27 March 2021
By Tom Collins
tom@TheCork.ie
Visual Artist Tomasz Madajczak has been awarded Cork County Council’s PLATFORM 31 bursary. He is one 31 artists across Ireland awarded the €8,000 bursary to invest in their practice, participate in an advisory, developmental framework and be part of a peer network.
PLATFORM 31 is the nationwide artist development scheme created by the 31 Local Authority Arts Offices, in collaboration with the Arts Council.
Tomasz Madajczak was born in 1979 in Gorzów Wielkopolski in Poland. He studied photography at the Fine Arts Academy in Poznań from 1998 to 2003. He finalised his studies with an MA in the Intermedia Department in the workshop run by Prof Andrzej Syska. Tomasz emigrated to Ireland shortly afterward. He has exhibited in Poland, Germany, Netherlands, France and Ireland. Source
Speaking after the bursary announcement Mayor of the County of Cork Cllr Mary Linehan Foley said,
“For over thirty-five years Local Authority Arts Offices have worked directly with artists to ensure the arts thrive in all communities. Working in a grass roots and foundational way has allowed Cork County Council Arts Office to identify and respond to the needs of Cork artists, keeping the arts and cultural agenda relevant in changing environments. PLATFORM 31 recognises the central place in our culture occupied by creative artists. Artists help to bring meaning and new perspectives to our lives.”
Madajczak’s current project, “No Space” will be the focus of his participation in PLATFORM 31. Starting in 2020 shortly after the pandemic began, it was initially supported by the Arts Council’s Covid-19 funding scheme. He invited artists and individuals to collaborate with him, where they shared the experience of spaces (physical and mental) and their specific nature.
The Platform 31 bursary and developmental programme will allow Tomasz’s project to evolve in a new direction, of land and connections with place and how this influences culture. For Madajczak, the pandemic has created a space for deep reflection and new ways of approaching his art practice and he hopes to share and move the project further through new collaborations, transcultural experiences and different approaches to art as an alternative language.
The Breath
