Ryszard Dabek

Biography

Ryszard Dabek is an artist and academic who has exhibited both nationally and internationally. His artistic practice encompasses a number of forms and mediums, including photography, video, sound, and interactive media. These imaging and dissemination technologies are used to posit a fluid, expanded field of inquiry where the photographic image is often used as a departure point. Much of Dabek’s recent work coalesces around ideas engaged with the recent past and in particular the idea of a present haunted by the spectral vestiges of Modernity. In the second half of 2007 Dabek conducted a program of faculty-supported research in France and Poland that set out to explore the architecture of Le Corbusier and the Socialist Realist architecture of the postwar Soviet Bloc in relation to these ideas. Recent gallery-based work 'You Were There With Me; (2009) and 'Fader' (2008/09) have used the expanded temporality of sound and moving image to tease out the often hidden echoes of time that inhabit architectural and monumental forms.

In his work Dabek engages with a diverse spectrum of materials ranging from custom-pressed vinyl records to specially constructed video projection devices. In addition to his own artistic practice, Dabek has been actively involved in a number of key artist-run organisations. In this capacity he was a member of the directorial committee for firstdraft Gallery, and has developed websites for West Space (Melbourne) and Balugrau. More recently, he was member of the Loose Projects artist collective.

Research

Dabek's artistic practice encompasses a number of forms and mediums including photography, video, sound, writing and interactive media. These imaging and dissemination technologies are used to posit a fluid, expanded field of inquiry where the photographic image is often used as a departure point. To this end Dabek has often employed the strategy of seriality to explore the structures of display in relation to both the 'archive' and the history of art production.

Much of Dabek’s recent work coalesces around ideas engaged with the recent past, and in particular the idea of a present haunted by the spectral vestiges of Modernity. Recent gallery-based work 'You Were There With Me' (2009) and 'Fader' (2008/09) have used the expanded temporality of sound and moving image to tease out the often hidden echoes of time that inhabit architectural and monumental forms. In his work Dabek engages with a diverse spectrum of materials, ranging from custom-pressed vinyl records to specially constructed video projection devices. Dabek's recent practice has also engaged with the possibilities of real-time performance. Working with live computer-based video processing techniques Dabek collaborates with the group of improvising musicians Espadrille in an ongoing series of performance-based works.

Recent Exhibitions

You Were There With Me, Sydney, 2009

Species of Spaces, Westspace, Melbourne, 2009

Fader, SCA Gallery, Sydney, 2008

Between, Loose Projects, Sydney, 2007

Disappearer, Pelt, Sydney, 2006

In Cold Light, Centre for Contemporay Photography, Melbourne, 2006

Closer, photomedia/sound, Scott Donovan Gallery, Sydney, 2005

The Emptiness Project, photomedia/video, Scott Donovan Gallery, Sydney, 2004

Little Eyes, Move on Asia, Video Art Festival, Seoul, 2004

Modus Operandi, Centre for Contemporay Photography, Melbourne, 2002

Publications

'The Past Inside the Present: Tacita Dean', Eyeline #70, 2010, 08188734

'Species of Spaces', catalogue, 2009, 97980646515045

'Wade Marynowsky: on the edge of the Uncanny Valley', Art Monthly Australia #209, 2009, 10334025

'(When you wake) you're still in a dream', Art Monthly Australia #212, 2008, 10334025

'The Profusion of Instances', AAANZ, conference paper, 2008

'Where Are We Now', Elastic Artist Group, Sydney, 2003

Research Supervision

Elizabeth Eastland, PhD, 'The terror of the sublime: The significance of uncertainty in creative endeavour.'

Wen Wu, MVA

Awards & Grants

2001 Australia Council for the Arts: Visual Arts/Craft Board New Work Grant

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