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The

Artist

Nominated in
2021
By
The Calvert Journal
Lives and Works in
Warsaw
I am a visual artist working primarily with photography, video, and installation. My main area of interest revolves around the idea of destruction perceived as a prerequisite for rebirth – in this regard, my practice serves as a particular form of self-therapy. My creative approach centers around catastrophic events, whether experienced in real life or staged – not merely to document, but to explore their aesthetics and the emotions they evoke. Drawing from the notion of post-photography, I attempt to extend the same approach to my audience, purposefully creating the most photogenic environment. This invites the viewer to try and explore the aesthetics and emotions evoked by my own work. The theme of the car and anything automotive-related is a constant recurrence throughout my practice, varying both in context and form. It can be an invisible companion, as seen in the series of on-the-road photos like "Post Tourism," documenting wildfire sites in Australia and California. It can also be a desirable object deliberately subjected to all kinds of abuse – set on fire, melted, or drowned – in order to test its endurance while creating the perfect catastrophic photo set, as seen in the multidisciplinary installation "Panda" or the photographs published in the photobook "Pyromaniac’s Manual." Finally, the car can be dissected, stripped, and transformed into something entirely new, like a vehicle for poetic miniatures in the "Blind Spot" series. It can even become part of a fancy dinner where the courses are prepared out of car parts and served to the guests of a luxurious retreat, mockingly bringing into the spotlight the consumption patterns of the highest social classes in the "A la carte" project, created during the Chateau de la Haute Borde art residency and subsequently exhibited at Galerie du 13 in Paris. Most recently, my interest has turned to audiovisuality, focusing on short forms of video and their potential for a more poetic style of storytelling.
Projects

Portfolio: Ada Zielińska

In my works I am exploring the idea of destruction and documenting the catastrophe that surrounds me, confronting myself with material disintegration. This artistic practice serves me as a specific self-therapy, an attempt to control what is inevitably going to end. My fascination towards destruction constantly evolves. It manifests in the series Automotive Skills (staging car crashes on the purpose of photography); Cold Juxtaposition (a comparison study of defects on cars and humans); or Pyromaniac’s Manual book, in which I arranged car fires to catch the furious moment of disintegration.

2020

Post Tourism

Post Tourism: A Study of Catastrophe and Perception "Post Tourism" is a photography series that investigates how locations devastated by climatic disasters become subjects of curiosity and sites for contemplation. This project probes our collective fascination with destruction and explores the complex relationship between spectatorship and the realities of disaster. Launched in 2018, "Post Tourism" captures the transformed landscapes of regions hit by natural calamities, such as the wildfires in California and Australia, and the floods in Venice and Poland. Through my lens, I document the eerie beauty and the stark contrasts found within these scenes, highlighting the emotional and aesthetic dimensions that these landscapes evoke—admiration intertwined with a sense of dread. This series transcends mere documentation, offering a deeper reflection on the landscapes as enduring symbols of natural cycles and human impact. These disaster-stricken sites reveal the tension between destruction and the sublime, urging viewers to reflect on the ethical implications of their fascination with such scenes. "Post Tourism" challenges viewers to examine their own roles as distant observers of disaster. It questions the boundaries of our curiosity and our ethical responsibilities in the face of environmental devastation. By presenting these places not just as locations but as significant cultural and environmental statements, the series invites a critical dialogue on our engagement with and response to the realities of a changing world.
2020

Pyromaniac's Manual

A car on fire is fascinating, a little terrifying, and in most cases- illegal. Fire has a primal allure and watching it consume something as familiar as a car feels like form of voyerism. This mix of fear, satisfaction, and curiosity lies at the core of Pyromaniac’s Manual. What began as a simple urge—to burn cars, take pictures, and avoid getting caught—evolved into something way more important. Initially, it was about the contrast of flames against cold, metallic surfaces, beauty of destruction itself. Over time, though, this series revealed itself as a reflection of my own internal struggles. It became a personal and creative outlet, a way to confront and work through self-destructive tendencies. These controlled fires became a form of therapy. The destruction of each car is almost ceremonial, a process of transformation through obliteration. By documenting these moments, I aim to explore the aesthetics of catastrophe—the fleeting beauty of something being consumed—and the strange intimacy of destruction. I wish you an enjoyable pyromania experience. Ada
2020

Pyromaniac's Manual

A car on fire is fascinating, a little terrifying, and in most cases- illegal. Fire has a primal allure and watching it consume something as familiar as a car feels like form of voyerism. This mix of fear, satisfaction, and curiosity lies at the core of Pyromaniac’s Manual. What began as a simple urge—to burn cars, take pictures, and avoid getting caught—evolved into something way more important. Initially, it was about the contrast of flames against cold, metallic surfaces, beauty of destruction itself. Over time, though, this series revealed itself as a reflection of my own internal struggles. It became a personal and creative outlet, a way to confront and work through self-destructive tendencies. These controlled fires became a form of therapy. The destruction of each car is almost ceremonial, a process of transformation through obliteration. By documenting these moments, I aim to explore the aesthetics of catastrophe—the fleeting beauty of something being consumed—and the strange intimacy of destruction. I wish you an enjoyable pyromania experience. Ada
Ada
was nominated by
The Calvert Journal
in
2021
Show all projects
Each year every member of the FUTURES European Photography Platform nominates a set of artists and projects to become part of the FUTURES network.

Russia’s Marina Istomina and Poland’s Ada Zielińska both break from the conventions of what is known as disaster photography. After experiencing first hand the wildfires engulfing her native Siberia summer after summer, Istomina captures the crisis through a redemptive fairytale: warning us about greed, power, and
ultimately the tricksters of the woods. The daughter of a firefighter, Zielińska, too, is fascinated with fire, specifically what it means to be a witness to catas- trophe. For her ongoing series, Post-Tourism, she travelled to four places: California during the 2018-19 wildfires, Paris shortly after the 2019 Notre Dame fire, Venice during the 2019 flood, and Australia during the 2020 bushfires. The Polish artist doesn’t err on the side of caution, often playing the role of pyromaniac and using chaos and provocation as fuel in her practice.

Bogdan Shirokov trained his lens in fashion and editorial photography but has been working on what he calls a life-long personal project: looking at different facets of contemporary masculinity and queerness in Russia. For Shirokov, photography is first and foremost a type of refuge and a contemplative space for the viewer, one he physically expands with installation and sculpture.

Marat Dilman offers a glimpse into nation-building in his native Kazakhstan, from the showpiece architecture to the robots being developed at universities. As the country readies itself for grand plans and ambitious advancements, the photographer reveals the way that folklore finds itself among the nuts and bolts of futuristic constructions.

Past and present collide also in the work of Kincsõ Bede who interprets the stories passed down to her about communism. Less interested in the symbols from this time, Bede stages scenes and invents her own visual language to communicate the fears, desires, secrets, and paranoia which she inherited.