Zeitraum: August – Oktober 2019
Der gebürtige Pole Viktor Witkowski lebte in Deutschland, Frankreich und den USA, bevor er nach Vermont zog, wo er unterrichtete, an seiner Kunst arbeitete und auf dem Blog Same Old Art schrieb.
Viktor erwarb 2006 einen Master in Kunsterziehung, Kunstgeschichte und Studiokunst an der Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig (HBK Braunschweig) und 2010 einen Master in Bildender Kunst an der Rutgers University.
Viktor Witkowski über seine Arbeit:
Meine Bilder und Filme thematisieren die Repräsentation von Geschichte, nationalen wie globalen Konflikten und deren Auswirkungen auf den Einzelnen. Gleichzeitig frage ich, welche Möglichkeiten Malerei und Film angesichts verunsichernder und doch gesellschaftlich relevanter Themen bieten. Gibt es einen Raum für Poetik, wenn es um die dunkleren Themen im Leben geht?
Meine Arbeit ist von einer zutiefst persönlichen Agenda bestimmt: Nachdem das Kriegsrecht in Polen 1983 aufgehoben worden war, beschlossen meine Eltern, in die alte Bundesrepublik zu fliehen, um der Unsicherheit und Unterdrückung zu entgehen. Letztendlich zeigt meine Arbeit, dass Politik und Geschichte alles andere als theoretische Konstrukte sind. Im Gegenteil, diese Bedingungen betreffen den Geist, das Herz und den Alltag der Menschen.
Ausbildung
2008- 2010 MFA, Visual Arts Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts
New Brunswick, NJ
2003-2004 History of Art Department, University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA 1999- 2006
Staatsexamen in Visual Arts, Art History and Art Education
Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig
Braunschweig, Germany
1999-2006 Staatsexamen in Teaching English as Foreign Language, American Studies, Philosophy
Technische Universität Braunschweig
Braunschweig, Germany
Lehraufträge
2015 – Present Lecturer, Dartmouth College, Studio Art Department
Hanover, New Hampshire
2012 – 2015 Faculty at AVA Art Center and Gallery
Lebanon, NH
2010 – 2012 Head of Art Department and Visual Arts Teacher at EAB Victor Hugo School
Paris, France
2008 – 2010 Lecturer, Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts
New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
Videos & Filme
2019 Rutland (72m, HD video, color, sound)
2017 The Aleppo Room (14:30m, HD video, color, sound)
2017 17 Months – 12 Minutes (14:47m, digital video, found footage, color, sound)
2016 Refuge (23m, HD video, color, sound)
2016 The Candidate (2:14m, HD video, color, sound)
2016 What We Have to Lose (3:15m, digital video, found footage, black & white, sound)
Screenings & Festivals
2019 Premiere of Rutland at the UU Church of Rutland, Vermont
2019 Official Selection (The Aleppo Room), Ethnografilm Paris, Paris, France
2018 Official Selection (The Aleppo Room), Amarcord Arthouse Television & Film Fest, Chicago, IL
2018 Museum for Islamic Art (The Aleppo Room), Pergamon Museum, Berlin, Germany
2018 Official Selection (The Aleppo Room), The Mespies, Minneapolis, WI
2017 Official Selection (Refuge), The Artists Forum Festival of the Moving Image, New York City, NY
2017 Official Selection (Best Experimental Film – Refuge), Polish International Film Festival, Warsaw, Poland
2017 Official Selection (Finest International Documentary – Refuge), The Mespies, Minneapolis, WI
2017 Loew Auditorium (Refuge), Black Family Visual Art Center, Dartmouth College, NH
2016 Official Selection (Refuge), LA Underground Film Forum, Los Angeles, CA
Ausstellungen
2018 Aesthetica Art Prize Exhibition, York Art Gallery, York, UK
2018 FÄLSCHUNG // FAKE, Krudebude, Leipzig, Germany
2018 Intolerance as Violence (curated by Ian Alden Russell), Hera Gallery, Wakefield, RI
2018 Durchdashaus, Ping Pong, Leipzig, Germany
2018 Unheimlich, Alte Handelsschule, Leipzig, Germany
2018 Art as Information, The Delaware Contemporary, Wilmington, DE
2017 Art as Information, The Delaware Contemporary, Wilmington, DE
