Appliances (photos) / Urządzenia, 2006

Series of panoramic photos, 100x28 cm, depicting people, who made/constructed something for their own use. The constructors demonstrating their constructions and objects in their homes or working environment.

Exhibitions:
2006 Lukasz Skapski, „Lodz Biennial”, Lodz, Poland

Appliances / Urządzenia, 2006

A film: people present various appliances for everyday use that they have constructed for their own needs.

Exhibitions:
2006 Lukasz Skapski, „Grey Area”, Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, Poland
2006 Lukasz Skapski, „Lodz Biennial of Contemporary Art”, Lodz, Poland

Machines / Maszyny, 2005-2006

A series of photographs of tractors made by farmers for their own use

Maszyny – jazda / Machines - Ride, 2006
A video film. Driving self-made tractors

Maszyny 1 – Kierowcy / Machines 1 - Drivers, 2006
A video film. Owners of self-made tractors praise their vehicles

Maszyny 2 – Konstruktorzy i Gawędziarze / Machines 2 – Constructors and Raconteurs, 2006
A video film. Constructors and owners of hand-made tractors talk abort their machines

In 1982, in the village of Zasań by Myślenice, I witnessed an attempt to start a ploughing engine for potatoes. It was hand-made by a farmer, who used the parts of a SHL motorbike. It had an absurd look: the handgrip was at the back of the motorbike, the rear wheel was missing, instead there was a ploughshare; propulsion was moved to the front on the metal stern wheel, obviously taken from an agricultural machine. I watched the farmer’s struggle with disbelief. I didn’t think it could work. I had seen hand-made engines in villages before, and I thought that they would be worth recording. […]
I didn’t mean it as an ethnological project, or an attempt to document achievements in agrarian technology. I didn’t think of Terrific Photograms or how to incorporate those pictures into art. I simply wanted to immortalize those unbelievable machines in photographs.
[...]
As a contribution to the knowledge of agricultural mechanization in Poland, I number the reasons – which the highlanders shared with me – why they prefer engines to horses:
1. A horse must be fed all year through, which requires a lot of money and work (mowing of meadows for hay, everyday feeding, removal of muck). A tractor just stands there, if you need to go somewhere, you pour petrol and off you go.
2. A tractor fitted with the weakest Andoria engine can tow as much load as two horses would.
3. If the tractor is fitted with a mower, you don’t have to mow by hand.
4. You have to walk after the horse uphill, but you drive the tractor.
5. Horses get bitten by gadflies and take fright, keeping them still is troublesome and time-consuming. Moreover, horses attract gadflies that also bite people working in the field.
6. Tractors make work faster, easier, and more effective.
[...]
The Bechers’ work is saturated perhaps not with affirmation but with a kind of fascination with the passing world of old buildings and industrial installations that constitute a relic of the period of the expansion of capitalism, which was the foundation of contemporary corporate system. My interest in the individual production of Polish farmers, however, was stimulated by its, as I believe, anti-corporate character. Here I must explain why I use the term “anti-corporate” for actions resulting from resourcefulness and lack of opportunity to purchase small agricultural machines. Specific social, political and economic conditions prevailing in the communist period in the entire Eastern Bloc, including the People’s Republic of Poland, must be taken into consideration.
Bearing in mind that almost all means of production were state-owned and that capital was controlled by the state alone, I assume that real socialism can be treated as state capitalism. State capitalism – in other words, a monopolistic mega-corporation controlling all aspects of social and economic life, and regarding private ownership of land as well as small farmers as competition and political threat. Not without a reason, as newest history has demonstrated. Private ownership of land helped Polish farmers gain independence of the state and was an indirect reason for the collapse of the communist system.
Farm production of agricultural machines was an aspect of that independence, their free will and resourcefulness. It was tangible evidence of a gap in the system and the way it could be used. And, considering the conditions of that time, anti-corporate activity.
[...]
All these machines are compiled of parts taken from a variety of vehicles, put together to serve specific purposes. Functional design, or construction rather than design. To what extent were these machines designed and built according to the liking of their constructors, to what extent did taste and resourcefulness in decorating (“designing”) influence their production? As the photographs show, the creators’ attitudes towards design were very different. Some machines have ornamental dummies, some are named, or painted in many colours, etc. The style largely depends on the time of construction. The parts were obtained in scrap yards, which means that the machines were mostly old-fashioned (going 10 to 25 years back). Some tractors, though, have no ornaments, covers, or even mudguards. No comfort, sheer utility. Paradoxically, it is these machines that are exceptional, somehow they are more attractive than the embellished ones. Perhaps that is because they bear no relation to the tastes of their constructors.
Łukasz Skąpski, Seria i typologia jako metoda w sztuce, PhD dissertation, Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan, 2005

