Art as Energy: Józef Robakowski from the Workshop of Film Form to Video Performance and Energy Recordings
- Submitting institution
-
The University of Westminster
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- qq326
- Type
- D - Journal article
- DOI
-
10.17892/app.2019.0009.135
- Title of journal
- Apparatus: Film, Media and Digital Cultures of Central and Eastern Europe
- Article number
- -
- First page
- 0
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- -
- ISSN
- 2365-7758
- Open access status
- Compliant
- Month of publication
- December
- Year of publication
- 2019
- URL
-
http://www.apparatusjournal.net/index.php/apparatus/article/view/135/450
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
0
- Research group(s)
-
-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This peer reviewed 8,000 word article engages with the work of Józef Robakowski, one of the most important Polish experimental filmmakers and video artists, whose work, while acknowledged in some accounts of international video art, is yet to receive the recognition it deserves. This article reads his work from a contemporary perspective, focusing on how prescient it was in terms of associating film and video practice with energy, anticipating contemporary theories of biopolitics and post-humanism. It traces Robakowski’s work from the collective Workshop of Film Form project, and provides readings of some of his key works. Archival research is supplemented by an also published in-depth interview with the artist.
Key findings of the article are that Robakowski’s work is uniquely inter-medial and crosses film, video, television and installation practices. Other key findings involve the situation of experimental film and video practices in the contexts of state socialism and post-communist transition; this involves a nuanced reading of the politics of Robakowski’s practice which, despite an avowed apolitical or anti-communist stance, has radical materialist implications. Through the readings of key works like “I’m Going”, (1973) “Art is Power”, (1985) and “The Energy Manifesto” (2003), as meta statements on the artist’s approach to film and video as ‘energy recordings’, the article show the relevance of his work for contemporary artistic practices and theoretical debates.
This article’s publication redresses the lack of contemporary English language scholarship on this crucial figure. Furthermore, its use of an in-depth interview with the artist provides unique insights into the cultural context of Poland before and after post-communist transition. The article contributes new knowledge in contemporary debates about video art and its histories, given the neglect of Eastern European artists in these histories, and the relevance of Robakowski’s practice for contemporary art practices.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -
