Piotr Kowalski

Still image from the installation “Field of Interaction“, 1983, Interactive Light Installation

Note on “Field of Interaction”

In this environmental piece, spectators walk through a passageway and, by so doing, alter its patterns of illumination. The movement, facade-like structures and the flickering of light remind one of a nocturnal cityscape. But to Kowalski, the entire world is itself a field of interaction, as all processes, objects and beings affect each other and shape their intertwined destiny. He is fascinated by the natural world in particular as something untouched by humans, yet predictable by mathematical laws. Like other artists with a strong interest in philosophy and the sciences, Kowalski looks to kinetics, mathematics and optics for sources of inspiration as well as methods of construction. Both art and science have an equal say in the ultimate nature of the reality created in his works. Field of Interaction represents a period of the artist’s research on interactivity between his early career interest in neon art and a later shift into the study of holography.

Piotr Kowalski was an artist, sculptor, and architect. He was born 2 March, 1927, possibly in Lvov, and died 7 January 2004 in Paris. Piotr worked in non-traditional materials including electronic and mechanical devices, neon, large earth works, explosions and other natural phenomena including plant growth and gravity. His work often expressed science or natural laws in direct and tangible ways, immediate to the senses and referring to artistic aesthetics. A refugee of World War II, a graduate of MIT, he immigrated to France as an architect for UNESCO and spent most of the rest of his life in Paris. Along with gallery works, he has several large outdoors projects.