In the summer of 2005, Skąpski created photographic documentation of some 150 tractors and other machines built by farmers from the Podhale mountain region; the photographs were accompanied by video documentation and an interview in which the machine owners answered various kinds of questions [...].
The home-made farming machines are beautifully ingenious. And then, their hideousness cannot go unnoticed. The material gathered by Skąpski suggests very diverse strategies on the part of the constructors. Some embellished their creations, mounting decorative grilles, painting the machines in various colours etc., while others did nothing of the sort, satisfied with the pure functionality of the construction. Stylistically, however, all shared a certain anachronic character resulting from the simple fact that they were made with junk parts originating from much older machines. The era of self-made machines came to an end in the early 1990s when the PGR state farms were dissolved and sold out their tractor and machine stock making household production unviable.
The series Machines doesn’t belong to the cold world of the Bechers and their Anonymous Sculptures and Typology of Technical Construction.
Marek Wasilewski, The Machines, translated by Marcin Wawrzyńczak, “Piktogram” no. 3 2006

My intention was to present the unparalleled amounts of energy that people can gather in unfavourable circumstances.
Łukasz Skąpski, comment on the exhibition “Maszyny,” Galeria Potocka, Cracow, www.moma.pl

The common feature is the hope cherished by people living in various places, struggling with unsatisfactory living conditions. The films show the resourcefulness of Poles in the difficult times of the People’s Republic of Poland.
Magdalena Ujma, note on the exhibition “Łukasz Skąpski. Recent Video Works,” Location One, Nowy Jork, www.location1.org/artists/skapski.html

Exhibitions
2005 “Machines,” Galeria ON, Poznan
2006 “Łukasz Skąpski. Recent Video Works,” Location One, Nowy Jork, USA
2006 “Machines”, Galeria Potocka, Cracow
2006 “Machines”, Galeria Rzasy, Zakopane
2006 “Machines”, Fons Welters Gallery, Amsterdam

Bibliography
Łukasz Skąpski, Seria i typologia jako metoda w sztuce, PhD dissertation, Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan, 2005

Marek Wasilewski, Maszyny, “Piktogram” no. 3 2006
Artur Czubkowski, Kategorie maszyn, „Czas Kultury“, no. 2, 2006

Untitled / Bez tytułu, 2006

Lancia Kappa
Leksus 330
Mercedes S
Mercedes CL
BMW 7(1)
BMW 7(2)
BMW 5
Porsche Cayenne
Audi 8
Volvo XC90

A series of 10 paintings, car varnish on metal plate, each painted by a professional car workshop, each with a scratch made with a nail, keys, or other sharp objects. Each plate is in a colour of a particular luxury car.

The work has a political hint: Polish citizens are deprived of any actual influence on politics between the elections. The politicians once elected are beyond the social control. The only thing a citizen may do is to scratch their car.

Exhibitions:
2006 Lukasz Skapski, „Grey Area”, Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, Poland

The Mazurka / Mazurek, 2006

Sound installation. Polish national anthem, Dąbrowski’s Mazurka, performed by Łukasz Skąpski on mouth harmonica

The Authors’ Association ZAiKS informed the artist that the copyright for the Polish national anthem had expired, which meant that he could play it in public for free, provided that he performed it himself.
Lukasz Skapski, authorial comment, 2006

Exhibitions:
2006 Lukasz Skapski, „Grey Area”, Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, Poland

Bottom / Żyć, 2006

A video film: Polish highlanders talk in rough terms about politics

Exhibitions:
2006 Lukasz Skapski, „Grey Area”, Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, Poland

The Film, 2006

A film about making a film. An actor talks about a screenplay for a film about artists who are going to rob a bank, record the robbery, and – if it isn’t successful – sell the rights to the film.

