STUDIOS

(...)this medium should begin to be considered in a new way - not to see in it an image which reflects reality, but a system through which the world is represented. The system through which meanings are expressed and created.
M. Michałowska, Niepewność przedstawienia

And each thing which is visible has its copy in what is concealed.
Luc Tuymans

The workshop specialises in diploma-granting (Bachelor’s, Master’s). Photography is the subject conducted in the Studio. Relations with space and surrounding.
Photographic Practices Studio works also as a free choice course for students outside of the Faculty of Photography and Multimedia.

Photographic Practices Studio is the space of artistic experiment and creative processes, trying things out and taking the risk, experiencing the art through a conscious creation of our own artistic approach; a space open for conceptual, intelectual, intuitive undertakings. It offers the space for discussion about the relations between reality and its visual representation researched on various surfaces and contexts. It’s the place of the sublimation of imagination and the development of individual sensitivity and potential, a place that offers support and creative confrontation.
It also functions as students’ and employees’ shared workshop space for intensive work which gives the opportunity to acquire technical expertise.

Artistic expression currently consists of multidimensional and multimedia construction, where photography (or activities deriving from it) plays one of the leading roles. Studio’s programme includes subject matters related to the functioning of the photography medium in the field of visual art as well as autonomic creation of visual communication and in connection to other media (and disciplines); the identification of its functioning types and the specific character of contemporary visual artists' use of photography.
Introducing students into the issues concerned with the relation between photography and other media as well as creation of coherent, original visual statements are the basic involvement of Photographic Practices Studio. Students deepen their knowledge on photography as an autonomic artistic expression and as an element of a multimedia whole, which enables them to freely and creatively use the medium. It offers them a practical touch of other aspects of artistic communication. Conscious use of photography introduced in installation, space and multimedia operations is directly related to a contemporary artistic practice as well as cultural and social reality. Shaping of a student's individual, personal artistic language and intellectual justification of the undertaken creative actions is a pivotal aim of the workshop.

Partnership between a student and a teacher is a form of education in our Studio; they communicate on commonly agreed ground. Open opinion exchange, sharing doubts and questions is a process in which a student sets his goals by himself. The relation between students and teachers is about full respect, struggling to reach the essence of things; occurring mistakes and failures are treated as necessary as they enrich the awareness of the experience.
The basic methods of educating are tasks proposed by supervisors as well as by students themselves. Students are motivated to search topics of interest and problem issues on their own and to find and offer their own topics to realize and develop. The aim of the tasks is to search for an adequate way of expressing a given concept. Tasks are the starting point for work, which phases and results are presented and discussed during group and individual classes.
Each task consists of a theoretical and a practical part. In a theoretical one a pivotal element proposed by supervisors are problem lectures that illustrate best examples from the history of photography and contemporary sources. Their aim is to inspire and motivate students to seek the best, most mindful solutions. Draft presentations with project’s concepts packed with visual references and followed by a discussion is an essential element in the process. A practical part is carried out both in the photography workshop, which is the Studio's facility as well as on student’s own.
Both students and teachers activities in artistic, exhibition, science, social and virtual fields are extremely important. Our studio is an initiator of many meetings, events, workshops and projects in cooperation with other faculties and universities.