Agnieszka Maćkowiak Élan vital
supervisor:
prof. dr. hab. Andrzej Bobrowski
University of the Arts Poznan
Faculty of Graphic Arts and Visual Communication
Faculty of Graphic Arts and Visual Communication
biography
Born in 1991 in Poznań. A graduate of cultural studies at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and the Faculty of Graphic Arts at the University of Arts in Poznań. Diploma in the field of graphic techniques in the Relief Printing studio under the supervision of Professor Andrzej Bobrowski. Master’s degree diploma was nominated for Maria Dokowicz Competition which is a contest for the best diplomas of University of Arts in Poznań.
One of the founders of no longer existing Student Gallery Drewutnia.
In 2014 acquired minidonation as a part of the regranting program of City of Poznań, thanks to which, together with the attendants, they created a series of graphics. She led workshops in the field of graphic art during the TechKultura project at the Zakład, during the Floralia Festival, as part of the series "Art - how it's done" at the University of Arts in Poznań and the Poznań Festival of Science and Art.
Involved in printmaking, mainly linocut.
Selected exhibitions:
2018 14th Gielniak Graphic Arts Competition, Muzeum Karkonoskie in Jelenia Góra
2017 37th edition of the Maria Dokowicz Competition, MTP, Poznań
2017 Poza Kontrolą/Beyond Control, Galeria Macondo, Wrocław
2017 Exhibition of diplomas, Termy Maltańskie, Poznań
2017 Parasomnia, MagnetOffOn, Gorzów Wielkopolski
2017 Zapiski z nicości/Jottings from nothingness, Galeria Oko, Centrum Sztuki w Oławie
2014 VII Festival of Young Artists ARTenalia, Poznań
2014 Rewolucja, Gallery Drewutnia, Poznań
2013 Połączyła nas chemia, Instytut Chemii Bioorganicznej PAN, Poznań
Evolution is inseparable from living beings, everything is changing, the world is in constant progress. Henry Bergson seeks to explain the source and continuity of motion with the notion of "vital force" élan vital. He thought that development is not mechanical, but spontaneous, creative and flowing from the inner forces of beings. This is élan vital, the basic power of the world, it is responsible for the continuity of change and life.
For creativity to become real there must be something contrary to life. Bergson perceives the world as a space of conflict between vital force and inert matter. Vital force is a continuous creation, but the inhibition of matter loses part of its energy, it is mechanized.
The duality of matter and life has its counterpart in mind, intellect and intuition. Intuition is the form of life and the intellect of its mechanization. Only by intuition can we know life as it is, by giving it an image of infinitely different, variable and new reality.