Exhibitions
2006 “Lukasz Skapski. Recent Video Works,” Location One, New York, USA
2006 Lukasz Skapski, „Grey Area”, Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, Poland

Pixels / Piksele, 2006

A series of colour printouts each featuring a magnified pixel from a photograph of the sky

2006 “Alien Sky,” Żak Gallery, Berlin, Germany

…a novelty, complete monochromatism, as in Yves Klein, was achieved in abstract-looking photographs of the sky. I have the intention of splitting my photographs in pixels and selling them 10 euro each.
Łukasz Skąpski talking to Ewa Łączyńska and Marta Lisok, June 2006, typescript

Exhibitions
2006 „Alien Sky”, Żak Gallery, Berlin, Germany

Fuel / Paliwo, 2006

A film made up of found footages, featuring explosions taken out of Hollywood films - assembled climaxes of action films. The film brings up obvious political associations.

It’s baroque minimalism.
Łukasz Skąpski talking to Ewa Łączyńska and Marta Lisok, June 2006, typescript

Exhibitions
2006 “Lukasz Skapski. Recent Video Works,” Location One, New York, USA
2006 Lukasz Skapski, „Grey Area”, Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, Poland

Riding at Anchor, 2006

Animation of an anchoring yacht on rough water, made of ca. 800 digital photographs. The yacht is drawning in the end.

Exhibitions
2006 “Lukasz Skapski. Recent Video Works,” Location One, New York, USA
2006 Lukasz Skapski, „Grey Area”, Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, Poland

Letter to President / List do Prezydenta, 2005

Łukasz Skapski, invited to an event dedicated to artists in the Presidential Palace, submitted in the chancellery a letter to Aleksander Kwaśniewski. He received no reply.

Cracow, 14th February 2005

Mr. Aleksander Kwaśniewski
President of the Republic of Poland

Dear Mr. Kwaśniewski

In recent years, my colleagues and I have represented Poland, or – strictly speaking - Polish art, in numerous exhibitions in Europe, and lately in France during celebrations of the Polish Year. I have attended these events not only as an artist, but also as a Polish citizen, a person living in this country, and a representative of Polish culture.

This has inevitably made me wonder about the meaning of the phrase “a representative of Polish culture,” and, consequently, reflect on the advancing erosion of such values as “nation,” “patriotism,” “good citizenship,” “reason of state,” and the ensuing national pride. One could ask, does a nation need to be proud? I believe that pride is necessary for the proper functioning of society. The lack of it results in dangerous substitute phenomena that take its place, such as chauvinism, xenophobia, or nationalism.

What basis can there be for national pride in contemporary Poland? I find it much easier to define the reasons why Polish people cannot, or – at least – should not, be proud.

Being a Polish citizen, one cannot be proud of:
- honesty of compatriots (deceit and theft are commonplace),
- education of society (the majority of Poles do not understand what they read),
- social awareness (social acceptance of corruption, political egoism influencing political choices),
- good organization of social life (no sense of community apart from corporate identity),
- citizen society (social and political apathy, no sense of responsibility for the country),
- quality of work (depravity reaching back to the Partitions in the 18th century, strengthened during the Second World War and the communist period),
- social tolerance (xenophobia, provincial chauvinism),
- national features (cunning, envy).

Polish legislature and administration do not give reasons to be proud, either.
I personally doubt if one can take pride in:
- Polish law (inconsistent, faulty and ineffectively enforced),
- judiciary (political, incompetent or corrupted),
- effectiveness of prosecution (see above),
- tax system (harmful to enterprise),
- economic politics (high budget deficit, no rational plans for the future),
- privatization (carried out fraudulently),
- national economy (badly administrated, costly, a base of posts for the ruling party),
- enterprise development (hampered by bad law),
- law and Office’s respect for private possession (arbitrary),
- state administration (incompetent, too big, nepotistic, a base of posts for the ruling party),
- members of parliament (badly educated, rude, pursuing their private interests, interested mainly in their salaries if not bribes),
- politicians (arrogant manners both on the left and the right sides, corrupted, taking Poland as electoral loop),
- civil service (if it at all exists, partiality),
- social control over politicians (none),
- national health service (incompetent, corrupted),
- education system (low quality of teaching, negative selection of teachers because of low pay),
- higher education (archaic curricula, poor and corrupted staff employed for life),
- Polish science (underfinanced, contributory achievements),
- armed forces (incapable of ensuring the country’s security),
- security forces (partial, used for the benefit of the ruling parties),
- the country’s beauty (ugly and chaotic buildings which I wouldn’t dare call architecture, no urban planning),
- transport (deplorable state of roads and railway),
- national mass media (partial, unreliable, and commercialized public television),
- Polish church (extremely conservative, often openly anti-Semitic).