2017 PaperWest (curated by Willie Cole), Gittins Gallery, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
2017 Faces of Immigration: Here and Abroad, Russo Gallery, Joan Sloan Dickey Center, Dartmouth College, NH
2017 O.T., Studio MM, Galerie Martin Mertens, Berlin, Germany
2017 Berlin Gallery Weekend, Studio MM, Galerie Martin Mertens, Berlin, Germany
2017 Borderlands, Nearburg Gallery, Black Family Visual Arts Center, Dartmouth College, NH
2016 Re: Formation, Ann Arbor Art Center, Ann Arbor, MI
2016 Re: Formation, Gallery Project, Toledo, OH
2016 Spring Benefit, Momenta Art, Brooklyn, NY
2016 Our Histories (Near and Far), The Caroll House Art Gallery, Keene State College, Keene, NH (Solo Exhibition)
2016 Visiting Faculty Exhibition, Strauss Gallery, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
2015 Spring Benefit, Momenta Art, Brooklyn, NY
2014 Unseen, Eastern Market (Gallery Project), Detroit, MI
2014 Unseen, Ann Arbor Art Center, Ann Arbor, MI
2013 Drones, Ann Arbor Art Center, Ann Arbor, MI
2013 Drones, Eastern Market (Gallery Project), Detroit, MI
2013 10 Years Too Late, Institut für alles Mögliche (I-A-M), Berlin, Germany
2013 Push on the Surface, RVCC Art Gallery, Branchburg, NJ
2013 1st Annual Juried National Exhibition, Flood Gallery, Asheville, NC (juried and curated by Diana Stoll from Aperture Magazine)
2012 Open Door, Rosalux Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
2012 Grammar of the Elite, Gallery Project, Ann Arbor, MI
2012 Federica Nadalutti and Viktor Witkowski, Nouvel Organon, Paris, France
2012 White Box Spring Benefit, White Box, New York, NY
2012 In-between: Abstraction and Figuration, Nouvel Organon, Paris, France
2011 Nuit Blanche, L’Index, Ivry-sur-Seine, Paris, France
2011 The Big Show 6, Silas Marder Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY
2011 Yours/Mine, Gallery Project, Ann Arbor, MI
2011 Light Up, White Box, New York, NY
2010 Off the Map, White Box, New York, NY
2011 Smoke and Flowers, Thesis Exhibition, Mason Gross Galleries, New Brunswick, NJ
2011 24th International Juried Show, curated by Susan Kismaric, Visual Arts Center of New Jersey
2009 Hit It Big, Mason Gross Galleries, New Brunswick, NJ
2008 First Year Review, Mason Gross Galleries, New Brunswick, NJ
2008 Souvenirs de Vacances, L’Art de Rien, Paris, France
2008 Invent(aire) 3, L’Art de Rien, Paris, France
Auszeichnungen, Residenzen & Öffentliche Gespräche
2019 Artist Talk at Parsons The New School, NYC
2019 MFA Student Critiques at the New York Academy of Art, NYC
2018 Aesthetica Art Prize Anthology, 100 Contemporary Artists 2018, York, UK
2018 Artist Residency at Pilotenkueche, Leipzig, Germany
2017 Honorable Mention – The Aleppo Room, LA Underground Film Forum, Los Angeles, CA
2017 Best Experimental Film Award for Refuge, Polish International Film Festival, Warsaw, Poland
2017 Finest International Documentary Award for Refuge, The Mespies, Minneapolis, MN
2017 Faculty Fellowship, Leslie Center for the Humanities, Dartmouth College, NH
2017 Artist Residency at Studio MM, Galerie Martin Mertens, Berlin, Germany
2016 Artist Residency at Die Kolonie, Worpswede, Germany
2013 Best in Show, 1st Annual Juried National Exhibition, Flood Gallery, Asheville, NC
2011 Dave Bown Projects, 3rd Semiannual Competition, New York, NY
2008-10 Full Scholarship Award, Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts
2008-10 Teaching Assistantship Fellowship, Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts
2009 Mason Gross Teaching Excellence Award, Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts
2006 “High Honors” certificate of distinction from TU Braunschweig and the Hochschule für
Bildende Künste Braunschweig
2003-04 University of Michigan/Rackham Graduate School Fellowship
2003-04 DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) Full Travel Grant
