This year marked the second edition of theinternational OKNOPLAST FOR ARTcompetition , organized by OKNOPLAST in cooperation with theMOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow. However, it was last year's edition that brought an award to a student from the Department of Interior Design and Scenography at the University of Arts in Poznan. The {tag:studenci} was the only student among the winners!
concept sketch
© Mateusz Sak
competition task
Thecompetition task was to create, in any technique and using any materials, a design for a work of art made on the window, but without modifying its frame or shape. In addition, the window could not be damaged. Thanks to such an open-ended task, the competition received a great deal of interest from artists and designers. A total of more than 200 works from both Poland and other countries were submitted. Each participant approached the "competition window" quite differently. The results of the competition were published on our portal: OKNOPLAST FOR ART 2023. The awarded works were realized and then presented at a post-competition exhibition in the Re Gallery at the MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Cracow.
sample - acrylic glass
© Mateusz Sak
photographic window
The main idea of the project was to refer to photography. Attention was drawn to the relationship between the transparency of the glass and the process of taking photographs. The window, as a frame, holds a certain image behind it, just as a photograph captures a given moment that becomes an object. These two aspects were combined, using photographic film from the family collection. Immortalized situations and moments of those closest to the author were enclosed in window frames, gaining a completely new form. Placing the subject inside the window allows the work to be perceived from every possible angle. This procedure alludes to the very act of viewing the negatives, where floating them to a source of light is replaced by enclosing them in a transparent plane.
realization
© Mateusz Sak
art installation
The main element of the work was to place the photographic films inside the glass panels. The realization of this idea turned out to be very complicated technologically. Therefore, OKNOPLAST Group invited the author of the project as the only one of the contest participants to its headquarters in Ochmanow near Krakow. After consultations with technologists, a decision was made to act on the glass before the final window was made.
realization
© Mateusz Sak
First, a thin layer of glue was placed on one side of the panes. Then negatives were added, which were placed side by side to form the final composition. The surface of both panes of glass was covered with more than 28 meters of 35mm wide photographic film, mixing the already used film with the previously unused film. The final step in the process was to add two more panes of glass and fuse the whole together, creating the final form of the window.
35mm photographic films
© Mateusz Sak
Thanks to the cooperation with OKNOPLAST Group , the project was realized as intended. In the course of the work, the photographic window gained additional meanings that had not been foreseen before. The constant exposure allowed the photos to become less clear, and the use of blank negatives refers to "unwritten" stories yet to be written. All of these factors are characterized by the changeability of content under the influence of time, which consolidates a living object that connects the past with the present.
