Norbert Delman 1989. Lives and works in Warsaw/ norbert.delman@gmail.com / phone: +48 721 150 313 /

www.norbertdelman.com

For Delman (born 1989, Poland), media and mass communication have created a generational rupture, with the concept of failing that leads people to desperate attempts at transforming themselves. This balance between winning and losing has led to his preoccupation with games, war, rivalries and rejection. Delman utilises information in his work in various ways: as a signal, an alarm, or a message. Conflict enters his exploration of communication due to the impossibility of establishing it because of differences of perception, which are often a result of a small, local culture’s life experiences.

‘I work using multiple medias (video, sculpture, found objects, installations, performances). I mainly mtake actions or interventions in result of which sculptures/objects are left. This indecisiveness is only feigned, however, because the overriding value of my work is an attempt to illustrate the anxieties and tensions which I experience, and which are experienced by my peers. The variety of projects merges the desire to organize experiences and relates them to a wider group, inscribes a wider problem. My works are inspired by such notions as ambition, fear, instinct, rivalry. I feel the impossibility of establishing communication

resulting from differences of perception, which is often a result of a small, local culture’s life experiences. I am trying to relate to simple and clean gestures, such as breathing, scratching, touching, because they are fundamentally the same for everyone, thus attempting to create communications between the viewer and the work, overarching any divisions.

My projects are often based on the idea of games, which are connected with rivalry and domination. exhibition is an attempting to look critically at today’s young people, manipulated by the quantity and quality of information . It is an attempt to address the transinformation, the anonymity of the web and loss of intellectual property in times of Post_net. I want to build video and sound objects and installations connected to the idea of post net translocation of information. Those pieces will be often based on web or body activates. From my perspective, I work with the idea of body condition. The project involves building a structure towards which daily performances and workshops for volunteers would be held. A speaker emitting a voice motivating the practitioner to harder and more ambitious work will be mounted inside the weights-sculpture.

Selected exhibitions and projectsSolo2016 – Exhibition “Augmented city” Asia contemporary art platform NON Berlin, Berlin2016 – Exhibition in a fitness club Agora “Sweat is fat crying” UNDO, Warsaw2016 – Exhibition “UNDO” Xs Gallery, Warsaw2015 – Exhibition „Defence adaptation” Gallery Milosc, Torun2015 – ILLEGAL PERSONAL CONTACT WITH AN OPPONENT, Maria Stenfors Gallery, Lodnon2015 – Exhibiotn „Flame_props” Gallery Labirynt 2, Lublin 2014 – Exhibition „S/S/S”, Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, UK 2014 – Exhibition „SOS”, Gallery Salon Akademii, Warsaw 2014 – Artistic intervention – „Ships” Gallery Spokojna, Warsaw 2012 – University College Falmouth project „Box of dreams” UK 2011 – Installation at the river site Warsaw „Vistula Sculpture Park”2011 – Exhibition „Echo” Gallery TURBO2011 – Happening, Publication and promotion of the journal “Unity is strength”2009 – Performance at the 55 anniversary of the Palace of Culture, Warsaw

Group2017 – Exhibition at “Biennale de La Biche”v2017 – Exhibition “Pameran Gerobak Angkringan” Sesama, Yogyakarta2017 – Exhibition “Syndrom Feniksa” Szara Gallery, Katowice2016 – Exhibition “WARSAW under construction 8” MOMA Warsaw2016 – Exhibition Young Polish contenporary art , Museum of Yugoslav History, Belgrad2016 – Exhibition Young Polish contenporary art , LUDWIG MÚZEUM, Budapest2016 – Workshops/Exhibiotn „Park Rzeźby na Bródnie” with MOMA Warsaw2016 – Exhibition “The Drawers vol.2 ” Kasia Michalski Gallery Warsaw2016 – Exhibitiont ”INTEGRATED PARTICIPATORY ACTIVITIES” Gallery Lokal 30, Warsaw2015 – Exhibition “Quest for fire” Gray House Foundation, Krakow2015 – Performance “Sparing” BWA Zielona Gora2015 – Exhibition, „THE WATER HEN” Kantor, Demarco. Royal Scottish Academy2015 – Video show „Mono2”London Borough of Hackney2015 – Exhibition „Trema” in Komuna Warszawa, Warsaw2015 – Exhibition „WY 3208G”, Mobile exhibition in car, Warsaw2014 – Exhibition „No yawning”, New Theater, Warsaw2014 – Gallery Labirynt, „Performance”, Lublin2014 – Performance „WHC” CCA, Ujazdowski Castle2014 – Performance at the opening of Capital of Culture 2014 – UMEA Sweden2013 – Exhibition „Przesada” Gallery TURBO, Warsaw2013 – Exhibition „Spokojna Tour Now” MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art Krakow2013 – Exhibition „Punkt bez Ja” Arsenal, Bialystok2013 – Exhibition „Mom i just really need to focus on my art right now” Arsenal, Poznan2013 – Exhibition „Wanda Liza” BWA Zielona Gora2013 – Exhibition „Kohezja” in the New Theater, Warsaw2012 – Exhibition „AAAkupunktura” Gallery Kordegarda, curated by Mirosław Bałka, Warsaw

