My bio

My name is Sylwia Zolkiewska. I am a new media artist, visual culture researcher, author and educator based in Warsaw, Poland. I’m also a minimalist and an advocate for sustainable, critical approaches to art and technology. My work investigates the shifting relationship between digital and physical realities, focusing on how emerging technologies influence perception, memory, and contemporary visual culture. By combining artistic research with digital experimentation—such as AI, interactive media, and experimental video—I explore the transient, adaptive, and transformative nature of today’s aesthetics.

Background & artistic evolution

The intersection of art, technology, and visual culture has shaped my artistic practice from the beginning. I’ve long been interested in how new media redefine perception and aesthetics, a curiosity that evolved into my doctoral research on mobile-era aesthetics, which I defended in 2024 at the Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology in Warsaw.

Although I was formally trained in traditional disciplines at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, my focus quickly shifted toward experimental film and animation—pushing the boundaries of moving images beyond conventional forms. To broaden this exploration, I continued my studies at the New Media Faculty of Turku Polytechnic in Finland. Later, I worked professionally in motion design and special effects, merging classical techniques with digital innovation.

This cross-disciplinary approach continues to inform my practice today. My work has been featured in more than 50 exhibitions, art fairs, and festivals across Poland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Brazil, Canada, the United States, and South Korea. My multimedia installations, experimental videos, and animations have been nominated and awarded at events including the Punto y Raya International Abstract Film Festival, AltFF Alternative Film Festival, and ERA New Horizons International Film Festival (see Exhibition list). By integrating artistic research with adaptive methodologies, I continue to investigate the evolving role of technology in contemporary artistic expression.

Current artistic focus

After more than a decade of exploring mobile screen-driven aesthetics in visual art, I am now investigating how AI and emerging technologies shape visual culture and aesthetics. Over the past two years, I have been actively experimenting with AI-driven tools for visual creation while critically assessing their impact on artistic processes. In 2024, I developed AI Mirror: Everything Diffusion project, a research-driven project exploring AI-generated imagery, authorship, and the environmental impact of creative technologies.

Artistic research & methodology

For me, art is a way of exploring contemporary existence and perception in a world shaped by technology. My practice is grounded in artistic research and informed by methods drawn from ethnography and sociology—such as netnography, in-depth interviews (IDIs), and qualitative observation. These approaches support a deeper engagement with digital culture, platform aesthetics, and everyday visual habits.

Thematically, my work is influenced by post-phenomenology, medium theory, and studies on the impact of new media on human behavior and sensory experience. These frameworks inform both my creative process and my critical writing. Read more about my methodology and research..

Sustainability in art

As a minimalist, I follow an adaptive, scalable, and low-waste approach to artistic production and exhibition. My works are designed to function across diverse formats—from large-scale projections to mobile screens—minimizing environmental impact while preserving conceptual integrity. I intentionally avoid resource-heavy, site-specific setups in favor of digital methods that prioritize energy efficiency, material reuse, and open-source tools. I also experiment within existing digital platforms, reusing and creatively repurposing their logic—sometimes through what I call peaceful hacking. Read more about my perspective on contemporary art in utlined in my Agile Art Manifesto.

Writings

For years, I’ve been writing about the intersections of art, technology, and digital culture, analyzing how emerging innovations reshape visual language and artistic expression. My texts—published mainly in Contemporary Lynx online magazine—explore themes such as sustainability, speculative futures, and the evolving role of new media in contemporary art. By combining artistic research with technological discourse, I aim to provide critical perspectives on how digital transformation redefines the boundaries of visual culture today.

List of articles