For piano and video projection
2017 · 16m 30s
Side Effects started as a photographic project by Kacper Kowalski, exploring the complex relationship between humanity and nature as seen from a perspective 150 meters above the ground. This estranged perspective on some of the most common spaces revealed fresh metaphoric and structural dimensions that inspired Jarosław Kapuściński to propose an intermedia collaboration. What if specially composed music performed live in concert interpreted the images and guided the viewers through a rich world of sometimes unexpected emotions, meanings, and abstract visual forms? The ten movements refer in different ways to the four seasons and the material categories of air, wood, water, fire, and earth.
Kacper Kowalski:
I am a pilot and a photographer. I like flying over familiar territory. It gives me time for reflection and careful study of the landscape. I usually fly over the Pomerania region, close to Gdańsk, my hometown. Sometimes curiosity makes me venture further beyond the familiar. When I return, I spot changes. I take off, pursue, watch closely, and take pictures.
What interests me most in this project is answering the question: What is humans’ natural environment? Is what I see a natural scenery inhabited by people or an environment altered to suit our needs? Has the forest I’m looking at always been there or was it planted to supply timber and is no more natural than a potato field? What is the nature of nature?
I want my photographs to convey the broad spectrum of human activity. I try not to judge what I see. The photos themselves are documents, evidence in the case. I am content if they become food for thought. Much depends on who’s looking and making an assessment. An archeologist and a farmer will notice different things in a landscape. I want Side Effects to provide material for an argument on what is good and bad, necessary and optional in the relationship of human beings with nature.
Side Effects was created entirely in Poland. More than a finite set of photographs, it is a method of discussing aspects of our civilization. The project consists of many smaller subprojects and series, each one telling a separate story: Seasons, Toxic Beauty, Flood from Above, Sun and Fun, Depth of Winter, Toys for Boys, and others.
2017
2023
2022
2019
2018