Maciej Stępiński also photographs Warsaw. His series titled W, as well as the video piece Polonica from 2008 form representations of rather uninteresting, anonymous architecture, and sometimes even tawdry buildings of Powiśle district and its surroundings. The works presented at the exhibition Backstage at CCA Ujazdowski Castle are dominated by cold, grey and blue colours, foregrounding the rather unpicturesque character of cityscapes. The documentary convention results in a ruthless exposure of each little detail of those unattractive, and often demolished locations. The photographic series Go with Peace (2008) is completely different. It is a project realised on the borderlands of Israel, Palestine, and Jordan. The pictures are mostly blurry, which paradoxically makes the views of distant places imperceptible. The viewer initially squints, but after a moment surrenders to the limitations, and most of all to the poetics of the illegible images, which were deliberately subjected to reflection by the photographer.
In Warsaw City Tennis Clubs, a project presented at Warsaw's Kordegarda Gallery in 2009, the photographer presents the places he was connected to as a child. These are the capital's tennis courts, which he discovered as a young tennis player during training or tournaments. The title of the exhibition derives from an English name of one of the clubs and highlights the elitist dimension of tennis, a sport which in the last decade of the Polish People's Republic was associated with the Western lifestyle, generally regarded as better. Back in the dull reality of the 1980s, Warsaw's tennis clubs were perceived as luxurious and exclusive places, while Stępiński's photographs show desolated and degraded spaces. These images have nothing in common with the nostalgic visions of the bygone past; they are quite gloomy and slightly dark. Other urban sports sites photographed by Stępiński, such as the 10th-Anniversary Stadium during reconstruction or a springboard of a now defunct swimming pool of Warsaw's Legia football club, give a similar impression. The visual quality consciously achieved by the artist is also worthy of attention. His frames are spare, as usual, but nevertheless carefully selected, while the perfectly balanced motifs build up to a harmonious whole. A part of them, in sophisticated colours, was created in a Cibachrome technique, which guarantees a precise sharpness and depth of field, further emphasising the aesthetic values of these photographs. The remaining black and white digital photographs were mounted directly onto a wall and window at Kordegarda. The presentation was complemented by two short films, CWKS 1 and CWKS 2, showing workers seen on a Legia tennis court, drawing a pattern on the tartan surface.
Maciej Stępiński has received several awards for his works. He was a laureate of the Art Contemporain 2000 contest (Paris, 2001), the Main Prize of the Oneminutes international video competition (Amsterdam, 2003), the creative scholarship Aide individuelle à la création (Drac Paca, France, 2006), and the award for a catalogue publication, Aide à l'édition de la Direction de la Culture (Marseille, 2003).
He has also published the book titled Loop, comprising a selection of the his major works, accompanied by critical texts.
His works can be viewed on his blog: thisisnotdocumentary.tumblr.com and website: www.stepinski.com
Selected solo exhibitions
- 2013 – The Artificiality of Nature, Lookout Gallery, Warsaw
- 2012 – Rendez-vous à Poznań, Arsenał City Art Gallery, Poznań
- 2011 – Go with peace, Saffir Galerie Nomade, Printemps de l'Art Contemporain, Marseille
- 2010 – Car Culture in California, 18th Street Arts Center, Los Angeles
- 2010 – 200 years, Saffir Galerie Nomade, Marseille
- 2009 – Warsaw City Tennis Clubs, Kordegarda, Warsaw
- 2009 – Sclerosis, Leto Gallery, Warsaw
- 2008 – Backstage, Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw
- 2008 – PF Zamek Gallery, Poznań
- 2007 – Galerie AL/MA, Montpellier
- 2004 – N-113, Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw
- 2002 – N-113 Visa pour l’image, Perpignan
- 2002 – N-113, Akademia Theatre, Warsaw
Selected group exhibitions
- 2014 – Photography Biennale, Zamek Culture Centre, Poznań
- 2013 – Midnight Show, BWA Wrocław, 13th T-Mobile New Horizons International Film Festival, Wrocław
- 2012 – Rencontres Ephémères, Galerie Brumaire, Paris
- 2011 – They don't know why, but they keep doing it Ideas after ideology, Blanca Soto Arte, Madrid
- 2011 – They don't know why... Waterside Contemporary, London, UK
- 2011 – Enclave, National Centre for Contemporary Arts, Kaliningrad, Russia
- 2011 – Monobandes II, Galerie Les Territories, Montreal, Québec
- 2011 – WRO Media Art Biennale, Wrocław
- 2010 – Nature et Paysage, Espace d'Art, Societe-generale, Casablanca, Morocco
- 2009 – Underround City, DIVIUS Unit 30, London
- 2009 – One Minutes, Today Art Museum in Beijing, China
- 2008 – Berliner LISTE 08, Berlin
- 2008 – Volta Wa-wa, Leto Galley, Warsaw
- 2008 – Red Eyes Effect, Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw
- 2008 – Photomonth, Kraków
- 2007 – Photography Biennale, BWA Arsenal, Poznań
- 2007 – Reality Effect, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw
- 2006 – Hapax, Aperto, Montpellier
- 2005 – Clubcube, Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw
- 2004 – Haags Gemeente Museum, Hague, Pays-Bas
- 2003 – Jeune création 2003, Grande halle de la Villette, Paris
- 2002 – Voies-OFF, Rencontres internationales de la photographie, Arles
Author: Magdalena Wróblewska, July 2010, update: AW, April 2015. transl. AM, December 2015.