PAWEL WOJTASIK

BIOGRAPHY

Pawel Wojtasik was born in Poland and lived in Tunisia before immigrating to the United States in 1972. He was most recently a featured artist of the 2009 Robert Flaherty Film Seminar at Colgate University. Wojtasik received his M.F.A. from Yale University in 1996. Wojtasik's work has been exhibited at P.S.1; the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, Spain; Hartford Atheneum, Hartford, CT; MASS MoCA, Martos Gallery, New York; Momenta Art Gallery, Brooklyn, and others. His films were shown at numerous festivals and venues, including Anthology Film Archives, Pacific Film Archives, San Francisco Cinematheque, Oberhausen Film Festival; San Francisco International Film Festival; Rotterdam International Film festival; Images Festival, Toronto; Videoformes, France; Borderline Festival, Beijing, China and PBS WNET/Thirteen TV station in New York. Wojtasik's work was favorably reviewed by The New York Times, Artforum, New York Arts Magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Boston Globe, El Pais (Spain) and other publications. In the spring of 2009 Wojtasik presented a groundbreaking 360° panoramic video installation Below Sea Level, at Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), in North Adams, MA, with soundscape by Stephen Vitiello. Next Atlantis (2010), with the world premiere at Carnegie Hall, is the third collaboration between Wojtasik and composer Sebastian Currier. In March 2010 the artist will have a solo exhibition at Smack Mellon in Brooklyn, NY, featuring a five screen video installation with footage shot in India. Pawel Wojtasik is a recipient of the New York State Council on the Arts individual artist grant for 2010.

Born in Lodz, Poland

Lives in Brooklyn, NY

Represented by Martos Gallery, New York, NY and Jail Gallery, Los Angeles

EDUCATION

Yale University (M.F.A. 1996)

SUNY Empire State College (B.A. 1994)

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS AND SCREENINGS

2010 SMACK MELLON, Brooklyn, NY, solo exhibition, March 6 - April 11

CARNEGIE HALL, New York, NY, "Next Atlantis" with S. Currier, Jan 29

ANNENBERG CENTER, Philadelphia, PA, "Next Atlantis" with S. Currier, Jan 30

2009 MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA

Anthology Film Archives, Flaherty NYC, Oct 12

Uniondocs, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY

Robert Flaherty Film Seminar, Hamilton, NY

FESTIVAL SIGNES DE NUIT, Paris, France

LIQUID, Hans Weiss Newspace Gallery, Manchester, CT

VIDEOFORMES, Installation, Clermont-Ferrand, France

2008 Martos Gallery, New York, NY, (solo), Sept 18-Nov 1

Sonic Self, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, NY

Summer Exhibition, Martos Gallery, New York, NY

LISTE '08, Basel, Switzerland

Considering the Monuments: Video Art from the East Coast, Urban Culture Project, Kansas City, MO

Oberhausen Film Festival, Oberhausen, Germany

KRAJ, Gallery of Contemporary Art, Opole, Poland

Armory Show , New York, NY

PHOTO LA, Los Angeles, CA

2007 Scanners Video Festival, Lincoln Center, New York, NY

Pie in he Face, Jail Gallery, Los Angeles

PBS WNET Thirteen, broadcast of The Aquarium

Connecticut Contemporary, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT

Blood Meridian, Michael Janssen gallery, Berlin, Germany

50,000 Beds Project, Real Art Ways, Artspace, The Aldrich Museum

:Minus, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, Colorado

Inaugural Screenings, Momenta Art gallery

CIGE 2007 Arts Fair, Beijing, China

Collectives of Irrepressible Cinema(s), Orchard gallery, New York, NY

Athens International Film and Video Festival, Athens, Ohio

Images Festival, Toronto, Canada

Loneliness and Melancholy, Newspace Gallery, MCC, Manchester, CT, co-curator

Coercive Atmospherics, curated by David Hunt, d.u.m.b.o. arts center, Brooklyn, NY

