After long deliberations, the jury – Mikołaj Długosz, Rafał Milach, Krzysztof Miller, Jakub Śwircz, Wojciech Wieteska and Magda Wunsche & Samsel – selected 12 projects from over 500 applications. Exhibitions held in May will include a classical reportage, a personal photo memoir, a conceptual, minimalist vision of an office, and many others. The works are extremely varied, but they are united by the artists’ fresh look at reality and their excellent photographic skills. 

The winners of this year’s ShowOFF Section are:

Artur Jastrzębski, curator: Krzysztof Miller

Karol Kaczorowski, curators: Magda Wunsche and Agnieszka Samsel

Ula Klimek, curator: Mikołaj Długosz

Tomasz Liboska and Michał Jędrzejowski, curator: Rafał Milach

Bartłomiej Lurka, curator: Rafał Milach

Wojciech Marzec, curator: Mikołaj Długosz

Bartosz Mateńko, curator: Krzysztof Miller

Maciej Niesłony, curator: Wojciech Wieteska

Maciej Nowaczyk, curator: Kuba Śwircz

Mateusz Sadowski, curator: Kuba Śwircz

Yulka Wilam, curators: Magda Wunsche and Agnieszka Samsel

Piotr Zbierski, curator: Wojciech Wieteska

photo by Yulka Wilam

photo by Karol Kaczorowski

From today the winners be able to start working with their curators on polishing their projects and preparing the best format for the exhibition. Congratulations to all the winners – we hope you have an enjoyable and productive time! We look forward to seeing the results of your efforts in May!

In addition, the winning dozen will receive an annual subscription to Digital Camera Polska (http://digitalcamerapolska.pl/), a journal dedicated to digital photography.

Kuba Śwircz and Wojtek Wieteska explain their choice:

Selecting two projects from over 500 applications was pretty difficult. I was mostly looking for works that could be treated as complete statements – those that are consistent and level, both from the visual and conceptual perspectives. 

Maciej Nowaczyk and Mateusz Sadowski’s projects definitely grabbed my attention for longer. (...) I’m pleased that I was able to choose two artists who do more than just put more photos into new cycles. They make transformations, use different sources, and skilfully introduce them into their images. 

(Kuba Śwircz)

Maciej Niesłony’s photos are psychological portraits – a genre almost completely absent from young, contemporary Polish photographers. Why? Because it’s difficult, not very effective in its format, and requires longer viewings. It doesn’t fit into fast consumption categories. 

Piotr Zbierski’s photos are really emotions superimposed on the external world, conscious of both the power and impotence of photography as a medium. Torn, moved, black and white. Turbid and viscous. A narrative storyline.

Two poles of photography.

(Wojtek Wieteska)

Once again, congratulations to the winners!

More about the projects and their authors coming soon on our webpage.