Tomasz Madajczak

No Space

      The project started short after the pandemic of the Covid-19 was announced. I was ready to install and show my post residency installation, engaging the artists of The Guesthouse collective and the audience in Cork City. Two days before the opening, we were told that no public gatherings are allowed and our event has been cancelled. It was very frustrating at the time and the creative energy had to find its way forward. I applied for Covid-19 supportive funding, to develop series of art collaborations with artists from Ireland and Internationally. I received the funding and my project started as a multimedia installation in my private studio in West Cork. The work-in progress title of the project was “The Space In-between”, based on the search of establishing strong base for meaningful, deep collaboration. I invited artists from Ireland, England, Sweden, Poland, Australia and Pakistan. Over last seven months the collaborations allowed for creation of films, photographs, paintings, drawings, installations and performances. The last collaboration is going to be finalised towards the end of December. Selected material from the collaborations were shown in Sweden, Germany, Poland, Austarial and Ireland. Most of my collaborations are recorded on a website of the Uillinn West Cork Art Centre, where I was granted a residency once the restrictions allowed for small public gatherings and limited public engagement.

     The project has evolved and was called “No Space”, as a question related to the situation of the pandemic and the fact that people weren’t supposed to meet physically. The question was directed towards the fact that people started depending more and more on the digital media, at some point almost everything was being shown and communicated throughout the internet and social media. All communication was happening through zoom and other dedicated platforms. Many performances and public events were shown through the internet, lots wasn’t shown at all, public performances were cancelled, addressed in talks and questionnaires, but never presented to the public. I was trying to share as much as possible of the created work. Most of the sharing happened through the internet, sporadically when the regulations allowed for solitary circulation of individuals through the art centre, I was getting visitors and some people attended open studio talks and performances. 

At this point I’m starting to reflect upon lots of art work that has been created, documented, recorded and which is being generated during the vigorous time of the last seven months of my art collaborations. There is a lot of video material to process, lots of photographs, texts, sound recordings. The communication with some of the artists is still very potent and it creates new openings, new spaces, questions about possible development of the existing work.

© Tomasz Madajczak