BIOGRAPHY

Mateusz Sadowski was born in 1984 in Szczecinek and currently lives and works in Poznań, Poland. He is a multidisciplinary artist working with photography, video, installation, painting and writing. His work explores the impact of automation on perception and representation in contemporary art, as well as the role of artistic fiction in film, literature and the visual arts. With reference to cultural and scientific aspects of time, he explores methods of its representation in film. He is known for his series of animated films in which he uses fragments of video footage and then animates them in stop-motion, giving them the form of film sculptures. He is interested in the integration of analogue and digital processes within the contemporary status of the image.

Sadowski explores the status of photography and the unique role that photographic realism plays in our understanding of reality. He is particularly interested in the theme of consciousness in the context of culture, the perception of works of art and the interdisciplinary debate between different scientific fields. In exploring these themes, Sadowski uses everyday motifs and self-portraiture as a medium for depicting the human figure. His work explores the relationships between different media, seeking original forms of art and addressing the issue of style, which spans post-conceptual traditions and formal aspects of art.

Sadowski's work has been shown at numerous exhibitions and film festivals. He received the Chris Frayne Award for Best Animated Film at the Ann Arbor Film Festival and a grants from the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. He is the author of two monographs published by Disatra Publishing and runs the Film Activities Studio at the Photography Department of the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of the Arts Poznan.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023  A Cave Carved in the Shape of a Waking Person, Galeria Szczur, Poznań, PL

