Krzysztof Ślachciak (b. 1983) – visual artist, Doctor of Fine Arts, curator, and academic lecturer. Author of scholarly and popular science texts on photography, as well as the artbook “It's more likely, we're not special”. He has participated in over 100 exhibitions and photographic events.
In his artistic practice, he defines photography as an inherently subjective, recorded projection of a fragment of reality. Operating on the fringes of the medium, he creates syntheses of photography and photograms, projections, and photographic objects. His works address the position of humanity in relation to nature, drawing from his interest in cosmology and astrophysics.
He is an assistant professor (research and teaching staff) at the Faculty of Architecture of the Poznan University of Technology, where he runs the photography studio. His research interests focus on the semantics of the photographic image and its relationship with space. He is the author of the concept of the Native Features of Photography.
He develops his organizational activities within the Greater Poland District of the Association of Polish Art Photographers (ZPAF), where he serves as the President of the Board. He curates exhibitions based on original concepts of local, national, and international reach. In his organizational initiatives, he promotes intermedia activities and creative experimentation.
To date, he has presented his works at over 100 exhibitions and photographic events both in Poland and abroad, including at the PAcamera Gallery, Forum Fotografii, Stara Galeria ZPAF, Galeria Pusta, Galeria Obok ZPAF, as well as at festivals such as: the "Labirynt" New Art Festival in Słubice and Frankfurt (Oder), the Rybnik Photography Festival, Alternative Photography Days in Warsaw, the Eastern Photography Festival, and the Fotoperyferie Festival in Kielce. He is the author of the artbook “Bardziej prawdopodobne, że nie jesteśmy wyjątkowi”, as well as scientific and popular science articles. In November 2024, he defended his doctoral dissertation in the field of arts, titled “Native Qualities of Photography in the Critique of Anthropocentrism.”
Artistic Statement
If I were to sum up my creative activity in a single sentence, I would say it is a practice that explores the borderline between a subjective photographic image and a visual artwork based on the projection of a fragment of reality.
The intriguing nature of photography forms the basis for experiments that test its definitions and theoretical assumptions. The axis of this practice is, in essence, the process of perception. This stems from the observation that if we understand a given image as a photograph, we trust it to be an image of reality. Paradoxically, this happens despite the fact that we are often aware that this is not the case at all. And if we, as viewers, are able to bestow such trust upon an image, can we, as creators, exploit this trust for our own creation? Is a subjective image that retains the qualities of photography something conceptually autonomous? And if so, how is it understood by the recipient? Is it possible to extract the qualities that make a given work function as a photograph and stretch them beyond the boundaries of the image, or even utilize them in other media, thereby transferring the values arising from that trust?
Therefore, the photographs I present—if they can be defined as such at all—do not serve to transfer the world, but rather to foster a creativity for which the projection of a fragment of reality is merely a starting point.
Among my inspirations, you will primarily find the works of artists associated with the subjective photography movement: Bronisław Schlabs, Zdzisław Beksiński, Jerzy Lewczyński, Zbigniew Dłubak, Otto Steinert, Minor White, and Floris Neusüss, but also Edward Hartwig, Krzysztof Pruszkowski, Stanisław Woś, Józef Robakowski, and Wojciech Beszterda.
Krzysztof Ślachciak