Michal Martychowiec (born in 1987) creates conceptual series of photographs, films, drawings, neons, objects, mixed media installations and environments. He is a visiting lecturer at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou and visiting scholar at the Russian Institute of Art History in Saint Petersburg. He lives and works in Berlin. In 2021, Martychowiec was selected as one of the ten finalists for the Berlin Masters Award.
Martychowiec has a mixed-media practice, with which he produces bodies of work that tease out the political relevance of the Romantic tradition. He often contemplates the contemporary human condition through an ongoing reconstruction and reconsideration of historical narratives, which he presents by relating meaningful locations, historical events, persons or works of art, with a system of symbols that he has developed. Martychowiec’s inventions are based primarily on thoughts from fields including philosophy, anthropology, art and cultural history and, of course, the analysis of our contemporary culture and communication.
In terms of specific methods, Martychowiec unites artistic and curatorial practices through a twofold arrangement of his work. Initially, he develops projects as individual narratives, each within a field of inquiry. These projects inform one another—their symbolic elements are then reenacted and incorporated, through his own and others’ curatorial activities, into later works, where they can acquire new meanings and qualities. Recurrent symbols include the panda, the rabbit named Josephine, and the broken glass or glass crystals.
Education
2011
MA Fine Art (Distinction) | Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design | London
2010
Postgraduate Certificate in Photography | Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design | London
2007
Foundation Diploma in Art and Design | London College of Communication
Selected individual exhibitions
2021
Tears of Iblis. All that is solid melts into air. | Rodríguez Gallery | Poznan
Marcel Duchamp smoking cigar in the museum | Rodríguez Gallery | Poznan
Suffer nothing to remain outsider | Nadan | Berlin
Where Do We Come From? Where Are We Now? Where Are We Going? | MMS2 | Berlin
2020
Nachricht vom letzten Menschen: The Mythology of Michal Martychowiec | Bublitz. Thesaurós. Uhlandstraße. | Berlin
Josephine, entering the maze | Bublitz. Thesaurós. Uhlandstraße. | Berlin
2019
Empty room | Spazio Cordis | Verona
Winter kept us warm | Migrant Bird Space | Berlin
2018
Everything about the contemporary is panda | Rodríguez Gallery | Warsaw
Between the two worlds, the respite, in which we are not | Lianzhou Foto | Lianzhou
Journey to the West | Signum Foundation Gallery | Lodz
Tears of Iblis | Signum Foundation Gallery | Lodz
What remains the poets provide | Signum Foundation Gallery | Lodz
Reading history | Signum Foundation Gallery | Lodz
Tears of Iblis | Migrant Bird Space | Beijing
The Nor’easter Blows | lithium gallery | Chicago
Do you believe in art? | MMS2 | Berlin
What do you desire? | Linde Contemporary Art | Qingdao
2017
What remains the poets provide | Art Museum of NUA | Nanjing
Sous les pavés, la plage! | De Sarthe Gallery | Beijing
2016
Engel mit Sphinx Gesichten | MMS2 | Berlin
Line | gif_lab Garage | Tokyo
Everything about the contemporary is panda | TAGSTA Gallery | Fukuoka
2015
All is history | Dzialdov | Berlin
2013
Vanito Vanitas | Genshagen Stiftung | Genshagen
La Chambre de Labastrie | galleria upp | Venice
In memory | Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle | Warsaw
In memory | site-specific installation at KO-SO-YU | Yamashiro Onsen, Kaga, Japan
2011
Blue Red Green | gift_lab | Tokyo
Nel mezzo del cammin | galleria upp | Venice
Stone in water | site-specific installation at Palazzo Rizzo Patarol | Boscolo Hotel | Venice
Destination | galleria upp | Venice
2010
Awake and Dream. Documentation /photographs and films/ | Patio Art Centre Lodz | 2nd Art & Documentation Festival
2009
Awake and Dream. Documentation /photographs and films/ | Palazzo Doná Signum Foundation | Venice
Selected group exhibitions
2022
MITbesSTIMMEn | Kunstverein Tiergarten – Galerie Nord | Berlin
Wild Culture | Rodríguez Gallery | Madrid
2021
Berlin Masters 2021 | Berlin Masters Foundation | Berlin
BLAST | Urbs Picta – Palazzo Poste | Verona
2020
Body. Gaze. Power. A Cultural History of the Bath | Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden
Escrituras Ácratas | Centro Párraga | Murcia
Persistence | Rodríguez Gallery | Warsaw
μυθοποίηση Tempel auf Zeit | Bublitz. Thesaurós. Uhlandstraße. | Berlin
2019
A Time for Farewells | Shrine Empire Gallery | New Delhi
To be played | Giardino Giusti | Verona
A Time for Farewells | Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery | Haverford (PA)
UNselect | Kleine Humboldt Galerie | Berlin
Do not break the Heavenly Seal | Signum Foundation Gallery | Lodz
Greetings | Videoinsight Foundation | Turin
2018
Where does your heart belong? | Weserburg Museum für moderne Kunst | Bremen
Flowing Books – Temporality | OCAT | Nanjing
On longing and consolation | Kunstenfestival Watou | Watou
Big Workout: AMNUA International Project III | Art Museum of NUA | Nanjing
Cabinet of True Horizons (How far can you see?) | Rodríguez Gallery | Poznan
What we talk about when we talk about Residence | Taifun | Neuss
3 | MMS3 | Chengdu
2017
The urge to create visions 1929-2017 | Centre of Polish Sculpture | Oronsko
Neon revolution | Videoinsight Center | Turin
Image Dream Awakening | MMS2 | Berlin
2016
Magic of the square | National Gallery of Art | Sopot
Illegibility. The contexts of script | Art Stations Foundation | Poznan
the beginning the end | MMS2 | Berlin
Illegibility. Palimpsests | Pan Tadeusz Museum | Wroclaw
Pure white | Galerie Tore Suessbier | Berlin
2015
Spacetime | 9th Biennial of Photography | Zamek Culture Centre | Poznan
Utopia – Preterites of Contemporaneity | Memorial Getúlio Vargas | Trio Biennial | Rio de Janeiro
Pré-Pénétrables | Signum Foundation Gallery | Lodz
Le gallerie veneziane e la fotografia | Casa dei Tre Oci | Venice
2014
I want to be a futurist | Videoinsight Center | Turin
When Empty Self Becomes Form | ts art projects | Berlin
Art for care: 11 video steps for your wellness – Format A/B | Videoinsight Center | Turin
2013
Pavilion 0 | Palazzo Doná | Venice
2012
FUTURE, LANDSCAPE. A changing exhibition. II Fase | Forte Marghera – Parco del Contemporaneo | Venice
2010
A theory of vision: A review | Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle | Warsaw
2009
Awake and Dream | Palazzo Doná Signum Foundation | Venice
Works in collections
OCAT | Nanjing
British Artists’ Film & Video Study Collection | London
Centre of Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle | Warsaw
C/O | Milan
Marval Collection | Milan
Coleccion Lazaro | Madrid
Signum Foundation | Venice/Poznan
Videoinsight Foundation | Turin
MMAT Collection | London
Valencia Polytechnic University | Valencia
Cruz-Diez Foundation | Houston
Siena Art Institute | Siena
Awards
(2022) Blueproject Foundation Prize | Barcelona
(2021) Berlin Masters Prize finalist | Berlin