Untitled

born: 1975, Gdansk
lives in Warsaw
www.szymonroginski.com
Studied acting in the School on Wheel of the Derevo Theatre (Germany, Holland, 1997-1998) and
photography in the College of Artistic Photography in Gdansk (1997-1999). He worked in the photography
section of the National Museum in Gdansk (1999-2000) and in the photography studio of a popular daily
newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza (2000-2004). At present, he cooperates with the Photo-Shop agency and focuses
on his own projects. His works have been published in Vogue L’Homes, Young Tree Press, Futu, 200 Ad Best
Photographers Worldwide, Shots Directory, Fluid, Modern Painters, and other magazines.
selected group exhibitions
2007 2006 2005
2004
Antiphotographs, Biennale of Photography, Poznan, Poland
The New Documentalists, Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland;
Month of Photography in Bratislava, Slovakia
The End, My Friend, Spielhaus Morrisson Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Revenge on Realism – The fictitious moment in current Polish Art, Krinziger Projekte Gallery,
Vienna, Austria
Linger, Arsenal Gallery, Poznan, Poland
Young Polish Art, Polish Embassy in Tokyo, Japan
selected individual exhibitions
2007
2005 UFO Project, Biala Gallery, Lublin, Poland
Landscapes, TR Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
Szymon Rogiński deals mainly with documentary topographical photography. However, he has enough
courage to cross the line between this convention and the world of fantasy and imagination. Such courage
may result from the fact that apart from his artistic activity, Rogiński works for the media as one of the top
fashion and commercial photographers. This unique feature of his works is already recognizable in his early
project USA (2001). When undertaking the effort of photographing the United States, a challenging task not
only for a European artist, Rogiński was equipped with much more than his classic Mamiya 7. What was more
important for this project than the camera were the shoots of various maestros stored in Rogiński’s artistic
mind. Rogiński looked at the works of such photography masters as Timothy O’Sullivan, Walker Evans, Ansel
Adams, Robert Frank or William Eggleston, as well as distinguished Polish photographers such as Tomasz
Tomaszewski. For the purpose of the USA project, he also analyzed and reviewed many films, especially the
inspiring frames by David Lynch.
It is also noteworthy that it was not only photography and film that gave credit to Rogiński, who already
in his American photographs showed a unique approach of “the painter” of reality. The poetic atmosphere
of nevertheless realistic works of Edward Hopper intertwines with a new dose of emotions and sensitivity
of a young European man on a foreign continent. It can be said that in his American project, Rogiński fully
experienced the state of modern photography. That is to say, a state constituted by a certain strain between
the need to present an original perception of the topic, and the inability to escape a series of iconic images.
The difficulty of avoiding such images comes from the notion that they not only inspire reflection, but also
become the subject of a game with the conventionality of realistic pictures. It should be remembered that
USA, which we get to know also from Rogiński’s photographs, was thoroughly described by Jean Baudrillard
as an unrealistic world of simulacrum (interestingly, the author of America illustrated his argument with
photographs). Large format color photographs by the Polish artist present the American landscape of the
beginning of the 21st century. These works seem to successfully contribute to an abundant photographic,
cinematographic and painterly output.
Modernizing and refreshing the well-known landscape iconography was much easier in Rogiński’s second
important project – Poland (Polska) (2003-2006). Polish landscape photography came to a standstill many
years ago in the form of trite souvenir albums and tourist calendars. The torpor of the last few decades
– in which Michał Cała, Wojciech Wilczyk, and the whole so-called Jelenia Gora school of art stand out – is
even more painful in the context of a grand tradition of the genre: beginning with the 19th century camera
masters such as Karol Beyer or Awit Szubert, and the 20th century Jan Bułhak (the author of the concept
02 / 03
of “native photography” in Poland), Henryk Poddębski, Edward Hartwig, Paweł Pierściński or Adam Bujak.
Rogiński’s photographs represent a new documentary trend of the 21st century, and boldly cross the borders
of old iconographic standards. Postcommunist Poland is pictured by Rogiński as a gloomy, unnerving and
sometimes grotesque country (Godzilla, 2005). Some frames are remininscent of stills from horrors or
thrillers, but they also resemble the hallucinatory aesthetics of computer games. Visionary night images show
the new, eerie face of Poland. The gloomy, or even catastrophic atmosphere of these photographs is aptly
rendered by the title of a collective exhibition shown at a Berlin gallery, where the night landscapes have been
presented: The End, My Friend (2006).
