The Warsaw High School Times

Art by Karolina Hałatek (from https://karolinahalatek.com/)
Design by Rita Pasiewicz

Constraint – that is certainly not a proper term to describe today’s art. Nowadays society demands for something new, innovative. We have to poke around unconventional solutions. With today’s artists’ help (and Karolina Hałatek is one of them) we can think outside of the box.

A simple word about the author

Karolina Hałatek is a contemporary visual artist born in the year 1985. She creates her artworks in the field of installation art. Her artistic tool is not paint, stone nor chisel, instead light, neon, lasers, mirrors, and quantum physics are taking the floor. During her projects, she frequently cooperates with engineers, technologists, and scientists.

Karolina is a graduate student at the University of the Arts in London, Universitӓt der Künste Berlin, and Akademia Sztuk Pięknych in Warsaw. During her studies in Berlin, Karolina had an indelible opportunity to attend Olafur Eliasson’s workshops. Eliasson is an artist utilizing air temperature, water, and light. ‘Sessions in the Institut fur Raumexperimente were undoubtedly stimulating, and they definitely expanded my artistic perspective’ – says the artist in an interview with Anna Diduch.

Why Light?

Are you curious why light has taken the spotlight in Karolina’s artworks? The artist explains that light is a remarkably interesting and mysterious medium, which is also multipronged. It can play with the atmosphere and climate of the room and landscape. It also gives new meanings and overtones to our daily lives. ‘Light is just an essence of our lives’ – clarifies the author.

Karolina also explains her fascination with light with a part of her past. Her father had his own darkroom, and since her childhood years she was a frequent spectator of slide screening. Her grandfather, on the other hand, was enthusiastic about single-8 films.

Light is also an unnoticeable and underrated part of out lives, because of its ubiquitous nature. ‘Light is embedded in the air, as close as breathing, and therefore too obvious’ – Karolina explains.

In her artworks Karolina Hałatek draws the attention towards the naked light, and shows how it affects our perception of the world.

Karolina’s installations

Karolina Hałatek has a wide repertoire of stunning artistic installations created. I will present here only several exhibitions, but I strongly recommend taking a quick glance or an even longer stare at her other exhibits – I guarantee they are all breath-taking, and a feast for our souls and eyes.

• Mount (2018) – the direct inspiration of this exhibition is the biblical scene of transfiguration of Jesus on Tabor Mountain. This artwork is geeing us up to reach the peak of the mountain and look from a unique perspective. It also presents the human body as a temple that can be transformed.
• Halo (2019) – the idea was afflated by the optical phenomenon known as a halo, which shows itself as a ring around the sun and it is only visible with one specific type of clouds (cirrostratus cloud)
• Field (2020) – it recalls flight, journey, walking on a sea pier or reaching the mountain peak. The exposition, as the name suggests, resembles with its appearance a rolling field in a light fog.

Upcoming enterprises

Currently, the artist is developing a project in the public space in the capital city of Albania – Tirana. The project has been nominated for an award by the local Ministry of Culture. ‘Terminal for Tirana’ is an installation that will be devoted to the topic of clinical death. When creating this artwork, Karolina was inspired by the accounts of people who directly witnessed it. It will be exhibited in the revitalized park next to the hospital in Tirana.