Piotr Zawojski
University of Silesia, Katowice (Poland)
Piotr Zawojski (Prof. dr hab.) is professor at the Department of Film & Media Studies, at the University of Silesia, Katowice (Poland). He also works at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow (Poland). His research interest focus on the theory of photography, film and cinema, new media, digital arts, cyber-culture and techno-culture. His book publications include Elektroniczne obrazoświaty. Między sztuką a technologią (Electronic Imageworlds. Between Art and Technology) (2000); Wielkie filmy przełomu wieków. Subiektywny przewodnik (The Great Movies of the Turn of the Century. Subjective Guide) (2007); Cyberkultura. Syntopia sztuki, nauki i technologii (Cybeculture. Syntopy of Art, Science and Technology) (2010 and 2018, second revised edition); Sztuka obrazu i obrazowania w epoce nowych mediów (The Art of Image and Imaging in the Age of New Media) (2012); Technokultura i jej manifestacje artystyczne. Medialny świat hybryd i hybrydyzacji (Techno-Culture and Its Artistic Manifestations. The Media World of Hybrids and Hybridization) (2016); Ruchome obrazy zatrzymane w pamięci. Reminiscencje teoretyczne i krytyczne (Moving Images Stopped in Memory. Theoretical and Critical Reminiscences). He is a chief of the Film and Media section at the Polish cultural quarterly Opcje, and a member of the Editorial-Board of the journals CyberEmapthy and TransMission: Journal of Film and Media Studies. He was artistic director of media festival digital_ia (www.zawojski.com).
Articles of Piotr Zawojski
Flusser, Media Theory and I. From the Genealogy of Thought
This essay is a case study of a coincidence both in terms of a personal perspective of the author’s encounter with Vilém Flusser’s philosophical and theoretical thought, and with regard to notions of necessity, destiny, and fate. In the present essay, this type of randomness is called ‘primordial accidentalism’. The author discusses his experiences in applying Flusser’s concepts of apparatus, alphanumeric society and technical images, to the creation of concepts referring to digital photography, new media, new media art, cyber-culture and techno-culture. Moreover, the author recalls his experiences with the two Polish editions of Towards a Philosophy of Photography (2004 and 2015), which undoubtedly contributed to the popularization of Flusser’s philosophical concepts among artists, media theorists and philosophers.