2011 – Exhibition „Hygiene” Mirosław Bałka studio, Warsaw2011 – Exhibition „Modem Modern” MODEM CCA Debrecen, Hungary2011 – Public A.I.R CCA, Ujazdowski Castle2011 – Land ART Festival Toruń, 2010 – Night of museums – participation in the project “Stacja Nadawcza”

Education2008 – 2014 Academy Fine Arts Warsaw (Poland)2012 – University College Falmouth (United Kingdom)2002-2008 – High School of Fine Arts (Poland) Graduated with honors

Residencies2016 – Residence program WRSW I BRLN 2016,2014 – International Residency in Scotland, ESW/RSA, Edinburgh,2011 – Residence program InterModem in MODEM, CCA Debrecin, Hungary

Competitions / grants / awardsGrant – Ministry of Culture grant for artist 2016Selection – Tide. Young Polish Contemporary ArtSelection – Gray house, special distinction for best work 2015Selection – ERGO HESTIA 2014Selection – BMW/ART/TRANSFORMY 2012Selection – Creative Valley 2010

Publication2015 – The Water Hen, Kantor, Demarco & The Edinburgh Festival with a legacy of Kantor in Scotland, str.164-167, isbn 978-0-905783-32-12015 – Catalog of “Trzy Czte Ry! Performance”,str.48-51, isbn 978-83-61440-80-22015 – Catalog “Dedfence adaptation” Gallery Miłość2015 – Art&Business, wrzesień “Nie ma ziewania” str.76- 81, issn 0967 – 31602015 – Notes na 6 tygodni nr 99, maj-czerwiec-2015, Alek Hudzik, str. 110-117, issn 1730-94092015 – Wczasy Mag No. 3, “Wokół typografi” str 18-19, issn 2353-60042015 – Art&Business 4.2015, “Nowe Rytuały”, Alek Hudzik, str. 32,2014 –2015 – Warsawholic ISSUE #4 PL/ENG, str. 100-1032015 – Notes na 6 tygodni nr 99, maj-czerwiec-2015, Alek Hudzik, str. 110-117, issn 1730-94092015 – Wczasy Mag No. 3, „Wokół typografi” str 18-19, issn 2353-60042015 – Art&Business 4.2015, „Nowe Rytuały”, Alek Hudzik, str. 32,2014 – Warsawholic ISSUE #4 PL/ENG, str. 100-1032014 – Catalog of 13 edition ERGO HESTIA2013 – „PDP Orkiestra”, catalog and dvd with concert, texts Fernando Garcia Mendez, Maria Anna Potocka, Katarzyna Wąs2013 – „Punkt” magazin http://www.punktmag.pl/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/PUNKT_10___ENG1.2012 – „Aaakupunktura” catalog, texts by Mirosław Bałka and Anna Miczko Published by Kordegarda, 2012 – „Zawód Artysta” Gallery Raster, texts by Marta Czyż, Łukasz Gorczyca, Michał Kaczyński

Exhibition: Earn your showerMOMA Warsaw, 2016

A graphical diptych printed on a towel and created for the ‘WARSAW under construction 8’ exhibition at MOMA, Warsaw, which is a part of a larger series. The work focuses on studying the aesthetics of the cult of fitness and bodybuilding

