusz Geppert’s contest, BWA avant-garde Gallert, Wroclaw (PL)

1st biennale of young European art – art supermarket V/1 – tolerate me, Programme Gallery, Warsaw (PL)

Tidsvittnen, Polska Instituten, Stockholm (Sweden)

Zeitzeugnisse, Polnisches Institut, Berlin (Germany)

Recognition – dismantling experience, Arsenal Gallery, Poznań, Bielska Gallery BWA, Bielsko Biała (PL)

2003

sUB/human/lives/culture/SCAPES, KEIN BESTANDTEIL SEIN, Berlin (Germany),

Genius loci, Warehouse of Merinotex, Toruń (PL)

Awards and scholarships

2008

Artluk magazine award of 22nd festival of Polish Contemporary Painting in Szczecin (PL)

2007

scholarship from the Polish Minister of Culture

the main award of the Pomorskie Province governor at TRANSVIZUALIA 007, Gdynia (PL)

2005

award of the critics from the Pokaz Gallery,

scholarship from the Polish Minister of Culture

award of the Rector of the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław / award of the Dolonośląskie Province Governor in the 7th Eugeniusz Geppert Contest

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Stanislaw Ruksza

Curator

Stanisław Ruksza (born 1979) - curator, director - TRAFO Center for Contemporary Art in Szczecin.Curator, art historian, author, book editor, lecturer. Since 2017 Director and Head Curator of TRAFO Center for Contemporary Art in Szczecin. Between 2008-2017, Programme Director of CSW Kronika in Bytom. He studied History of Art at the Jagiellonian University.Since 2021 he is a Chairman of Council at the Academy of Art in Szczecin. His research is focused on the relationship between art and social and political changes in the world, the issue of sexuality and death, and borderline phenomena in contemporary art.

He curated among others:

Serhat Köksal, Remake Exotic Reality (TRAFO, Szczecin 2023)，

Andrzej Wasilewski. The Absolute at Large (TRAFO, Szczecin 2023)，

Natalia Romik. Hideouts. Architecture of Survival (cocurated with Kuba Szreder, Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw, TRAFO, Szczecin 2022；Jewish Museum, Frankfurt Main 2024);

First Place in the Table (cocurated with Anna Ciabach, TRAFO, Szczecin 2022)，

Leif Elgrenn. A Different Kind of Presense (cocurated with Antoni Michnik; TRAFO Szczecin, 2019),

Katya Shadkovska. Yeltsin Death Brigade (TRAFO Szczecin, 2019),

Skip the line! Populism and Contemporary Promises (cocurated with Jakub Gawkowski, Biennale Warszawa, Warsaw 2019);

Je brûle Paris! (Cité internationale des arts, Paris 2015),

Satan’s Children (Fundacja Imago Mundi, National Museum, Cracow 2015),

Project Metropolis (Kronika, Bytom, Fundacja Imago Mundi, Silesian Museum, Katowice 2015),

The Wall. Art Face To Face With Borders (Careof DOCVA, Milan, 2015, TRAFO Szczecin 2017),

Plica Polonica (Kronika, Bytom 2014),Your City is a Battlefield (Museum Of Modern Art, Warszawa 2014),

The Face of the Day. Social Costs in Poland after 1989 (ArtBoom Festival, Cracow 2014),

Łukasz Surowiec. Beggars (Bunkier Sztuki, Kraków 2013),

Negotiators and Dreamers (Careof DOCVA, Milan 2013),

Collier Schorr. German Faces (Kronika, Bytom 2011),

Vienna Actionism. Society’s Opposite Pole (MOCAK, Cracow 2011), Catholics in Kronika (Kronika, Bytom 2010),

Umpolen (Museum Quartier, Freiraum, Vienna 2007),

Signal Box (BWA Katowice 2004, Dom Umeni, Ostrava 2005; Galerie Zero, Bratislava 2006).

In 2003-2004, he assisted Andrzej Urbanowicz, Polish cult psychodelic painter, at the legendary studio Piastowska 1 in Katowice. At the time, he collaborated with Galeria Sztuki Współczesnej BWA Katowice as a curator. In the years 2007-2009, lecturer with the Śląsk University in Katowice – Art Institute in Cieszyn; in the years 2014-2017 – at the Academy of Arts in Katowice; and 2017-2020 at the Szczecin Academy of Art.

