PL

DISCOVERING HIDDEN STRUCTURES

PRZEMEK OSTASZEWSKI

Source: artist’s private gallery

He creates ambient kinaesthetic installations. During his performative presentations, his choreography of gestures brings to life the constellations of objects in which sensors and other technologies are hidden. Przemek Ostaszewski, or Osmo Nadir, is the designer and the conductor of these structures.

Recently, he has turned his attention to the development of social empathy, climate activism and helping refugees. It is quite visible in his current creative activities. Using his senses and media, with increased sensitivity, he penetrates deep into the structures of matter and relations. During our conversation, he talks about: discovering the audial and visual possibilities of space and objects, the transformation of creative attitude, interest in acoustics, experiments on crystallization, meditation in action and its therapeutic dimension, and above all – about ‘detaching’ from screens, immersing in the experience of the world surrounding us and the experience of meeting with another person.

In the English version we present selected and most interesting quotes from the interview.

At the very beginning, my visualisations were figurative, but as soon as I discovered spatial effects, I immediately started focusing on the potential of abstraction. At the very beginning, my visualisations were figurative, but as soon as I discovered spatial effects, I immediately started focusing on the potential of abstraction.

„INVISIBLE GRADIENT” OF SOCIETAL TRANSFORMATIONS

Currently I work on an exhibition related directly to the refugee topic – in recent years it was the most important area of my activity. During the pandemic, I met a young man that escaped from his motherland – Pakistan. I reached out to him through the Walk of Shame EU project, which was about the networking among people who live in Europe and those who want to get there from different countries and for different reasons. It was an amazing chance to get to know first-hand problems of people who try to cross the borders in search of a better life. I accompanied Kashmiri (that is what he was called in one of the camps because he is from Kashmir; he liked the nickname and began to identify with it so much that he decided to take it as his name) for over a year in different centres, camps and on borders that he traversed and moved from one to the other – from Bosnia to Italy, where he is now located. A strong bond has grown between us. We recently met for the first time – in person, and not in video calls – in Milan. This experience was a strong stimulus that influenced the direction of my activities.

Osmo Nadir, „Corridor”, Cultural Center – Białystok / Ludwik Zamenhof Center, source: artist’s private gallery

DESIGNING INSTRUMENTS AND EXPLORING SONIFICATION

I am working on an instrument project that premiered in the middle of one of the lockdowns. During that time, there were no events in the shared physical space, everyone was streaming, so I bought streaming equipment as well. I streamed only once where I presented my newly created instrument. It consists of two devices that I perceive as a culmination of what I worked on before, but finally made with a slightly larger budget and of decent materials. It is quite a big thing that got a little bit lost in the pandemic, but it has resulted in another project, namely an acoustic instrument. I wanted to free myself from the need of using electronics, computers and cables. In that way, in the spirit of my aesthetic language, I would like to ‘recreate’ the instrument – cello. It would be its contemporary variation performed in cooperation with musicians. I do not want it to be a visual fetish that comes into being out of touch with functional needs. It must be a working object, which becomes the beginning of a new thread in classical instruments aesthetics. A project for a series of sonic-kinetic machines that use mechanics and acoustics to produce sounds is still underway. A lot of ideas have emerged, but for now they are in the sketchbook, so everything will happen in the fullness of time.

Osmo Nadir, Laser Spindles, source: artist’s private gallery

VJ, STAGE DESIGN AND MAPPING WITHOUT ACTUAL MAPPING

Osmo Nadir, Pierwszy mapping, source: artist’s private gallery

At the very beginning, my visualisations were figurative, but as soon as I discovered spatial effects, I immediately started focusing on the potential of abstraction. I recorded material in open space or in a studio, and then I extracted geometric shreds, rhythmic flashes, patterns and textures from it. I often drew the entire project starting from the basics – in 2D or 3D, and then I achieved the most rigorous minimalism, often developing it by combining the digitally generated world with my recordings in the area. Most often, I created very long materials, which I cut into samples using controllers. But I never do that until a live performance. Several times in my life I used ready-made recordings, they were, among others, publicly available recordings from the International Space Station, such as sunrise and sunset seen from orbit around the Earth. I treated them, however, as thematic inserts that separated the individual parts of the program.

Osmo Nadir, Visualization samples, source: artist’s private gallery

LISTEN TO SENSOR PODCAST

Broaden your perception. Hear about how technologies are changing art, culture, society, politics and marketing. The first series of interviews presents artists of the new media. You will find on Spotify part of the interview unpublished on the website.

Konrad Zduniak

Deepfakes and intermedia melancholy in creative process

My project raises questions not only about the dark side of using algorithmic correction of photos on covers, on products and in general in industry, but also about the potential of these activities. The algorithm uses photos that are available on the Internet as a base.

Iza Szostak

VR, robots, excavators – choreography research on technology

I checked how I felt inside the machine. I was starting to tame her, but she was not fully tamed, because she has her limitations, and at the same time she is extremely strong. As I lost control of her, my body thrashed and slapped against the windows. I became interested in the level of risk in our cooperation.

Antonina Nowacka
Bogusia Nowacka

Sisters in the world of media experimenting (WIDT)

I am sceptical about the virtual reality space, because for me it is still an imperfect substitute for reality. The ‘real’ reality is something so unfathomable, so incomprehensible that entering simulation is a ‘next level’ activity for me. I have not yet grasped the reality in which I am functioning, let alone the virtual one.

Project by Weronika M. Lewandowska under an art scholarship of the Capital City of Warsaw