Exhibition view, Print on towel

Print on towel

Exhibition: Augmented City,Asia contemporary art platform NON Berlin, 2016

“Augmented city” is a guided tour through Warsaw based on physi-cal run through virtual reality mediated by projected recording. Key element is the dynamic form of depicting the city from first person perspective. The artist moves on the track. Track is connected to computer mouse’s scroll. Depending on a speed of the run, presenta-tion is projected in a different pace. Artist controls the intensity of sightseeing: he can speed up the tempo, slow down or stop to take a breath. It shows the connection between body and virtual reality. Apart from the bodily effort, Delman is also constantly responding to projected topography of the city, which can demand strong and more direct or distant reaction.

The tour takes around 30 minutes. During this time Delman is able to show Warsaw only from his personal point of view, he chooses subjectively meaningful elements of the composition. Presented per-spective is the one of a person born in Warsaw, who recalls his child-hood, block of flats’ adolescence and functioning in post-communist country after ‘89. A couple of kilometers of virtual, emotional compo-sition about Warsaw, propeled by his own body, is not a narrative tour but an attempt to show tensions and problems, that are present in experience of citizens of this city and country.

https://vimeo.com/192810506

Screens from video

Exhibition: Sweat is fat cryingFitness Club Agora, Warsaw, 2016

The gym is a set of devices that belong to a larger, energy processing system in which the conversion of some type of energy to another energy takes place. The space of the gym has been enriched with works, sculptures, and graphics that are trying to enter the rhythm and character of the space, recognizing its dynamics and aesthetics. The exhibition is combined with a performance-training of Norbert Delman. The exhibition will be open for both art lovers and athletes, so one can come to train and/or to see the exhibition. I invite you heartily to sports and arts. The ‘Sweat is fat crying’ project is financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

Exhibition view, C-print

Exhibition view, sculpture swimming in a swimming pool, foam, print 3d

C-print

Exhibition: Fenix syndrom Grey Gallery, Katowice, 2017t

The work visually and semantically touches the definition of the phe-nomenon known as the Phoenix Syndrome, it is a parabola between extreme emotional liveliness and the dieback of body and personal-ity functions. Hands facing each other as in The Creation of Adam, bent in a parabola, a line, they are pushing opposite states, grappling. This is a continuation of works on competition and domination in art, sport, and life.

Exhibition view, installation: C-print, ligth, metal

Exhibition: Undo XS Gallery, Warsaw, 2016

The project presented in the XS art space in Warsaw is an attempt to recognize the aesthetic of transience of things and phenomena in the virtual world. I am fascinated by the possibilities of online platforms and how behavior and tensions arising in the virtual world infiltrate the physical world, where the oppressive rhetoric of the internet af-fects our identity. Enhancing aversion to the physical world, which is rampant in the virtual space, must ultimately lead to discord. In this encounter the physical world has to deal with the consequences of what we did wrong in the network.

Is there some air catastrophic nostalgia in the air? Our memory goes back more or less to the beginnings of our social network accounts. The present was supposed to be archived, and it became even more volatile. Today we are trying to discover artifacts, pixel-bit layers of the masses of information, images, and contents from the border of notes and memories, which are covered by dust. Finally, under the layers of bitmaps, a memory of meeting on someone’s wall is the only thing left. The Internet does not forget, but it passes, like any other phenomenon in the real world. Despite pressing ctrl+z for hours, there will be nothing left after the twentieth time, and everything that was lost will become a ground for subsequent information. Our level of perception ends after the thousandth square pixel, the rest is a gigahertz white noise crammed in wavelengths and fiber optics, which, in reality, is infinite.