Nevertheless, night photographs proved to be not the end but the beginning of a further quest of the
photographer, who explored the land between the Baltic Sea and the Tatra Mountains, as well as the time
between night and day. Adding Brightness (Jasnosc) (2004-2007) to his series of images of Poland, Rogiński
chose dawn as the only time of day filled with emotions combined with the unique effect of the eponymous
brightness. “I only watch the dawn after a sleepless night, and it always impresses me,” says the artist.
The same feeling is likely to be experienced by those who will see this series of large format photographs.
Sleeplessness as characterized by the state of balancing on the verge of consciousness, painful acuity of the
senses, irritation of the nerves, and body exhaustion are thematized by the artist in his photographs created
in Tokyo (2005).
The spectacular futuristic images of a metropolis smoothly change into equally unearthly photographs of
the latest cycle UFO (2007). Darkness illuminated with characteristic light, starry sky, and remote areas
visited by the aliens are the subject of these pictures. In UFO, we can observe how interested the author
is in the unknown – the Freudian category of “unheimlich” hidden in the technical and objective invention
of photography. The unseen and unbelievable have been shown. Something beyond human perception,
which can only be believed or otherwise taunted, has been revealed. This time again, like with all Rogiński’s
documentary works, we ask ourselves – is that all? Only this? What else can we see? What will broaden the
horizons of our cognition and experience?
every single detail of a photograph is equally important for the meaning of the whole, and for creating the
atmosphere. It is exactly the opposite of what the photographers of séances and paranormal phenomena did
a century ago – manipulating technology, making aesthetic use of chemical and optical errors and refraction
in order to create incredible images. These days, hardly anyone is impressed with an effects of technology
beyond the photographer’s control. Emulsion blur, discoloration and overexposure, as well as simple montage
are nothing unusual in the times of Photoshop. Rogiński’s photographs emanate an unearthly, or even a
metaphysical, aura. We know that in the UFO photographs, the effect of eeriness is achieved with the use of
technology, but we cannot (or do not want to) resist it. Incredibly realistic and perfectly staged, composed,
lit and shot photographs gradually tempt, and sow the seeds of faith in something inexplicable, something
far beyond the trivial technicality of the medium. In this aspect, Rogiński’s UFO deals with faith in a reality
different from the sensible world. These landscapes are mystical, and their spirituality (rather than sensitivity)
is modern. The emptiness of the field visited by aliens is evidence of some event that we will never notice until,
paradoxically, we believe in this event. In other words, you will not see anything unless you want to see it.
The cycle, inspired by the photographer’s assistant, who believes in an intelligent form of extraterrestrial
life, leads us to questions that are not abstract at all. One could even call them existential. If people can see
the Blessed Virgin in a photograph of a window glass or a tree, if we notice John Paul II in the picture of a
bonfire, why should we not see the UFO in Rogiński’s images? Is it possible to live totally devoid of faith in
the New Age era? It is certainly not easy, but – as Rogiński suggests – we can always trust a photograph. It
never lies, does it?
Adam Mazur
When looking at the UFO photographs, we approach the line between document and fantasy, the border of
the representable. Gradually, yet with incredible precision, Rogiński constructs the effect of eeriness. Here,
04 / 05
In Detroit, I bought my most important camera – the Mamiya 7.
“And then we hit the road…”
We travelled 7290 km in one month. Even though it was my first time in the USA, I constantly felt like I was
finding places and things that I knew very well. This reality was so familiar to me because of Hollywood
cinematography. Of all American productions, David Lynch’s films have been most important for me.
The American landscapes greatly impressed me – I would constantly see the traces of famous photographers
such as Ansel Adams or William Eggleston. However, throughout my journey I felt that nowadays, after they
have already been there, it is really difficult to photograph something new there.
Yosemite Valley
06 / 07
Roses
Slow
08 / 09
Cheeters Motel
Bike
10 / 11
Roy’s Motel
Mono Lake
12 / 13
polandsynthesis/2003-06
When I returned to Poland, I felt really tempted to continue this series. I realized that all around me
there is an undiscovered area that had not been photographed in modern times. I started working
on it in extremely harsh conditions – autumn was turning into winter, so Poland was monochromatic,
depressing, dirty and cold.
