Weronika Gęsicka's exhibition "Encyclopedia" in Madrid

Weronika Gęsicka's exhibition Encyclopedia is part of the series Photography – More Than Reality. The Art of Representation (Galería i23, Madrid, Spain)

Encyclopedia is a compendium of knowledge that we generally regard as a reliable and trustworthy source of information—a collection of facts that allows us to confront our doubts. But what happens when an error, even a small one, finds its way into something considered true and indisputable? Does it not cast doubt on the rest and risk rendering the entire source useless? False entries have existed since the early history of encyclopedias, dictionaries, and lexicons, sometimes used as a safeguard against plagiarism.

Encyclopedia is a project comprising several hundred fictitious entries found in encyclopedias, dictionaries, and lexicons from various places and time periods. These are illustrated by Weronika Gęsicka using manipulated stock photography and images generated with artificial intelligence. The real begins to function here on equal terms with the imagined.

Weronika Gęsicka (b. 1984) is a visual artist. Over the past decade, she has created photographic works and installations that explore the mechanisms of memory and the construction of histories and collective recollections. She often works with archival materials, and in her latest project Encyclopedia, she expands her creative process to include artificial intelligence tools. She graduated from the Faculty of Graphic Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts and the Academy of Photography in Warsaw. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Polityka Passport (Visual Arts category, 2020), EMOP Arendt Award (2019), and Foam Talent (2017). Gęsicka’s works have been exhibited both in Poland and internationally, and are held in collections such as the Dom Museum in Vienna, the Arendt Collection in Luxembourg, the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation in Germany, and the National Museum in Wrocław.

Artist: Weronika Gęsicka
Partners: Galería i23, Polish Institute in Madrid