Resident with apexart in New York (2009), Careof DOCVA in Milan (2013, 2015), Cité internationale des arts in Paris (2017), MeetFactory in Prague (2018).

In 2014, he was announced the curator of the year in Poland in the ranking of the art magazine "Obieg". In 2015, he was nominated for the "Guarantees of Culture 2015" award at TVP Kultura in the category of visual arts. The justification said: "Tireless and stubborn titan in curatorial work. For the exhibition „Faces of the Day“ about the costs of political transformation. For the international Project Metropolis, a multidimensional, three-year attempt to create an image of contemporary Silesia. For his work at the CSW Kronika in Bytom, which made the insitution famous throughout Poland".

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Gu Zhenqing

Curator

Born in Shanghai, China in 1964.Graduated from the History Department of Fudan University, Shanghai, China in 1987. Worked as the chief-curator of Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art from 2003 to 2005 and the director of 2004 Chinese Contemporary Art Awards in 2004. Worked as the as the assistant professor of the Fine Art Department of Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan in 2005. Worked as the chief-curator and executive director of Zhu Qizhan Art Museum from 2006 to 2007, and chief–editor of art magazine Visual Production from 2007 to 2008. Work as jury member of Taixin Art Award and guest professor of Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, Tianjin, China in 2008. Worked as art director of White Box Museum of Art, 798, Beijing, China from 2009 to 2011. Worked as artistic director of Li-space Culture & Arts Center, Beijing, China from 2009 to 2016. Worked as academic director of Jia Pingwa Museum of Culture & Arts, Xi’an, China in from 2014 to 2016. Worked as academic director of More Art Museum, Xiamen, China from 2017 to 2018. Work as a guest associate professor of the sculpture department of National Taiwan Art University, Taipei, Taiwan from 2018 to 2020. Worked as artistic director of Server Art Foundation, China. Currently lives and works in Beijing as a curator.

He has curated numerous exhibitions including:

Virtual Future in Guangdong Art Museum in Guangzhou, China and Chengdu Biennale in 2001;Shanghai Assemblage 2000-2004 in National Museum of Contemporary Art, Olso, Norway in 2004;City_net Asia 2005 in Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea in 2005;1st Mediation International Art Biennale, Poznan, Poland in 2008;To Each His Own, Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan in 2009; Biennale arts actuels Réunion, 80 Warehouse Navy Pier, Le Port, Reunion in 2011;“Heartbeat Shanghai”- Faw-vw Audi art exhibition, Three on the bund, Shanghai, China in 2012;Biennale arts actuels Réunion, Le Port, Reunion in 2013;“Beyond Heaven and Earth: Mongolian Art in This Day and Age”, China Art Museum, Shanghai in 2017-2018; ZFOTOFEST, Istanbul, Turkey in 2018; 2018 Ulaanbaatar International Art Festival, Museum of Mongolian Artist Union, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in 2018. Heimat: Guang’an Field Art Biennale, Guang’an China in 2018. Symularis, OCT Boxes Art Museum, Shunde, China in 2019. Lar Original, Green Townhouse, Macao, China in 2019; "Outros Portos - Outros Olhares", Saco Azul Associação Cultural & Maus Hábitos, Porto, Portugal in 2020; “DISEMBEDDING: From Digital Native to Metaverse”, HOW Art Museum, Wenzhou, China in 2021; “Avatar: My Metaverse”, Hanshan Art Museum, Suzhou, China in 2021; “Beyond The Anthropocene: An exhibition of Future Science + Art”, UCCA LAB & Kuntai Garry Culture Center, Beijing in 2021-2022; “My Metaverse”, Metaverse Art Museum, Wuxi Studios, Wuxi, China in 2022-2023;"White Paper: Metaverse Zone at Consensus",OCT Boxes Art Museum, Shunde, China in 2023.

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The Absolute Factory

Introduction

artist

Andrzej Wasilewski

Stanislaw Ruksza

Gu Zhenqing

OCT Boxes Art Museum

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