Each of my expeditions lasted up to a week. My assistant would drive so that I could look through
the window during the journey. We travelled at night. We would go to sleep at 8 a.m., still a winter
dawn, and get up around 2 p.m., already at dusk.
This first cycle comprises about 80 pictures.
Mazowsze #03
14 / 15
Dolny Slask #03
Dolny Slask #02
16 / 17
Mazowsze #05
Mazowsze #17
18 / 19
Dolny Slask #01
Pomorze Zachodnie #02
20 / 21
tokyoinsomnia/2005
Although I spent a month in Tokyo, I could not switch to the local time. Luckily, the night-life of
this mega-metropolis gave me a warm welcome.
Tokyo #08
22 / 23
Tokyo #15
Tokyo #10
24 / 25
Tokyo #05
Tokyo #02
26 / 27
Tokyo #12
Tokyo #14
28 / 29
polandbrightness/2004-07
Photographing Poland during the day is a very challenging task. I think the only time it makes
sense is at dawn. I only watch the dawn after a sleepless night, and it always impresses me.
Malopolska #02
30 / 31
Malopolska #06
Malopolska #03
32 / 33
Gorzow #01
Pomorze #05
34 / 35
Kaszuby #07
Pomorze Zachodnie #04
36 / 37
ufoproject/2006-07
My work on this cycle was inspired by my friend and assistant, Grzegorz. His profound faith in the
possibility of encountering an UFO during our night expeditions made me turn my camera lens
towards the stars. I started that an UFO might land somewhere in a Polish forest or field. I got
involved in this and begun to search for mysterious spots that, according to ufologists, might have
been landing sities a long time ago.
Projekt UFO #04
Photos 04-08 was created thanks to Imago Mundi Foundation.
38 / 39
Projekt UFO #07
Projekt UFO #06
40 / 41
Projekt UFO #05
Projekt UFO #08
42 / 43
Projekt UFO #03
Projekt UFO #09
44 / 45
Projekt UFO #10
Projekt UFO #12
46 / 47
photopoland
PhotoPoland is a project that aims to promote modern Polish photography abroad. It has been developed
by Adam Mickiewicz Institute and Foundation of Visual Education, the main organizer of Fotofestiwal, in
cooperation with an international group of curators. Its first edition was organized in May 2007. Representatives of various festivals and institutions dealing with photography from Spain, Brazil, USA, Mexico, Russia,
Greece, Israel and Great Britain met during the International Festival of Photography in Lodz. They spent
two days analyzing portfolios and talking to 15 Polish artists. The outcome of these meetings is a series of
exhibitions of 7 of these photographers – Nicolas Grospierre, Przemysław Pokrycki, Konrad Pustoła, Szymon
Rogiński, Asia Zastróżna, and the duo of Weronika Łodzińska and Andrzej Kramarz – presented in galleries and
exhibitions all around the world.
Curators
Naomi Aviv (freelance curator, Israel); Stephanie Brown (Photographers’ Gallery, London, UK); Alejandro
Castellanos (Centro de la Imagen, Mexico); Karla Osorio Netto (Foto Arte Brasilia, Brasil); Lambros Papanikolatos
(freelance curator, Greece); Nissan Perez (Israel Museum in Jerusalem, Israel); Irina Tchmyreva (Museum of
Modern Art in Moscow, Russia); Victoria del Val (La Fabrica, Madrid, Spain); Wendy Watris (FotoFest, Huston, USA)
Coordinators
Hanna Kaniasta – project coordinator for Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Visual Art Section
Małgorzata Żmijska – project coordinator for Foundation of Visual Education
Consultants
Joanna Studzińska, Krzysztof Candrowicz, Adam Mazur
Marta Szymańska – edition; konradolczak.pl – graphic design; translateria.pl – translation and proofreading;
Grzegorz Czemiel – proofreading
www.photopoland.com.pl // www.iam.pl // www.lodzartcenter.com // www.fotofestiwal.com
© Foundation of Visual Education & Adam Mickiewicz Institute
The album was published as part of PhotoPoland project organized by Adam Mickiewicz Institute
and Foundation of Visual Education.
ISBN 978-83-60794-58-6
ISBN 978-83-60263-80-9