Why Look at Animals?, Artspace, New Haven, CT

It Isn't Funny Any More, Project 1981, Long Island City, NY

2006 Poza, Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT

ANTIMATTER Film Festival, Victoria, BC, Canada

PIGS, 4-channel installation, Monkey Town, Brooklyn, NY

Sara Meltzer Gallery, New York, NY

Borderline Video Art Festival, Platform China Gallery, Beijing, China

             Anthology Film Archives, New York, NY
             Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival, Chicago, IL
             Maui Film Festival, Hawaii
             LOOP Fair, Barcelona, Spain
            Digital Art Oxford, Oxford, England
             San Francisco Cinematheque
             San Francisco International Film Festival
             Hypervision, Westport Arts Center, Westport, CT
             Rotterdam International Film Festival, part of Video Music 2: Electric Current
             Alona Kagan Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
             The Studio Visit, Exit Art, New York, NY
             The Love Show, New Space Gallery, MCC, Manchester, CT (co-curator)

2005 Art Basel / Miami Beach, curated by David Hunt, Miami, Fla

The New New York Video, Sous-Sol Gallery, Paris, France

The Seismologist, curated by David Hunt, Sara Nightingale Gallery, Southampton, NY

Greater New York 2005, PS1 Contemporary Art Center, L.I.C., NY

Heat, Alona Kagan Gallery, New York, N.Y

Terra Infirma, curated by Berta Sichel, Proyecto Cultural de Castellon, Valencia, Spain

From the Root to the Fruit, curated by David Hunt, Alona Kagan Gallery, NYC

Scope Hamptons, curated by David Hunt, Southampton, NY

In the Round, Ely House, Center for Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT

Kunstencentrum Netwerk Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium

F-18 Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium (2-person show)

MCC Faculty show, Manchester Community College, Manchester, CT

"and Death" New Space Gallery, MCC, Manchester, CT (co-curator)

2004 Cine y Casi Cine, Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid, Spain

NADA (The New Art Dealers Alliance), Miami

No Return, Momenta Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

Sziget Festival, Budapest, Hungary

Festival of Arts and Ideas, New Haven, CT

Big America, Fish Tank Gallery, Brooklyn, N.Y.

MOST Show, Kurier Plus Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT (solo)

The God Show, New Space Gallery, MCC, Manchester, CT (co-curator)

2003 The Lightshow, Clocktower Art Space, Brooklyn, NY

Cosmorama, Akus Gallery, E. CT State University, Willimantic, CT

Cynthia Broan Gallery, New York, NY

New Space Gallery, MCC, Manchester, CT (solo)

2002 National Museum, Minsk, Belarus

8 Reflections on Time, John Slade Ely House, New Haven, CT

Wyjscie Ewakuacyjne Gallery, Warsaw, Poland

2001 The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York, NY

1999 Artists Space, New York, NY

GRANTS & RESIDENCIES

2009 Robert Flaherty Film Seminar, featured artist

2006 NYSCA individual artist grant

Yaddo, Janet Sloane endowed residency, Saratoga Springs, NY

VOOM HD LAB, New York, NY

2005 Yaddo, Newman's Own, Inc. Endowed residency (Film), Saratoga Springs, NY

MacDowell, Peterborough, New Hampshire

VOOM HD LAB, New York, NY, artist-in-residence

2004 The Outpost, Artist-in-Residence, Brooklyn, N.Y.

1999 Virginia Center for the Creative Arts

1996 Edward Albee Foundation, Montauk, NY

1998 International Dai Bosatsu Zendo monastery, Catskill Mountains, New York

SELECTED RECENT BIBLIOGRAPHY

2010 American Composers Orchestra, Steve Smith, The New York Times 2/1/10

New Composers at Annenberg, David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 2/2/10

2009 Mournful Reflections, Sebastian Smee, The Boston Globe, 4/18/09

2008 Fall Guide 2008, Pawel Wojtasik: Like a Shipwreck We Die Going Into Ourselves, Robert Shuster, The Village Voice, 9/3/08

