born 1993, Łomża
A graduate of Faculty of Interior Design of Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (2018) and Faculty of New Media Art of Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology in Warsaw (2016). He deals with installation, photography, and design, creates objects and video films. He is interested in the issue of bio power, interpersonal communication, and social policies. At Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, he runs “Zachęta miga!” series of meetings.
Untitled, 2018
installation, video, 1’52’’
Daniel Kotowski’s work refers to the concept of bio power (power over biology) and biopolitics (conscious use of bio power in practice) in the view of Michel Foucault. The artist was inspired by the apparent contradiction he noticed in the fact that the matter of glass comes from the same source as the stone. The glass is made of quartz sand, which is made of naturally crushed quartz stone. The object indicates the relationship between stone and glass: the first element expresses durability, opacity and roughness, the second – delicacy, transparency and smoothness. Glass is the result of human production, which can symbolise utopia and bio-power, while stone belongs to the sphere of nature and is not consistent with the theory of bio-power. The artist raises the postulate of Michel Foucault not to call the stone “sick” – hence the utopian attempt to perfectly combine both materials, despite their visual contrast. Despite visual contrast, the artist makes a utopian attempt to perfectly combine both materials to maintain a balance between both spheres.
