Photography projects supported by Yours Gallery, Poland
BOWNIK (1977) is a photographer who lives and works in Warsaw, Poland, and is a member of artists collective IKOON The Multimedia Body. He was curator of Teren Osobny Gallery (Separate Space Gallery) based in old, closed, tsar’s prison, he organized there The International Artists Meeting Interventions and was one of main theme curators of IV Biennale of Photography Object Hunting in Poznan.
His last project “Gamers” is about e-sports.
E-sports stand for electronic sports, in other words – computer games tournaments which developed at an extremely fast pace and became one of the most interesting phenomena in the new century, balancing on the meeting point of rivalry, technology and virtual reality. Its origins date back to Quake, a first-person shooter which allowed gamers to play against each other, both on the LAN and the Internet. Due to its popularity, in 1997 Cyberathlete Professional League was formed – a first ever league of professional e-gamers. Similarly to traditional sports, gaming also has its disciplines, championships, trophies, competition and sports careers. The all-year-round confrontation on the Internet ends in promotion to the European and World Championship, during which gamers represent their countries. Polish teams are among the best in the world. Multiple world champions become celebrities among teenagers, in some countries to the level comparable with the famous stars of traditional sports. For young people there is no question whether this is sport, or just an entertainment. E-sports is a contemporary, global form of sports competition that has its winners with extraordinary abilities, who make full use of new means and technologies, unavailable in the past.
The project consists of two parts: Gamers and Training Halls.
Large-format portraits are a typological approach to a new image of a sportsman, who, due to the electronic form of competition, does not have a physical representation known to his rival. In this project, the person of a gamer is revealed to everyone. But this is not about exposing or trying to match the reality with the mental or virtual image of individuals. This is a sort of analysis of Cyber Environment and people who constitute it.
Photographs of the room interiors create an interesting overlaying of two realities. They fulfil the role of a training site for everyday gaming practice, as well as a normal bedroom, where details and objects betray the history of growing up in this place. The mixture of the training place of an e-gamer with his personal surroundings creates a very interesting and detailed picture.
More ifos at : www.bownik.eu