2023  A Cave Carved in the Shape of a Waking Person, Galeria Stereo, Warsaw, PL

2022  Time Settings, Galeria Stereo, Warsaw, PL

2019  Indifferent star, Galeria Stereo, Warsaw, PL

2019  I have no time, 9/10 Gallery, Poznań, PL

2018  Shape of The Moment, Polonez, Poznań, PL

2017  The Resonance, Online Gallery, The Drawing Center, New York, US

2017  REFLEX WANDER, Galeria Stereo, Warsaw, PL

2016  COMPOSITION WITH MISSING WORDS, :SKALA, Poznań, PL

2015  STRES, Realny Obszar Działań, Warsaw, PL

2014  IT TAKES TIME, Arsenal Municipal Gallery, Bialystok, PL

2014  EXHIBITION OF WORKS, Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art, Słupsk, PL

2014  THE RESONANCE, Galeria Stereo, Warsaw, PL

2014  UNPLANNED IMAGES, BWA, Zielona Góra, PL

2013  TURN OF EVENTS, BWA, Katowice, PL

2012  LEAK, Exile, Berlin, DE

2012  I'VE SEEN TOO MUCH, SVIT, Prague, CZ

2011  THERE IS NO SUCH THING, Galeria Stereo, Poznań, PL

2011  ENTWINE, ShowOFF, Krakow Photomonth, Kraków, PL

2009  FIRE, Galeria Stereo, Poznań, PL

SELECTED DUO EXHIBITIONS

2014  across realities, with Wojciech Bruszewski, Fundacja Arton, Warsaw, PL

2011  Walking around the house, with Gizela Mickiewicz, EMDES Gallery, Wroclaw, PL

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS AND SCREENINGS

2024  From East to West, Avenarius House, Warsaw, PL

2023  Yambaru Art Festival, Okinawa, JP

2023  Five Impure Tasks, Galeria Skala, Poznań, PL

2022  Minimo Uno. Massimo Due, eastcontemporary, Milan, IT

2022  To See The Stars. Divine Comedy's Landscapes, Adam Mickiewicz's Museum of Literature, Warsaw, PL

2020  I'll be your image, Krupa Gallery, TIFF Festival, Wroclaw, PL

2020  No room collection, on-line exhibition, https://noroomcollection.com

2019  Animation Beyond Cinema, screening, National Gallery of Art, Washington, US

2019  Traps_Simulations_Transmissions. Areas of Post-photography, Arsenał Gallery, Poznan,PL

2018  After the end of photography, PGS, Sopot, PL

2017  Central by East Central, Galeria Arsenał, Białystok, PL

2017  Artists' Film International 2016 & 2017, Tromso Kunstforening, Tromso, NO

2017  Volume of Effort, [co-curated with Jakub Czyszczoń], Polonez, Poznań, PL

2017  Expanding Animation, Holland Animation Film Festival, Utrecht, NL

2016  Artists' Film International, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK

2016  Artists' Film International, Fundacion Proa, Buenos Aires, AR

2016  Artists' Film International, Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, Lisbon, PT

2016  The Silence of Sounds, Wrocław Contemporary Museum, Wrocław, PL

2016  Entoptic Screening, Galeria Salon Akademii, Warsaw, PL

2015  Granpalazzo, Palazzo Rospigliosi, Zagarolo, Rome, IT

2015  Videonale 15, Kunstmuseum Bonn, DE

2015  Collection in Action. Education Space for Kids, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, PL

2015  Katedra, Culture Centre Zamek, Poznan, PL

2014  As You Can See. Polish Art Today, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, PL

2014  Das Stille Leben des Sammlers Kempinski, Exile, Berlin, DE

2013  Things in Common, Art Stations Foundation, Poznań, PL

2013  Photography. Reconstructed, Prague Biennale Photo 3, CZ

2012  On Demand 2, tegenboshvanvreden, Amsterdam, NL

2012  Arbeitdisziplin, Municipal Gallery Arsenal, Poznań, PL

2012  Will Be Fine, Galeria Stereo, Poznań, PL

2011  A Clock That Runs on Mud, Galeria Stereo, Poznań, PL

2011  MIR, Municipal Gallery Arsenal, Białystok, PL

2011  Transilvania 2, Municipal Gallery Arsenal, Poznań, PL

2010  Samsung Art Master, CCA Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, PL

2010  Transilvania, BWA, Zielona Góra, PL

2010  Transit, Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, Moscow, RU

2010  The Summer of Youth, Zachęta - National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, PL

2009  Videonale 12, Kunstmuseum Bonn, DE

SELECTED FILM FESTIVALS

2019  Ann Arbor Film Festival, Ann Arbor, USA 

2018  Animator Film Festival, Poznań, PL

2017  Holland Animation Film Festival, Utrecht, NL

2016  Ann Arbor Film Festival, Ann Arbor, USA

2015  Holland Animation Film Festival, Utrecht, NL

2015  SHORTVAWES Short Film Festival Poznań PL, Poznan Open

2014  Holland Animation Film Festival, Utrecht, NL

2014  SHORTVAWES Short Film Festival Poznań PL, International Grand Prix Tour

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

Collection of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Poland

Collection of the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, Poland

Mateusz Sadowski is collected by various private collectors in Poland, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Great Britain and People’s Republic of China.

SELECTED AWARDS AND GRANTS

2022 Scholarship of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland

2016 Chris Frayne Award for Best Animated Film (winner), Ann Arbor Film Festival, US

2013 photo.mov (2nd place), Cracow Photomonth, PL

2012 Scholarship ‘Young Poland’ of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland

2011 10th Geppert Competition (selected), BWA Wrocław, PL

2010 7th Edition of Samsung Art Master (winner), Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw, PL

Polish Edition of Henkel Art Award (winner)

2008 5th Edition of Samsung Art Master (selected), Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw, PL

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Mateusz Sadowski, A Cave Carved in the Shape of a Waking Person. Poznań: Disastra Publishing, 2024

Mateusz Sadowski, Reflex Wander. Poznań: Disastra Publishing, 2022

Adam Mazur, Okaleczony świat. Historie fotografii Europy Środkowej 1838-2018. Kraków: Universitas, 2019.

On the Path of Knowledge. The Phenomenon of Poznan School. Poznań: University of Arts Poznan, 2016.

Adam Mazur, The Decisive Moment. New Phenomena in Polish Photography Since 2000. Kraków: Karakter, 2012.

EDUCATION

2015-2018: Interdisciplinary Doctoral Studies/PhD, University of the Arts Poznań, Poland

2005-2010: Intermedia/MA, Academy of Fine Arts, Poznań, Poland

2004-2007: Photography/BA, Academy of Fine Arts, Poznań, Poland

PROFESSIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS

2023: Adjunct Professor/Acting Head in the Film Activities Studio, Photography Department of the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of the Arts Poznan, PL

2018-2023: Adjunct Professor in the Image Transformation Studio, University of the Arts Poznan, PL

2014-2018: Assistant in the 5th Photography Studio, University of the Arts Poznan, PL

CONTACT

mateuszsadowski.art[at]gmail.com

/Documentation/                 @mateuszsadowski