Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin

METAMORPHOSIS: HOW DID I BECOME AN
ACADEMIC?
TOMASZ KIZNY
Tomasz Kizny, born in Poland in 1958, is a photographer working in the fields of documentary
photography and visual arts. In 1982, he was the founding member of the independent
photo agency “Dementi”, an underground organization of independent photographers
established following the implementation of martial law in Poland and working
till 1991. In 1986−2003, he carried out a long-term photographic project devoted to the Gulags
in the USSR. The main themes of this work were published in the book Gulag, preface:
Norman Davies, Siergiei Kovaliov and Jorge Semprun (Paris 2003, Hamburg, Milan,
Barcelona, New York 2004, Moscow 2007). Tomasz Kizny’s project “The Passengers”,
completed in 1998−2002, is a relevant gallery of people, inhabitants of metropolises at the
turn of the millennium, and consists of an extensive series of portraits of underground passengers
in Moscow, Warsaw, Berlin, Paris and New York. His works have been presented
at numerous individual and group exhibitions. Tomasz Kizny lives and works in
WrocΩaw, Poland. − Address: ul. Wieckowskiego 25 m. 19, 50-431 WrocΩaw, Poland.
At the beginning there were doubts and fears – what am I doing here, an outsider, an artist
with no academic experience? Did they make a mistake inviting me? Am I going to be
shamed?
I came to Wissenschaftskolleg with a pretty straightforward project to complete – the
photo documentary book The Great Terror in the USSR 1936−1938 – and to prepare a follow-up
photographic exhibition.
Then discussions started. The Image Science Focus Group was an eye-opener for me.
Although the group disintegrated, informal talks with Ulrich Keller and Lisa Parks went
80 Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin jahrbuch 2006/2007