Catalog: Piotr Krzymowski. HOMO CELLULARIS

The title of Piotr Krzymowski's exhibition, Homo cellularis, refers to a concept first used by Maurizio Ferraris, an Italian sociologist and philosopher who analyzed our behavior resulting from the use of cell phones. The writer suggests that our everyday devices and online platforms have become extensions of ourselves - both our bodies and our minds. Virtual reality has, as a result, become a true reality, and with it we are confronted with new possibilities: instantaneous communication across the globe; relentless and unlimited creation, sharing and copying of data; and being everywhere at once.

In his latest works, which will be shown at his first solo exhibition at Toruń's CCA, artist Piotr Krzymowski, together with curator Mateusz Kozieradzki, refer to research on our social media behavior and use of electronic devices. The artist combines his own mixed-media technique and juxtaposes traditional techniques, such as analog photography with a hashtag or screen printing with touch-activated thermochromic ink. He focuses on symbols such as the hashtag or emoticons to analyze, critique and extract new meanings from them. Krzymowski's work is the product of many factors, but the starting point for the research becomes those small, everyday activities like logging into a smartphone or chatting - activities so commonplace that we stop paying attention to them, much less think about their nature and meaning.