Maciej Markowicz

Artist's Statement

I've spent years learning to work with time rather than against it. These photographs are what happens when I stop trying to extract moments and simply let duration accumulate.

I work in complete darkness while moving through space. Light writes itself onto paper over several seconds. What appears isn't a frozen instant but layered time—the way experience actually feels before we try to pin it down.

These artworks don't freeze time. They let it accumulate on the paper the way experience accumulates in memory—as layered duration, not isolated instants.

Biography

Maciej Markowicz has been working with his signature mobile Camera Obscura technique since 2015. His works have been shown at Tate Modern, London, with recent solo exhibitions at the Polish Institute Berlin and a duo show at Anne Clergue Gallery, Arles.

His works are held in art collections including the Musée Français de la Photographie and the German Art Collection of the Bundestag, and have been featured in L'Œil de la Photographie and the British Journal of Photography.

In 2017, he received a grant from the Goethe-Institut and the German Federal Foreign Office for a year-long Camera Obscura Boat European tour.

Public Collections

Musée Français de la Photographie, Bièvres, France
German Art Collection of the Bundestag, Berlin, Germany
ESMT Berlin Art Collection, State Council Building, Berlin
Młyny Rothera, Institute for Culture and Arts, Bydgoszcz, Poland

Selected Exhibitions

2026

Above the River and under the Sky

INNSITU Gallery, Innsbruck – Camera Obscura Project for the 200th Anniversary of Photography

2025

Positions Berlin Art Fair & Photo Basel

ART WEEK Berlin, Flughafen Tempelhof Hangar 7, with VisuleX Gallery

The City in the Lens of the Moving Camera Obscura

Photography Festival Sopot, Poland

BACK to the MAGIC – Camera Obscura and the Art of Photography

VisuleX Gallery, Hamburg, Germany

2024

Le monde flottant

Anne Clergue Gallery, Arles, France

Landscape brought to life

Polish Institute Berlin

Artist for Flussbad Berlin – Group Exhibition

With Katharina Grosse, Wolfgang Tillmans, Karin Sander and others, Berlin Art Week

2023

Horyzont Imagined – The City in the Lens of the Moving Camera Obscura

Art Gallery Ogrodowa8, Łódź, Poland

2021

Camera Obscura: Painting with Light and Motion

Floating exhibition, Berlin Photo Week

Through the Moving Eye of the Camera Obscura

Młyny Rothera, Bydgoszcz, Poland

2020

Berlin inside moving Camera Obscura – Motiongraphs 2018–2020

Werkhof L57, Berlin

2018

Motiongraphs 2015–2018

Flo Peters Gallery, Hamburg

2017

Camera Obscura (Floating Exhibitions)

Open Gallery Weekend Berlin, Paris Photo, Unseen Photo Amsterdam

Dumbo Arts Festival

Polish Cultural Institute, New York, USA

Camera Obscura Cabinet at BYOB Show

International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP), Brooklyn, USA

2013

Accidental Accumulations – Untitled

Curated by Jeanne Braille, Welsh Gallery, New Jersey

2011

After we arrive, before we leave

Curated by Sandra Sykorova and Marko Daniel, Tate Modern, London, UK

Accidental Accumulations – Photo Global Exhibition

New York Photo Festival, New York, USA

Accidental Accumulations – Lab Exhibition

Michael Foley and Sasha Wolf Gallery, New York, USA

2010

Power Obscura

Public installation: Conversion of shipping container into Camera Obscura, London, UK

2008

Rouen Cathedral in Camera Obscura

Public installation: Real-time projection of Rouen Cathedral's façade, Rouen, France

Artist Talks, Lectures & Workshops

2025

SCHULBAU Messe 2025: Camera Obscura as Educational Tool, November 11
Artist Talk & Presentation, Photography Festival Sopot, Poland, September 6
Art Talk: Focus on Central and Eastern European Photography, OFF Festival Arles, July 8
Back to the Magic, Exhibition Visit & Artist Talk, VisuleX Gallery, July 2
Artist Talk: ANALOGUENOW 2025, Analog photography revisited, May 25

2024

Workshop: Long Night of Science inside Camera Obscura tent, Polish Institute Berlin, June 22
Artist Talk: Landscape brought to life, Polish Institute Berlin, May 29

2023

Artist Talk inside Camera Obscura installation, Galeria Ogrodowa8, Łódź, Poland

2022

Artist Talk and Camera Obscura boat tour event, Berlin Art Week
Workshop: Light and motion in the perception of time, Berlin Photo Week

2021

Workshop: Urban landscapes from water and from landside, C/O Berlin Foundation
Workshop: Principles of Photography inside Camera Obscura Boat, Vintage Photo Festival, Poland

2019

Camera Obscura Boat Europe Tour Talk, Photo Talks Berlin
Reclaim the Water! Lecture Series, House of Statistics and Museum of Subcultures

2017

Camera Obscura Boat, Artist Studio Visit, Special event by Aperture/Paris Photo

Education, Residencies & Grants

2017 – Camera Obscura Boat / European Tour, Commissioned by Triennial of Photography, Hamburg
2017 – Grant from Goethe-Institut and German Federal Foreign Office for Camera Obscura Boat Tour
2011 – Photo Global Residency, School of Visual Arts, New York, USA
2011 – Presidential Scholarship, School of Visual Arts, New York, USA
2010 – BA Photography, London College of Communications, London, UK

Background & Process

Background

Born in Nowy Sącz, Poland
Studied in New York and London
Based in Berlin, Germany
Working with Camera Obscura since 2007
Mobile Camera Obscura practice since 2014

Process

Direct exposure on color paper
No film, no digital mediation
8-second exposure time
Chromogenic paper negatives
Each work is unique