2007 Animals Exhibit Startles, Subverts, David Wheelock, Yale Daily News, 2/13/07

2006   The Aquarium, Artforum, Claire Barliant, 5/2006
            Paradox of Perception: The Video Work of Pawel Wojtasik, New York Arts
            Magazine, Aaron Yassin, 5/2006
            Love, Without Make-up, The New York Times, Ben Genocchio, 4/9/06
            The Mind’s Eye, The New York Times, Ben Genocchio, 3/19/06

2005 GREATER NEW YORK 2005, PS1/MoMA, 2005, (catalogue)

Terra Infirma, Berta Sichel, Proyecto Cultural de Castellon, Spain

El Pais, Madrid, Spain, 7/24/05

A Short History of Decay, Vincent Meessen, F-18, HISK, Belgium

Philadelphia Inquirer, Edward J. Sozanski, 3/20/05

From The Floor, Best of New York 2004, Todd Gibson

2004 The New York Times, Holland Cotter, 10/1/04

The New Yorker, No Return, 10/18/04

Balkon Magazine, Budapest, Hungary, 8/04, p. 43

New York Arts Magazine, Live Large and Cast a Big Shadow, Linda Dennis

The Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid, Spain, Cine y Casi Cine, Catalogue, 11/04

DVD COLLECTION

2005 Electric Current 2, Video and Sound Collaborations. DVD published by

CollectivEye. Essay by Aaron Yassin.

FILMOGRAPHY

NEXT ATLANTIS

2010, Collaboration with composer Sebastian Currier

SCEENING/PERFORMANCE:
Carnegie Hall, New York, NY, January 29, 2010

Annenberg Center, Philadelphia, PA, January 30, 2010

BELOW SEA LEVEL

2009, 360° Panoramic Video and Sound Installation. Soundscape by Stephen Vitiello; Panoramic technology / creative assistance: Gian Pablo Villamil

EXHIBITION:
MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art), April 2009 – February 2010

NASCENTES MORIMUR

2008, HD Video, 24 min.
EXHIBITION: Martos Gallery, New York, NY, Sept-Oct 2008

LANDFILL 2-channel installation with surround sound
2007, HD Video, 10:35 (loop)
EXHIBITION:
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, April-May 2007

LANDFILL
2006, RT: 06:57, High-Definition video, Color
An investigation into the formation of a landfill, a potent symbol of consumer society, which unintentionally becomes a great earthwork.
SCREENINGS:
Anthology Film Archives, New York, NY, Dec 2006
SCANNERS Video Festival, Lincoln Center, New York, NY, July 2007
San Francisco Cinematheque

PIGS single channel
2007, RT: 15 minutes, DV-24P, Color
Pigs reveling in their ‘pig nature’- from quiet, tender moments to the wildness of a feeding frenzy. Re-evaluation of the commonly held views regarding these animals.
EXHIBITION:
Coercive Atmospherics, D.A.C. Dumbo Arts Center, Brooklyn, NY, March-May 2007
Michael Janssen Gallery, Berlin, Germany, April-May 2007
The Armory Show, New York, NY, March 2008

PIGS 4-channel projection
2006, DV-24P, 15 min (loop), Color
A total immersion in the life of pigs. Filmed on a farm in Las Vegas, Nevada.
SCREENING:
Monkey Town, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY, 2006

NAKED
2005-2007, RT: 10:36, DV, color
A colony of naked mole rats studied at a major American university. The drama of overcrowding within a network of plastic tubes sometimes leads to violence, sometimes results in a show of tenderness.
SCREENED AT:
Art Basel/ Miami Beach, Florida, USA, 2005
San Francisco International Film Festival, California, USA, 2006
Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival, Chicago, IL, USA, 2006
Antimatter Film and Video Festival, Victoria, B.C., Canada, September 2006
Why Look at Animals?, Artspace, New Haven, CT, Feb 2007
Images Festival, Toronto, Canada, April 2007
Athens International Film and Video Festival, Athens, Ohio, April-May 2007
Jail Gallery, Los Angeles, November-December 2007

