BOWNIK »
Gamers
Exhibition: 4 Sep – 25 Oct 2009
Yours Gallery Foundation
Krakowskie Przedmiescie 33
00-071 Warszawa
+48 22-8909500
gallery@yoursgallery.com
www.yoursgallery.com
moving to Budapest
BOWNIK: Gamers 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. 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 is 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 fulfill 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 create a very interesting and detailed picture. Bownik / 1977 / lives and works in Warsaw In his work, he concentrates on the influence of technological phenomena on everyday life. He records changes resulting from using electronical equipment, as well as its private adaptations that reflect the need to keep up electronic activity. He documents and reconstructs the Cyber Environment, its influence and civilizational reflections, transgressing the image of modernity and the utilitarian sterility of electronic space.