Maciej Markowicz
ABOVE THE RIVER AND UNDER THE SKY

2026 marks the 200^th anniversary of the invention of photography. In commemoration, INN SITU will be showcasing an artist whose work practice is deeply entwined with the beginnings of the photographic process. Maciej Markowicz works with a camera obscura, which is based on a principle already known to Aristoteles in the 4^th century BC. In 1826, it was applied by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce to successfully produce the first known photograph. The camera obscura is a dark room into which light enters through a hole or lens. In Markowicz’s case, however, this room is located on a boat or in a van. He has transformed each of these vehicles into a camera that moves while he photographs his motifs.

His lens allows light to enter the chamber for eight seconds – light which required eight minutes to travel from the sun to the earth. It hits large-format sheets of chromogenic photographic paper, resulting in directly exposed color negatives. Each work is a handmade, unreproducible unique piece. Photography akin to painting, sculpture, and performance.

In conjunction with his exploration of the region the artist created works involving Alpine rivers such as the Inn, Lech, or the Alpine Rhine, photographed in Tyrol and Vorarlberg from bridges, which usually remain invisible, since the movement of the camera blurs everything nearby. The series of landscape photographs is supplemented with portraits taken by the artist in public spaces in Innsbruck. Above the river and under the sky, in the hovering spatial and temporal sphere of human existence.

Maciej Markowicz’s (*1981 in Nowy Sącz, Poland)

©Norbert Steinke

His works have been shown at the Tate Modern in London, the Polish Institute in Berlin, or at the Anne Clergue Gallery in Arles, to name a few. His works can be found in collections such as that of the Musée français de la Photographie and the Art Collection of the German Bundestag and have been featured in publications such as L’Œil de la Photographie and the British Journal of Photography, among others. In 2017, Markowicz received a stipend from the Goethe Institute and the German Foreign Ministry for a one-year European tour with the Camera Obscura Boat. The artist lives and works in Berlin. «Above the River and Under the Sky» is his first solo exhibition in Austria.

Trio Peter Madsen (Piano), Adrian Mears (Posaune / Didgeridoo), Claudio Spieler (Percussion)

As always at INN SITU, the concert format is a specially developed response to the exhibition: The focus this time has been conceived by the pianist Peter Madsen, who lived and worked in Vorarlberg for many years.

Peter Madsen

©Gerhard Klocker

Now living in Toronto, the pianist is one of the most influential musicians in Vorarlberg. He taught at the Jazzseminar Dornbirn for twenty years. His most famous student to date is David Helbock. In Vorarlberg he founded the Collective of Improvising Artists (CIA) and developed numerous series such as his live silent movie soundtracks. Peter has toured and continues to tour the world with such performers as Stan Getz, Mario Pavone, or Kiyoto Fujiwara, to name a few. He has released more than 140 albums to date and composed over 500 pieces.

For this project, the New York-born musician developed a special format: He projects selected images from the exhibition into the concert hall. Each of the three musicians plays a solo to two images, while the other two musicians respond with improvisations. The two main elements in Maciej Markowicz’s work provide the framework for the musical interpretation: the bridge as the vantage point and the continuous flow of the water.

Adrian Mears

He was named best Australian Trombonist and his band Best Australian Jazz Group. He composes for various jazz ensembles, chamber orchestras, choirs, a classical brass ensemble as well as for documentary films. Adrian has worked with such legends as McCoy Tyner, Klaus Doldinger, Kenny Wheeler, Carla Bley, or Steve Swallow. From 2000 to 2009, he was a member of the Vienna Art Orchestra. In addition to his concert performances with the Adrian Mears Electric Trio, he is also a professor at the Jazzcampus Basel.

Claudio Spieler

©Salar Baygan

He studied classical percussion in Austria, continuing his training in Hakim Ludin’s master class from 2004 to 2012. Today Claudio’s diverse musical style ranges from South Indian music and flamenco to Afro-Cuban music, jazz, pop, and Islandic folk music. In concerts and on concert tours with his current formations, including the Austrian Syndicate, Tevana, and the Groovetrotters, he graces international stages at the Reykjavik Jazz Festival, Flamenco Biënnale Nederland, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, or at the Wiener Konzerthaus, among others.