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 First Draft, and has developed websites for West Space (Melbourne) and Balugrau. More recently, he was member of the Loose projects artist collective.

Solo Exhibitions

2007
Between, Loose Projects, Sydney
2006
Disappearer, Pelt, Sydney
2005
Closer, photomedia/sound, Scott Donovan Gallery, Sydney
2004
The Emptiness Project, photomedia/video, Scott Donovan Gallery, Sydney
2003
1989, interactive CD-ROM, E-MEDIA gallery, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne
2001
Eurotrash, digital/photo media, Scott Donovan Gallery, Sydney
Eurotrash 2001, digital/photo media, Westspace, Melbourne
2000
There, digital/photo media, Blaugrau, Sydney
Problem Aphids, sound installation, Briefcase, Sydney
1998
HOME, photomedia/sound installation/website, Platform, Melbourne
HOME (again), photomedia installation/website, South Gallery, Sydney
1997
Kolour Solutions, photomedia installation, Pendulum, Sydney
Kolour Solutions II, photomedia installation, West Space, Melbourne

Screenings

2007
PLAYLIST (vers.2), digital video 9mins 07 secs D>Art 07, DLux Media national touring program.
2006
PLAYLIST, digital video 8mins 47 secs, with live soundtrack performed by John Encarnacao. Tomorrow, again, Artspace, Sydney
2005
who falls, was, digital video 11 mins 50 secs, with live soundtrack performed by John Encarnacao & Brendan Smyly, Look Now, Mori Gallery.
Motet ,collaborative twin channel sound/video performance with minus 11 error, Look Now, Mori Gallery Sydney
who falls, was (pt 2), digital video 4 mins 48secs, D>Art 05, DLux Media national touring program.
2004
who falls, was (pt 2), digital video 4 mins 48secs, Black Box, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney
Little Eyes, digital video & animation, 5 mins 6 secs, Move on Asia, Video Art Festival, Seoul, Korea
2003
System, digital video, 5mins 17 secs, Landscape, West Space, Melbourne
2002
Some Light industrial Buildings, digital video 1min 7 secs, Lifestyle Channel, Scott Donovan Gallery

Group Exhibitions

2006
In Cold Light, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne
Loose, Loose Projects, Sydney
2005
The Lake Project, Taipei Artist Village, Taipei Taiwan
Early Fabricated, Peloton, Sydney
2004
Junket, Instituto de Cultura de Baja California, Tijuana Mexico
RE:GROUP, Scott Donovan Gallery, Sydney
2003
Arcanum, First Draft, Sydney
Anywhere Now, in association with the Samuel Beckett symposium, Scott Donovan Gallery, Sydney
Avoiding the Eye Area, mop gallery, Sydney
2002
Modus Operandi, joint exhibition with Anne Kay, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne
sic (but true), Sydney College of the Arts Gallery, Uni. of Sydney
2001
Vanishing Point, Blaugrau, Sydney
Art Music, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
2000
Vinyl, Blaugrau, Sydney

Key Publications

2003
Where Are We Now? essay in Elastic Printed Project, Elastic Artist Group, Sydney 2003
Review of work in Anywhere Now by Lenny Ann Low, with reproductions, Sydney Morning Herald 18/1/03
2002
Confusion is Vexed, essay on Johannes Klabbers “a limited catalogue of endless things” exhibition catalogue, Wagga Wagga Art Gallery
2000
Digital Art I am Little Confused, essay in Artists Write, West Space

Awards

2001
Australia Council, VACB, New Work grant

All material is copyright of the author, and written permission must be obtained for any reproduction in whole or in part.
For more information see the University of Sydney copyright disclaimer.