Józef Robakowski

April 26 and 27, 2006
 
Józef Robakowski, born in Poznan in 1939, is one of the most important figures in the world of contemporary Polish art, whether as filmmaker, fine artist, art historian, or founder of numerous significant artist groups. His films and videos have a vital connection to the Polish modernism of the pre-war era as well as the international avant-garde cinema of the 1960s and 70s.
 
In the framework of the Lodz "Workshop of Film Form”, Robakowski realized a series of masterpieces of conceptual film starting in 1970. The structure of the medium itself and the liberation from cinematic illusionism are very much in the foreground of his artistic project. Robakowski also regularly contrasts the standard Western image of the deadly-serious avant-garde artist with wonderful self-irony, as in the film essay From My Window (1978-2000).
 
In Robakowski's "biomechanical recordings", documentary and performative aspects are combined. For him, the camera is a natural extension of the body: "Devotion to the magical mechanism of MACHINES allows us to go beyond the powers of human imagination."
 
A joint programme with sixpackfilm.