I cannot assume that Polish authorities, including President, do not appreciate the problems listed above which cause any mention of Polish national pride to sound like a joke. I wish I could trust that the authorities will take action to improve the condition of the state in every realm that they are responsible for.

In my creative work, I like to refer to the world surrounding me, which is why, as an artist, I am posing this question: What can a contemporary Pole be proud of?

Having accepted your invitation to meet culture producers, I would like to take the opportunity and ask you, Mr. President, to dispel as the Head of State and the representative of the Nation my doubts.

There is a notion in contemporary art, which I agree with, that it is the artist’s duty to raise social awareness in order to improve the world. I dare suggest that you, Mr. President, temporarily assume the role of an artist and join my critical art project. I would like to ask you to compile a list of more or less important reasons for Polish people to be proud of being Polish citizens, members of the Nation, of their country.

Yours sincerely,
Łukasz Skąpski


The project included the letter I submitted in the chancellery, to which there was no reply. I had this idea when Azorro got invited to the Presidential Palace to meet culture producers. I wrote a letter to the President of the Republic of Poland. I meant to hand it personally but I didn’t get a chance. I left it in the correspondence register in the chancellery. There was no reply.
Łukasz Skąpski, authorial comment, 2006

Bibliography
Łukasz Skąpski, „Grey Area“ catalogue, Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, 2006

Cracow Guide – part 1-3, 2005 / Przewodnik po Krakowie – cz.1-3

The films present districts of tower blocks erected in the previous century which take up ninety per cent of the city area. The artist recorded opinions of random people that he came across in the vicinity of their homes. The project is going to include four films, each of which will refer to another part of Cracow.

Przewodnik po Krakowie/Cracow Guide is a video film showing all huge districts in the north, east and south of Cracow. People who live their talk about them. Asked whether they like their district, almost everyone replied that it is beautiful. However, nearly everybody emphasized the fact that they don’t feel secure there. Only one person claimed that he wanted to move out immediately. It must be said, though, that he was building a house in the countryside at that time, which means that he had means to achieve his dream. My intention was to present the parts of Cracow that are unknown and exotic to people who don’t live in this city.
The viewer, on seeing all the post-war districts grouped together, must conclude that Cracow is an ugly location. Which is shocking, bearing in mind that this is not the way in which Cracow is usually perceived. The tourists hardly ever go beyond the small medieval, or the slightly bigger nineteenth-century centre.
The film is an assemblage; this structure, consisting in rhythmical, schematic repetition of the images of different districts creates the desired, slightly terrifying, slightly comical, effect.
Łukasz Skąpski, Seria i typologia jako metoda w sztuce, PhD dissertation, Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan, 2005

Exhibitions
2006 “Łukasz Skąpski. Recent Video Works,” Location One, New York, USA
2006 Lukasz Skapski, „Grey Area”, Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, Poland


Bibliography
Łukasz Skąpski, Seria i typologia jako metoda w sztuce, PhD dissertation, Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan, 2005

Und…?, 2004

The film presents a man sitting on a veranda in the Alps. The man is talking in Swiss German about life a country whose name he does not mention, discussing its deplorable social and political situation and corruption. In fact, he talks about Poland.

Exhibitions
2004 “Test Card_1. New Polish Video” Bunkier Sztuki, Cracow
2004 Motorenhalle, Dresden, Germany
2005 College Art Association, Atlanta, USA
2005 Video from Poland, Wilno, Lithuania
2006 Lukasz Skapski, „Grey Area”, Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, Poland

Untitled / Bez tytułu, 2003

A series of photographs of the sky combined with the sentences: “Courts of law are independent and firm in their incorruptibility,” “Reasons of state are the only reasons for politicians to act,” “Honest, hard-working and unselfish people who willingly act for the common good live in Poland,” “High culture and excellent organization of society attract citizens to be socialy active”

The blue area is a manifestation of hope and lack of acceptance of falsehood, hypocrisy, and political deceit.
Marek Janczyk, Błękity polskiego nieba, “Fotografia,” no. 12/2003