Exhibition view, installation: sand, screens, towels, 3d molds, print

Exhibition view, installation: sand, screens, towels, 3d molds, print

Exhibition view, C-print

Exhibition : INTEGRATED PARTICIPATORY Lokal 30 Gallery, Warsaw, 2016

INTEGRATED PARTICIPATORY ACTIVITIES

“Art in prison” is a project which aim was to create artistic workshops with prisoners. Artists carried on the workshops and their effect was shown at the collective exhibition at the Lokal_30 Gallery in Warsaw. The “_ . _ “ is a result of sports workshops, in which the artist ex-changed knowledge in a barter trade with inmates - he invited train-ers to prison, and in exchange for this the prisoners showed him how their illegal training, performed when all training is forbidden. “Art in Prisons” is a project aiming to popularise community work in prisons initiated by contemporary artists. Classes, discussions, lectures and workshops, prepared by artists and social activists, have taken place at various Polish prisons. The project, developed as an integrated participative action, is meant not only to help rehabilitate the inmates and prepare them for a return to life outside, but also to provoke potential recipients to reflect on the contemporary notion of punishment, its long-term rationale, and its role, if any, in overhauling the convicts’ personalities and value systems.The exhibition is a result of a project conducted by Fundacja “Dom Kultury”.

Exhibition view, sculpture

Exhibition view, sculpture

Exhibition : The Drawers vol. 2 Kasia Michalski Gallery, Warsaw

Kasia Michalski Gallery is delighted to present its second edition of The Drawers project, opening the gallery’s cultural

It is a sculpture with audio and video elements, a work coming from a study of strikes and protests mechanisms, created for the exhibition “The Drawers vol.2” at Kasia Michalski Gallery, Warsaw. The strikes are governed by very specific dynamics, it is not uncommon for two groups that are in opposition to each other to use the same visual messages and language. People then become a mass which supplies the front of the strike and repeats the heard slogans. In its entirety, it paralyzes the city, demands, threatens, and demonstrates dissatisfac-tion

The uniqueness of the show’s format, initiated in 2015, continues to be based on a standard piece of gallery furniturewhich holds nine drawers. Each drawer contains works by one artist only, and only one drawer can be opened at a time.As a result, nine small-scale, ephemeral solo shows emerge, encour-aging the audience to interact with each individualpresentation.

Exhibition view, sculpture

Intervention art : S.O.SGalery Salon Akademii, Warsaw, 2014

SOS work is a continuation of my considerations on the problem of anonymity and contemporary information – in my opinion, they are the dominant elements of the contemporary world and the young generation. The classic game called “Ships” was transformed by me into spatial action. Forty masked guests ( twenty in each room) was placed on a board game made on the floor. In one of the groups, at the start, there was less about 3 people, because they have decided to leave the game. Action takes 40 min – the time that one team needed to eliminate the second one.

The title of this work SOS (Save our Ships) is based on the interna-tional rescue communication. It is an information/alarm. Sailors were using this as shortcut of “Save our souls” with can be interpreted as an identity with a ship (there is no ship without sailor, and now sailor without ship) also sailors determine their survival on help that ship can get. You can see the analogy with the game led by me. The work refers to the sense of danger represented by a simple game. The ap-plicable principle was to reveal your identity, when somebody was shot by removing the mask and say your real name. Unveiling the face in this context is an indication of the presence. In this game I play the role of information – was walking between rooms repeating num-ber of areas, which was shot or the names of people who dropped out of the game. This symbolic death, which it takes is a moment of identity

frame from video

frame from video

view of the installations

Exhibition Illegal Personal Contact With An Opponent 13 March - 26 April 2015 Maria Stenfors Gallery Lodnon, UK

Screens form video ‘I.P.C. 1/4’ ,7’24” 2015, Metal fence, 24” LED screens 292 x 495 cm

The core of the exhibition is a performative basketball tournament. Two masked team dressed in identical outfits played a one-basket match, during which the problem was not only identifying enemies, but also allies. The whole thing, documented from a first person per-spective, was included in the central part of the exhibition. Surround-ed by objects, it created an installation deriving from the mechanics of stadium fan zones. This area is a dangerous place where fans watch with obsession and lust the conflict taking place on the pitch.

Maria Stenfors is delighted to present Norbert Delman’s first solo show at the gallery. Delman will transform the gallery space into three symbolic areas: the viewer is greeted with a photograph of a deflated ball masking a man’s face; then, a tournament area with a basketball net below which a video work displays a game involving two masked teams; and finally, a third zone comprising a grandstand for viewers to passively watch the conflict unfold.

