Bownik Poland, 1977

His bestknown cycles of works include Gamers, E-Słodowy, Colleagues and Disassembly. His works have been shown at numerous collective exhibitions, such as Lucim żyje (Lucim Lives), with Marcelina Gunia, at the Centre of Contemporary Art in Toruń (2009) and As You Can See. Polish Art Today, at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (2014). His most recent solo exhibitions both took place in Warsaw; The Urn, for the National Library at the Rzeczpospolita Palace (2014) and Crystal up to the neck at the Foksal Gallery (2014/2015). Bownik’s artist book entitled Disassembly, published by Mundin, won the Grand Prix in the 2014 Photographic Publication of the Year competition, as well as winning nominations for the Kassel Photobook Award 2014. His works are held in such collections as the Museum voor fotografie Huis Marseille, Polish Art Foundation ING, National Library and many private collections. Bownik was nominated to Paszporty Polityki Prize by one of the leading Polish magazine „Polityka”.

Bownik’s artistic practice arises from his performative activity which analyzes the relations of experience and power. Over time, the artist has changed his focus towards problematizing the conventions of imaging and representation. His works deal with youth, the reconstruction of values and the influence of cultural transformations on daily life. Bownik works out visual conventions present in the history of the culture, police archives and classic painting representations; he uses large format photography, performance, sculpture.