…If someone wants to talk about politics seriously, they usually give up confronted with the heaviness of the matter. You could easily end up wording grandiose, boring, naïve, or simplified opinions. Art isn’t the right medium for painstaking analyses of social or political issues. It is very difficult to prevent your political works from competing against press or television which are the right media for political information.
Łukasz Skąpski, in: O ironio, ironio... Fragmenty rozmowy Magdaleny Ujmy, Joanny Zielińskiej, Oskara Dawickiego i Łukasza Skąpskiego, www.obieg.pl, July 2005

Bibliography
Marek Janczyk, Błękity polskiego nieba, “Fotografia,” no. 12/2003

Clash, 2002/2005

A film about motherhood. Several young women talk abort their attitudes towards pregnancy and motherhood. They present a wide range of opinions, from affirmation to deep hostility.

Exhibition
2006 International Women‘s Day, Piękny pies, Cracow
2006 “Łukasz Skąpski. Recent Video Works,” Location One, New York, USA

Short Tautological Films / Krótkie filmy tautologiczne, since 2001

Short video performance acts. They have also been called video-haiku. They refer to video art tradition. Funny. The artist announces weather conditions, the time of day, or comments on temperature or light to the camera. The cycle begins with the film Wiatr / Wind from 2001, which shows the artist standing on a ship, rough sea behind him, and uttering a single sentence: “The wind is blowing.” The latest film from the cycle is Wysoko / High, shot on the Empire State Building in New York on 2006.

Wiatr / Wind, 2001
Wieje wiatr, ale słaby / The Wind Is Blowing, Gently Though, 2003
Wieje wiatr, ale słaby 2 / The Wind Is Blowing, Gently Though 2, 2006
Ciemno / Dark, 2006
Ani ciemno, ani jasno / Neither Dark Nor Bright, 2006
Jasno / Bright, 2006
Dobrze / OK, 2006
Zimno / Cold, 2006
Głośno / Loud, 2006
Wiatr i głośno / Wind and Loud, 2006
Zimno, wiatr, głośno, jasno / Cold, Wind, Loud, Bright, 2006
Wysoko / High, 2006

Exhibitions
2004 “Obraz kontrolny_1. Najnowsze wideo polskie,” Bunkier Sztuki, Cracow
2006 “Łukasz Skąpski. Recent video works,” Location One, New York, USA
2006 Lukasz Skapski, „Grey Area”, Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, Poland

Immersed in Consciousness / Skąpani w świadomości, 2001

A video featuring Oskar Dawicki and Łukasz Skąpski
The artists are talking while in a chair-lift in the Tatra Mountains. The film is one of their first joint experiments performed before the group Azorro came into being. It originated in their hour-long conversations, and took up existential themes in a light, ironic manner.

Oskar and I found it extremely easy to communicate. […] Our dialogues sound like they are taken from a comedy. I subscribe to the idea of this work, it was me who took out the camera and persuaded Oskar to do it, but the conversation was largely Oskar’s invention.
Łukasz Skąpski talkin to Ewa Łączyńska and Marta Lisok, June 2006, typescript

(..), 2000-2005

A video and a series of photographs

The film deals with the issue of voyeurism. Watching women bears a distant echo of longing for polygamy; at the same time - since women are treated as objects of lustful observation - their bodies lose their integrity. Only hips and bums remain – the connotations of fertility. Here comes surrogate, visual, connoisseur consumption of female bodies. The film (..) refers ironically to the tradition of art and reveals an approach that used to be hidden in the structure of works. The artist does not identify himself with an apparently neutral universal eye any more. In a sense, having power over female bodies, executed by treating them as an object of watching, becomes shameful obsession. The soundtrack is an Indian raga, representing high and refined erotic Oriental culture.
Note, exhibition catalogue “Boys,” Bunkier Sztuki, Cracow 2005

In 2000, I began working on (..) in Canterbury, and finished it three years later in Paris. (..) is a series (collection) of photographs of female buttocks, random, close by, in the street. Voyeuristic photographs, naughty actually, they don’t express my shame, fear, or sweat, no second thoughts when coming close enough and harassing the person by zooming in on her bum. It’s not in the prints but it is easy to imagine. Additionally, this way of taking photos is crucial to the work: if they were posed, they wouldn’t be any different from adverts or video clips.
Łukasz Skąpski, Seria i typologia jako metoda w sztuce, PhD dissertation, Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan, 2005