Delman’s placement of diverse media, such as video, sculpture, found objects, installation and performance, though initially seemingly schizophrenic, provides further evidence of the anxieties, tensions and multi-faceted nature of contemporary existence. The objects, and the pauses between them, create a sensory environment that is both personal and collective, evoking an emotional response of apprehen-sion and disquiet.

‘I.P.C. 2/4’ 2015Foil prints, wood, speakers, and tablet, screen 59 x 200 cm & 70 x 51 cm

‘I.P.C. 3/4’ 2015Wood, inflatable pool, foam rollers, rotating amber eacon with magnetic base 120 x Ø 90 cm

‘I.P.C. 1/4’ ,7’24” 2015Metal fence, 24” LED screens 292 x 495 cm

installation view

Exhibition Defence adaptation 13.06 – 19.07.2015 Milosc Gallery , Torun, PL

A potential attack, conflict, or crisis situation may appear in various fields of social or purely biological functioning. The sense of anxiety and fear of jeopardy prompts us to premature reaction and preven-tion of potential incidents. The prevention gives us a sense of control. The attack may occur at any place and at any time. We fear what we do not know. The origins of threat are both in mental and physical realm. The same applies to defence system.

Norbert Delman, outlining the spectrum of potential threats, of-fers an airsoft game. This is paramilitary game using ASG (Airsoft Gun) weapon, replica firearms, for tactical exercises and trainings. Therefore, the exhibition takes the performative and educative form. Its title refers to the subject once taught in secondary schools [civil defence training] – comprising broadly understood civil defence, methods of protection against various threats, and preparation to deal with natural disasters. In this case, Polish word “przysposobienie” [adoption] has been replaced with “przystosowanie” [adaptation], in order to emphasize the tension between one’s own needs and the environment requirements.

The defence mechanism is activated at the time of attack, but the sense of threat and danger is a natural factor of everyday life. The defence adaptation is a process of developing features that allow surviving in a given environment or under a given circumstances. At the same time, it remains a constant training that enables readiness to take immediate action.

Attack and defence, as two antagonisms, can be activated in every area and activity of life (political, economic, religious, social, or cul-tural). They are taking camouflaged forms, which are trying to impose their own laws and properties. The anonymity is a privilege, but also a weapon. Therefore, when you stand in the front of disguised identity, open the fire!

The exhibition consists of three elements directed at the performa-tive and training operations. Its space imposes vigilance and active-ness. Performance view

Exhibition view

Exhibition view

Exhibition “S/S/S” Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, EdinburghCurated by Dan Brown

The project from the three-month long EMS/RSA residence in Scot-land was aimed to drastically change the body through extreme diet and training schedule prepared in cooperation with a personal trainer. The three-monthly happening ended with an exhibition of objects forming the narrative of the entire process. It was an attempt to create a bridge between two very distant environments: artists and bodybuilders. Despite the distance, both groups are characterized by the same commitment and determination. The same mechanisms are present in both cases, both are motivated by the same instincts as well. The work refers to fear and ambition. The question arises about what is more motivating: desire for success, or fear of failure. Just like artists, bodybuilders subordinate their lives to physical activity, living in a trance, maintaining order, and achieving goals, which often turns into an obsession.

2014 “ BCPS” 2014, C- type pront, edition of 1, 40 x 40 cm

2014, C- type pront, edition of 1, 30 x 40 cm

Exhibition view

PERFORMANCE “SPARING”BWA, Zielona Góra2015

The performance is training with a punching bag decorated with a slogan “You’re only the runner-up”. It is a work based on the well-known tennis players saying “you won’t defeat the wall.” The strug-gle between Man and Object, which reminds him of the inevitable defeat. According to the artist, one of the strongest incentives for young peo-ple is not the desire for success, but the fear of failure. This fear affects representatives of all groups and professions. The most interesting area of activity for Norbert Delman is the border, in which obsession connects with ambition and rivalry merges with fear. In his works the artist usually refers to popular sporting activities and uses team game systems.

“Sparing” View on installation

“Sparing” View on installation

Installation “mass”, 2014sausage, metal grill, charcoal

The work consists of two metal grills with shape of hands showing strained biceps which are stuffed with sausage. Fired grill melted fat from the sausages, which could be eaten but without bread, carbs are your enemy.

www.norbertdelman.com