Piotr Urbaniec

Piotr Urbaniec - Avalanche

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Piotr Urbaniec’s research is focused on exploring issues such as weather performativity, politics of snow, ephemeral and site-specific interventions, choreography of natural phenomena. At DAS Theatre he is developing a project about avalanche, a topic that is his personal fascination. He is interested in the human relationship with snow and how this relation can potentially cause disaster. Piotr creates works which are based on scientific material, as well as on his little discoveries and experiments, spending time alone in the madly serene environment. With his project in theatre, he wants to challenge ideas about stability and balance, as well as use isolation in closed space - similar to nature - as a therapeutic instrument.

Avalanche

by Weronika Gogola

III.

fractals

are diffuse

the same formula

the same structure

infiltration

is the best way of breathing

maybe that’s why

years ago

they're putting

fractured minds of epochs

for the treatment

but

it’s not your case

you’re not here

for the same reason

you're just putting yourself on potential

offering sacrifice

without audience

II.

you're putting your body

on a glass of hill

glaze drops you out

from the frozen arms

you’re like a leaflet in the wind

meaningless throwaway human body

nothing to worry about

you even don’t have time to think

of the possibility

of an avalanche

I’m putting myself on potential

possibility

of changing linear space

snowflake as a fractal

maybe the same fractal as my body

the same fractal as my cells

so I’m putting myself

walking is the best way of breathing

breathing is the best way of thinking

down the hill

Piotr Urbaniec (1992, Krakow) currently lives and works in Amsterdam where he decided to stay after finishing his De Ateliers residency (2018-2020). He sees himself as a visual artist who makes art from almost nothing, experimenting with nature, ephemeral choreography and site-specific work, and he considers himself a lost relative of Richard Long. He graduated from the Miroslaw Balka’s Studio of Spatial Activities (PL). In 2016, he made his first solo exhibition at the U-jazdowski Castle Warsaw. Furthermore he contributed to group shows in Poland including at MoMA Warsaw, the Krolikarnia National Gallery of Art in Warsaw and the Center of Contemporary Art Laznia. Next to that, his work has been part of the Moscow International Biennale for Young Art 2018, the Yixian International Photography Festival 2017 (China) and Rencontres Internationales (Paris/Berlin). He recently adopted vortex and his interests shifted into a performative, focussed and “live element” environment. He debuted in the Frascati Theater (Amsterdam) in 2020 with the solo piece “Hurricane Piotr”, later expanding this work into the hour-long spectacle “Meteorological Exercises” during his residency in Komuna Warszawa (2020, program curated by Tim Etchells, Marta Keil and Grzegorz Reske).

Credits

Individual tutor: Lara Staal; Advisors: Gregg Smith, Ant Hampton; Outside eyes: Billy Mullaney; Made possible with a friendship contribution from Wojciech Grudziński; Made possible with a financial contribution from the ATD-Aart Janszen Fund.