Bio
Tomasz Szerszeń (b. 1981) – visual artist, photographer, anthropologist and writer.
Graduate of Photography Department in Film School in Łódź and Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities at the Warsaw University, PhD. Member of the editorial staff of “Konteksty” quarterly, one of the co-founders of “View. Theories and Practices of Visual Culture” quarterly. Assistant Professor at the Institute of Art, Polish Academy of Sciences.
Author of books: Wszystkie wojny świata (2021), Oświecenie, czyli tu i teraz (2021), Architecture of Survival (2017), Podróżnicy bez mapy i paszportu (2015), Neorealism in Polish Photography 1950-1970 (2015).
Curator of the exhibitions What is Enlightenment? at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (2018, with Łukasz Ronduda and Goshka Macuga) and Transfert at the Galeria Studio (with Dorota Jarecka, Natalia Andrzejewska and Teodor Ajderem), co-author of the theatre installation Hiroshima/Love at the Biennale Warszawa (2019, dir. Julia Holewińska).
In my artistic projects I usually work with archives concentrating on afterlife of images, potential stories, margins of history, but also on relation between photography and literature. I’m also fascinated by ephemeral, nomadic forms of architecture as well as contemporary forms of archaic living.
I live and work in Warsaw.
Contact: tomasz.szerszen81@gmail.com
Instagram: @tomekszerszen
Individual Exhibitions:
Architecture of Transition, Parade-Fest, Yuriy Shevalov Residency, Kharkiv (2021)
The Eye-Chamber, (with Marek Piasecki), Fundacja Archeologia Fotografii (Archeology of Photography Foundation), Warsaw (2019-2020)
Constellations 3, Galeria Asymetria, Warsaw (2016)
Dream Photography, Indie Photography Gallery, Tel Aviv (2015)
History of the Cinema and Other Stories, Galeria Asymetria, Warsaw (2015)
You. Me. Things, Fundacja Archeologia Fotografii (Archeology of Photography Foundation), Warsaw (2012)
Warsaw / Lives / Ruins, (with Krzysztof Pijarski), Fundacja Archeologia Fotografii (Archeology of Photography Foundation), Warsaw (2012)
I Was the First Polish Surrealist! Works From 1929-39, Galeria Wymiany, Łódź (2010)
Main Group Shows:
The Island, o/b/c/y, Warsaw (2021)
Empty Sign / Archive, Wolskie Centrum Kultury – Galeria Asymetria, Warsaw (2019)
Transfert, Galeria Studio, Warsaw (2019)
Love. Hope. Faith. In Honour of…, Exhibitions Bureau / Polish Modern Art Foundation, Warsaw (2019)
Tango on 16 Square Metres, Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, Warsaw (2018)
Fotofestiwal – International Festival of Photography in Łódź, Photographic Publication of the Year, Łódź (2018)
Non-Ready-Mades in the Photographer’s Archive, Galeria Asymetria, Warsaw (2018)
Self-identification, Fort Institute of Photography, Warsaw (2017)
Young Poland – Afterimages of Reality, Ludwig Muzeum, Budapest (2016)
Young Poland – Afterimages of History, Muzej Istorije Jugoslavije, Belgrade (2016)
Der Koffer – Walizka, Exhibition Bureau, Warsaw (2016)
Der Koffer – Walizka, Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Berlin (2016)
Nowa Moderna – Jeune Creation Polonaise, 19, Quai Malaquais, Paris (2016)
Worth Remembering! A Tribute to Jerzy Lewczyński: An Attempt of a New Psychogeography of Art, Galeria Asymetria, Warsaw (2015)
Exquisite Corpse of Polish Photography, BWA Awangarda, Wrocław (2015)
Paris Photo 2014, Grand Palais, Paris (2014)
Migrating University of Mickiewicz, Adam Mickiewicz Museum, Istanbul (2014)
Deliberations on Economics Cooked Up In the Back Room. 30 Years of Wschodnia Gallery, Muzeum Sztuki, Łódź (2014)
Salone Internationale del Mobile, Milano (2014)
Reminiscences / Hippocampus, Galeria Asymetria, Warsaw (2013)
Paris Photo 2013, Grand Palais, Paris (2013)
A Photo of the City. Warsaw Photography and Related Forms of Art from the End of WWII Until Now, Nowy Teatr, Warsaw (2013)
Collage Group Show, Galerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris (2013)
20latfotografiipwsftvit, Ośrodek Propagandy Sztuki, Łódź (2013)
Time of Collage, Galeria Kordegarda, Warsaw (2013)
Paris Photo 2012, Grand Palais, Paris (2012)
No myths barred, Galeria Asymetria, Warsaw (2012)
Photo-design 2. City. Mass. Machine, Galeria Asymetria, Warsaw (2012)
Architecture of the 21st century, Fundacja Bęc Zmiana, Biblioteka Narodowa, Warsaw (2011)
Street Photography Now!, Muzeum Drukarstwa Warszawskiego, Warsaw (2011)
Home at the Photography, Miejska Galeria Sztuki, Częstochowa (2010)
Icons of Freedom, Mazowieckie Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej „Elektrownia”, Radom (2007)
Group Show, Galeria Luksfera, Warsaw (2004)
Curator of the Exhibitions:
Transfert, (with Dorota Jarecka, Natalia Andrzejewska, Teodor Ajder), Galeria Studio, Warsaw (2019)
What Is Enlightenment?, (with Łukasz Ronduda and Goshka Macuga), Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Warsaw (2018)
Marek Piasecki, Roger Ballen, Reels of Imagination (with Rafał Lewandowski and Jakub Śwircz), Galeria Asymetria, Warsaw (2014)
Migrating Streets of Muranów, Centre for Yiddish Culture, Stacja Muranów, Warsaw (2013)
Marek Piasecki, No myths barred (with Rafał Lewandowski), Galeria Asymetria, Warsaw (2013)
Books:
Wszystkie wojny świata, słowo/obraz terytoria – Instytut Sztuki PAN, Gdańsk – Warsaw 2021.
Oświecenie, czyli tu i teraz, ed. with Łukasz Ronduda, Karakter – Museum of Modern Art, Kraków – Warsaw 2021.
Architecture of Survival, Fundacja Asymetria, Warsaw 2017.
Podróżnicy bez mapy i paszportu [Journey without a Map and Passport], słowo/obraz terytoria, Gdańsk 2015.
Neorealism in Polish Photography 1950-1970, ed. with Rafał Lewandowski, Fundacja Asymetria, Warsaw 2015.
Scholarships:
Ministry of Culture and National Heritage Scholarship (2007, 2013, 2019)
Warsaw City Artistic Scholarship (2010)
French Government Scholarship (2006, 2008, 2012)
Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities (2016)
Foundation for Polish Science Scholarship (2010)