Life as a problem features the latest projects of Mateusz Pęk: installations No-one Nowhere and Life as a problem, and a series of drawings. Pęk is looking for answers to the questions related with new media, including virtual reality generated within. He reflects whether computer games can be art, and ponders upon their social aspect. Once we have acknowledged that computer games like SIMS, represented at the exhibition, have become massively popular, involving millions of people, we realize that neither the artists or the galleries have so far paid enough attention to the phenomenon. Mateusz Pęk as one of the first artists in Poland researches upon the games’ influence on our culture and society. At Life as a problem, Pęk indicates the “hero” of our times and the changes of the worldview in the society of the 21st century. The viewer is compelled to enter the space of the installation just as the players enter the virtual reality. This solution brings a more distanced look upon the questions of interpersonal relations present within the realm of the game.
When we take a look at Mateusz Pęk’s earlier works, we can observe a continuity of the search for the ways of meeting the needs of contemporary spirituality, so indefinite and ambiguous. The technological aspect has been crucial in the quest as it is in the present project.



Mateusz Pęk graduated from the Faculty of Graphic Design and Painting of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. He has been Assistant to Professor Maurice Huvelin at the Visual Arts Institute (IAV) in Orleans and to Professor Witosław Czerwonka at the Gdańsk Academy. Pęk has presented his works during numerous collective exhibitions at key art venues in Poland. In 2008, his work was presented at the European Attitude, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art at Zendai MoMA in Shanghai.



www.mateuszpek.com
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