THREE CHIMNEYS
2006, RT: 04:03, DV, Black-and-white, a collaboration with Terry Berkowitz
A couple in a hotel room become obsessed with the idea that they are being watched.
EXHIBITED AT:
LOOP ‘06, Barcelona, Spain, 2006
50,000 Beds Project, RAW, Hartford, CT, July-September 2007

THE AQUARIUM
2006, RT: 22:15, High-Definition Video, color
Filmed in Alaska, Mystic, CT, and New York City, the piece contrasts footage of the primeval Arctic landscape with the claustrophobia of sea mammals living in aquariums. Questions are raised regarding the alluring spectacle of the aquarium vs. the reality of the destruction of ocean life
EXHIBITED/SCREENED AT:
Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT, 2006
Alona Kagan Gallery, New York, NY, 2006 (solo exhibition)
Westport Arts Center, Westport, CT, 2006
Maui Film Festival, Hawaii, 2006
Anthology Film Archives, New York, NY, 2006
Gray’s Reef Film Festival, Savannah, Georgia, 2007
PBS, WNET-New York, broadcast as part of Reel NY Festival, July 2007
Images Festival, Toronto, Canada, 2007

FIREHOLE
2005-7, RT: 07:16, DV, color, single and two-channel
A car junkyard. The violence of car-crushing, cutting of rusted steel with a blow torch, of forklifts piercing cars’ sides.
EXHIBITED AT:
Alona Kagan Gallery, New York, NY, USA, 2005
Sarah Nightingale Gallery, Southampton, NY, 2005
Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, Colorado, 2007

DARK SUN SQUEEZE (single channel)
2003, RT: 10:09, DV, color, 2003
Filmed at a sewage treatment plant. A darkly meditative look at the steady churning of the machinery devised to process the end product of all human economies.
EXHIBITED/SCREENED AT:
Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid, Spain, 2004
Momenta Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, USA, 2004
Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT, USA, 2004 (solo exhibition)
Kunstcentrum Netwerk gallery, Antwerp, Belgium, 2005
Greater New York 2005, PS1, New York, USA, 2005
Rotterdam International Film Festival, Part of Electric Current 2, Netherlands, 2006
San Francisco Cinematheque, USA, 2006
Platform China gallery, Borderline Video Art Festival, Beijing, China, 2006
Sara Meltzer Gallery, New York, NY, USA, 2006 Oberhausen Film Festival. Oberhausen, Germany, 2008

ACT ONE, SCENE ONE
2004, RT: 03:45, DV, color
A coffee enema becomes an abstract flow of images.
SCREENED AT:
Scope Hamptons, Southampton, NY, USA, 2005

DARK SUN SQUEEZE (3 Channel)
2005, RT: 10:46 (Loop), DV, color
A large-scale view of the sewage processing environment. Total immersion in prima materia. The unexpected beauty of shit simultaneously attracts and repulses.

SUPERHEAP
2001-2005, RT: 17:45, DV, color
A two-channel juxtaposition of the madness of consumption / resulting mass of waste.
EXHIBITED AT:
Akus Gallery, Willimantic, CT, USA, 2004
Alona Kagan Gallery, New York, NY, USA, 2005

GARBAGE
2002, RT: 18 min., DV, color, 2002
Filmed at a garbage transfer station. The interminable flow and manipulation of trash. Sounds of seagulls feeding on human refuse contribute to the soundtrack.
SCREENED AT:
Proyecto Cultural de Castellon, Valencia, Spain, (“Terra Infirma”, curated by Berta Sichel) 2005

SUPERMARKET
2001, RT: 12 min., DV, color
The intoxication of excessive consumption. The absurdity is accentuated by the fact that the piece was shot in negative.
EXHIBITED/SCREENED AT:
National Museum, Minsk, Belarus, 2002
Wyjscie Ewakuacyjne gallery, Warsaw, Poland, 2002
Cynthia Brown Gallery, New York, NY, USA, 2002
Newspace gallery, Manchester, CT, USA, 2003