Mateusz Kowalczyk / Isle of Eternal Waste
When working on the project, I was basically inspired by everything that surrounded me. When it comes to works of art, Arnold Böcklin’s Isle of the Dead was an additional source of inspiration for me. I was especially driven by its dark visuals alluding to symbolism, which I think describes perfectly the sense of confusion experienced by modern men and women. In this VR project, the Island is a compilation of stories about ourselves. Immersed in virtual reality, we find ourselves surrounded by things that are familiar to us. All of the objects found on the island, as well as the island itself, are 3D scans done with a smartphone. While they might seem to be inconspicuous every-day objects, they carry an unusual meaning. This is true for the dog treat wrapped in a plastic bag, for the religiously important object taken from the Place of Power hidden deeply in the Białowieża pristine forest, the shreds of banknotes once exhibited in one of the Warsaw’s art galleries or my self-portrait, plastic packaging and other objects or randomly found things that were thrown away, existing without function, no longer recyclable.