Photobook Mania 01 / Karolina Wojtas presents Abzgram

About the event

PhMuseum Lab presents a new series of events dedicated to the photobook. Our first guest is Karolina Wojtas who will talk about the book Abzgram, published by Spector Books.

In her work, the Polish media artist breaches every conceivable rule of photography, be it through offbeat compositions, oversaturated colors, blur, or her aggressive use of flash. She uses these sometimes found, sometimes staged scenarios to print on various materials, which transform exhibition spaces into room-sized installations that visitors can walk through. Wojtas’ ironic images question the rigid Polish school system, using absurdity and excess as productive tools to criticize and challenge the almost-military enforcement of regulations on children in her home country: rules such as stand still, do not touch each other, keep your hands by your sides, look straight ahead seem to want to frame the uncontainable vitality of adolescence within rigid frameworks.

The title Abzgram itself provokes inquiries about its meaning. Is it a coined term, intentionally ambiguous and open to diverse interpretations? Could it possibly denote a game with undisclosed rules?

Some copies of the book will be available to be purchased and signed by the author.

Bio

Karolina Wojtas ( 1996, PL) draws from the imagination of children and transforms this material into walk-in installations. She graduated from Lodz Film School in Poland and Institute of Creative Photography in the Czech Republic. In the summer of 2019, she opened her own museum in home village in Poland.

Wojtas has exhibited her works in many solo and group exhibitions in Poland and internationally (Foam in Amsterdam (2021), Noorderlicht International Photo Festival (2020), Gallery Naga in Warsaw (2020), Bratislava Month of Photography (2019). Among awards and acknowledgments for her work are the nomination for EMoP Arendt Award 2023, reGeneration 4: The Challenges of Photography and its Museum for Tomorrow in Musée de l’Elysée, a special mention at Plat(f)orm 2020 in Fotomuseum Winterthur, winning C/O Berlin Award (2022), the ING Unseen Talent Award (2019), Amsterdam, and the Tiff Open (2018) at Tiff Festival Wrocław. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, Internazionale, The British Journal of Photography, Lampoon Magazine, L’uomo Vogue, Superpaper, Tampon – Ordinary Magazine, Causette, and Das Magazin Switzerland.

Admission to the exhibition is free. For more information, write to us at info@phmuseumlab.com.