Wojciech Bruszewski, (b. 1947, Wrocław) worked across a variety of media: from film, installation, object and performance, to photography. In 1970, Bruszewski graduated from the Department of Cinematography, and in 1975 from the Department of Film Direction. Both courses were undertaken at the Film School in Łódź. In 1967, he joined the photographic group Zero-61, which, by 1969, had evolved into Zero-69. During the period 1970 to 1977, Bruszewski was a prominent member and theorist of the Workshop of the Film Form. This group was established as an academic club, operating out of the Film School in Łódź.

In 1976, in an early text Bruszewski makes note of three stages common to the formative period of his practice The first stage highlighted by Bruszewski embraces the search for an unconventional language to express the process of cognition (e.g. the film Apnoea, 1972), the second stage takes as focus linguistic and non-linguistic codes, as well as randomness (e.g. Transmission of the Text Performed by Means of the Movement of the Door, 1974), whereas the third stage, according to the artist, is devoted to ‘the practice of traps’, an activity designed to catch content that exists at the junction between reality and human perception (e.g. Outside, 1976). At the end of the 1970s and during the beginning of the 1980s, the investigation of sound emerged as a common feature of his practice. Bruszewski is considered an original proponent of video technology. During the 1980s and the 1990s, Bruszewski also experimented with a form of poetry generated by random procedures.

In 1980, Bruszewski was awarded a yearly artistic scholarship through the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), to be undertaken in then West Berlin. At a later date, and whilst also in Berlin, Bruszewski created Radio Ruins of Art at Wolf Kahlen Gallery. This work consisted of philosophical writings randomly mixed into a dialogue and transmitted without interruption between the years 1988 and 1993. In the 1980s, Bruszewski began to incorporate the computer into his practice. In addition, he also created software. In 1994, Bruszewski released a CD with interpretations of Frédéric Chopin’s compositions created through the use of a computer; musical arrangements for which he was awarded third prize in the category of ‘all instruments except the piano’ at the First Open Chopin Competition. From 1981 onward, Bruszewski worked as a lecturer at the State Higher School of Fine Art in Poznań. Here, he established the first Studio of Computer Graphics and Design in Poland. From 1999 onward, Bruszewski conducted lectures at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, where he ran the Multimedia Studio. This activity culminated in an offer of Professorship in 2003. In addition to numerous individual and group shows in Poland, Bruszewski’s work has been shown at major exhibitions abroad, including but not limited to, Documenta 6 in Kassel (1977), Film als Film. 1910 bis heute in Cologne (1977-78) and London (1979), 4th Biennale of Sydney (1982) Présences Polonaises. L’art vivant autour du Musée de Łódź in Paris (1983), Documenta 8 in Kassel (1987). Wojciech Bruszewski died in 2009 in Łódź.

Curators: Robert Jarosz, Magdalena Drągowska