Exhibitions
2005“Boys,” Bunkier Sztuki, Cracow

Bibliography
Exhibition catalogue “Boys,” Bunkier Sztuki, Cracow 2005

Monika Branicka and Łukasz Guzek, O czym jest wystawa “Boys”?, www.spam.art.pl, [58] 11.07.2005
Monika Małkowska, Parada infantylnych erotomanów, “Rzeczpospolita,” June 2005
Marek Wasilewski, Maszyny, “Piktogram” no. 3 2006

Łukasz Skąpski, Seria i typologia jako metoda w sztuce, PhD dissertation, Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan, 2005

Amusement Park / Lunapark, 2000

A minimalist film. Behind a wall, somebody is playing badminton at dusk.

Frequently, photographers or video artists record present events. For instance, one of my video films shows a badminton racket that keeps popping up and vanishing behind a wall. Its position is different every time. We can’t see the players but we can tell that the match is very dynamic. There are a caravan and other attributes of a traveling funfair in the background. It was an existing situation, non-arranged, recorded on magnetic tape, an event that I “came across.”
Łukasz Skąpski, Seria i typologia jako metoda w sztuce, PhD dissertation, 2005

I bought my first video camera in Finland, with the money I received for IFTHAT project, in 2000. I soon began to record various things, odd things, such as that wall that stood on the way to the funfair.
Łukasz Skąpski talking to Ewa Łączyńska and Marta Lisok, June 2006, typescript

Bibliography
Łukasz Skąpski, Seria i typologia jako metoda w sztuce, PhD dissertation, Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan, 2005
Łukasz Skąpski talking to Ewa Łączyńska and Marta Lisok, June 2006, typescript

About Lukasz Skapski

Łukasz Skąpski studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow, at the Department of Painting. He lives and works in Cracow (Poland). He is a member of Supergrupa Azorro.

He makes installations, objects, photography and video. In the nineties he was interested especially in the metaphysical potential of reality. Art that he created reflected both his interest in the tradition of conceptualism and in minimalism. He was fascinated by astronomy, optical and solar phenomena. What he did reflected also his pragmatic approach to our ability of percepting the world. However, his works do not lack distance, irony and critical analysis. Since the year 2000 he makes films. Łukasz Skąpski resignes partly from “esotericism” and the analysis of the metaphysics of things for the sake of socially oriented projects. However, in some of his works you can still find the specific minimalism of form.

A very important theme of his art are works forming cycles or typologies. The first collection of this kind - the portraits of Mao Zedong entitled „Szeregi / The Rows” (1990-1991) – was made during his stay in China. Skąpski keeps coming back in his art to the method of putting into rows. This is also visible in the project called “Maszyny /Machines” from 2005.
It is to document about 150 of tractors constructed by farmers from Podhale in southern Poland. This work is made of photographs showing the vehicles in different shots and of films with farmers talking about the values of the handmade machines. Agricultural machines which were photographed by the artist were conscructed using parts coming from different vehicles. The first ones were made in Podhale in the sixties. It was caused by a complicated socio-political situation in Poland. As Łukasz Skąpski says, agricultural machines produced by the country were available mainly for state-owned enterprises, dominating in the plains of central Poland. For the farmers of southern Poland these tractors were too expensive and insufficient in the mountain region. All these factors: economical, social and practical made the farmers produce their agricultural machines by themselves, machines that were cheap and fulfilled their expectations.
Łukasz Skąpski was interested in these strange handmade machines because of their, how he calls it, “anti-corporational” character. He was interested in people’s exceptional way of adapting to the existing socio-political conditions, alternative economies, specific anarchy and absurdity of situation which made the farmers become inventors and constructors. The artist brings back to memory this practice, forgotten in the late capitalism, which lasted in Podhale for 40 years (the youngest photographed tractor is from 2003). The artist presents the machines with sense of humour, recalling the times of communism when meeting even the most obvious consumption needs was an unbeliveable problem and very often the only solution was this sort of private production.
The artistic analysis is also focused on the interesting design of the vehicles which reflects the times in which the machines were constructed. However, the construction problems were dominating over the aesthetics. The films accompanying the photographical documentation reveal constructors’ emotional approach to their machines that are a part of some kind of peculiarity of the region. “Machines” of Łukasz Skąpski is a truly original project because the artist combines different perspectives: art with etnography, sociology, history and even engineering.

Joanna Zielinska 2006