Agnieszka Polska

Prédiction

2-channel Full HD video work, 150 min., 2026

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“You will meet someone special at Chêne-Bourg station” is one of the many prophecies that passengers at the station can read on the two screens facing each other on the platforms. Agnieszka Polska offers a visual and poetic experience with 201 sentences specially designed for the social and architectural context of Chêne-Bourg station. These predictions gradually appear before everyone’s eyes: the letters transform, seeking meaning in their combination and clarity in their typography. This disruption of the image, or as the artist calls it, this entropic dimension of the text, echoes Polska’s artistic process, which stems from a complex and close collaboration between humans and machines. The artist actively reflects on the meaning of the sentences, while her collaborators refine the parameters of the various software programs used. The use of computers allows for control over the timing, rhythm, and visual erosion of the text. The technological hybridity of the predictions calls into question the purely artificial nature of the image, reminding us that humans are always behind the creation of the visual object. In order to further integrate her work into the transient environment of the station, the artist gives each of these omens the opportunity to unfold over the course of a minute. The absence of sound encourages the audience to focus on the structure of the texts and the psychological impact of the moving images. These are all ways of reminding us that everyday life can be interpreted in a mundane or profound way, literally or metaphorically. But the screens also offer a way of putting certain situations into perspective, reminding us that “it’s okay to miss a train.”

Production: Fonds cantonal d'art contemporain, Geneva, for the MIRE programme

Autres artistes à Chêne-Bourg

Agnieszka Polska

Ceel Mogami de Haas

Giulia Essyad

Miriam Laura Leonardi

Agnieszka Polska (*1985) first studied visual and graphic arts in Poland, then took courses taught by Hito Steyerl—a contemporary artist whose work deals with the circulation of images using current technologies and media—at the Berlin University of the Arts. Polska, whose work mainly takes the form of moving images, uses narrative methods specific to cinema, while combining scientific facts and a poetic dimension. This combination of seemingly opposing registers echoes the multiple techniques employed by the artist. Real, digital, or analog shots are thus enhanced by the use of animation generated by artificial intelligence. In doing so, Polska explores the relationship between humans and technology, probing the quasi-symbiotic bond that influences our perception of the world and our means of communication. The juxtaposition of these two worlds, the real and the digital, nevertheless leaves room for singular coincidences, which the artist exploits in both graphic and poetic dimensions.