Ryszard Dabek

Research

Ryszard Dabek is an artist and academic who has exhibited both nationally and internationally. His artistic practice encompasses a number of forms and mediums including photography, video, sound, and interactive media. These imaging and dissemination technologies are used to posit a fluid, expanded field of inquiry where the photographic image is often used as a departure point. To this end Dabek has often employed the strategy of seriality to explore the structures of display in relation to both the “archive” and the history of (post)modern art production. Much of Dabek’s recent work coalesces around ideas engaged with the recent past and in particular the idea of a present haunted by the spectral vestiges of Modernity. In the second half of 2007 Dabek conducted a program of faculty supported research in France and Poland that set out to explore the architecture of Le Corbusier and the Socialist Realist architecture of the post war Soviet Bloc in relation to these ideas. Recent gallery based work Closer (2005), the video/sound installations Disappearer (2006) and Between (2007) have all used the expanded temporality of sound and moving image to tease out the often hidden echoes of time that inhabit a variety of forms. In each of these works Dabek has enaged a diverse spectrum of materials ranging from custom pressed vinyl records to specially constructed video projection devices. In addition to his own artistic practice Dabek has been actively involved in a number of key artist-run organisations for over a decade. In this capacity he was a member of the directorial committee for firstdraft Gallery, and has developed websites for West Space (Melbourne) and Balugrau. More recently, he was member of the Loose Projects artist collective.

Solo Exhibitions

Between, Loose Projects, Sydney, 2007

Disappearer, Pelt, Sydney, 2006

Closer, photomedia/sound, Scott Donovan Gallery, Sydney, 2005

The Emptiness Project, photomedia/video, Scott Donovan Gallery, Sydney, 2004

1989, interactive CD-ROM, E-MEDIA gallery, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, 2003

Eurotrash, digital/photo media, Scott Donovan Gallery, Sydney, 2001

Eurotrash, digital/photo media, Westspace, Melbourne, 2001

There, digital/photo media, Blaugrau, Sydney, 2000

Problem Aphids, sound installation, Briefcase, Sydney, 2000

HOME, photomedia/sound installation/website, Platform, Melbourne, 1998

HOME (again), photomedia installation/website, South Gallery, Sydney, 1998

Kolour Solutions, photomedia installation, Pendulum, Sydney, 1997

Kolour Solutions II, photomedia installation, West Space, Melbourne, 1997

Recent Screenings

PLAYLIST (vers.2), digital video 9mins 7secs D>Art 07, DLux Media national touring program, 2007

PLAYLIST, digital video 8mins 47secs, with live soundtrack performed by John Encarnacao, ‘Tomorrow, Again’, Artspace, Sydney, 2006

who falls, was, digital video 11mins 50secs, with live soundtrack performed by John Encarnacao & Brendan Smyly, ‘Look Now’, Mori Gallery, 2005

Motet, collaborative twin channel sound/video performance with minus 11 error, ‘Look Now’, Mori Gallery Sydney, 2005

who falls, was (pt 2), digital video 4mins 48secs, D>Art 05, DLux Media national touring program, 2005

who falls, was (pt 2), digital video 4mins 48secs, Black Box, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney, 2004

Little Eyes, digital video & animation, 5mins 6secs, ‘Move on Asia’, Video Art Festival, Seoul, Korea, 2004

System, digital video, 5mins 17secs, ‘Landscape’, West Space, Melbourne, 2003

Some Light industrial Buildings, digital video 1min 7secs, ‘Lifestyle Channel’, Scott Donovan Gallery, 2002


Group Exhibitions

In Cold Light, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne

Loose, Loose Projects, Sydney, 2006

The Lake Project, Taipei Artist Village, Taipei Taiwan, 2005

Early Fabricated, Peloton, Sydney, 2005

Junket, Instituto de Cultura de Baja California, Tijuana Mexico, 2004

RE:GROUP, Scott Donovan Gallery, Sydney, 2004

Arcanum, First Draft, Sydney, 2003

Anywhere Now, in association with the Samuel Beckett Symposium, Scott Donovan Gallery, Sydney, 2003

Avoiding the Eye Area, mop gallery, Sydney, 2003

Modus Operandi, joint exhibition with Anne Kay, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, 2002

sic (but true), Sydney College of the Arts Gallery, Sydney, 2002

Vanishing Point, Blaugrau, Sydney, 2001

Art Music, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2001

Vinyl, Blaugrau, Sydney, 2000

Publications

‘Where Are We Now?’ essay in Elastic Printed Project, Elastic Artist Group, Sydney, 2003

‘Confusion is Vexed’, essay on Johannes Klabbers a limited catalogue of endless things, exhibition catalogue, Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, 2002

‘Digital Art I Am Little Confused’, essay in Artists Write, West Space, 2000



Awards & Grants

2001 Australia Council for the Arts: Visual Arts/Craft Board New Work Grant

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