Piotr Kowalski (2 March 1927 – 7 January 2004) was a Polish artist, sculptor, and architect. Kowalski worked in non-traditional materials including electronic and mechanical devices,

neon art Neon lighting consists of brightly glowing, electrified glass tubes or bulbs that contain rarefied neon or other gases. Neon lights are a type of cold cathode gas-discharge light. A neon tube is a sealed glass tube with a metal electrode a ...

, large earth works, explosions and other natural phenomena including plant growth and gravity. Kowalski attended

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the mo ...

in order to study mathematics, but turned to architecture, and then to sculpture. He immigrated to France as an architect for UNESCO and spent most of the rest of his life in Paris. Along with gallery works, he installed several large outdoors projects.

Biography

Piotr Kowalski was born 2 March 1927 in

Lwów Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of ...

(now Lviv,

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

). By 1946 he was a refugee of the war living in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. He attended

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

from 1947 to 1952, receiving a Bachelors in Architecture, and maintained relations with MIT throughout his life. He worked as an architect for

I. M. Pei Ieoh Ming Pei
– website of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners ( ; ; April 26, 1917 – May 16, 2019) was ...

from 1952 until 1953, then joined

Marcel Breuer Marcel Lajos Breuer ( ; 21 May 1902 – 1 July 1981), was a Hungarian-born modernist architect and furniture designer. At the Bauhaus he designed the Wassily Chair and the Cesca Chair, which ''The New York Times'' have called some of the most im ...

as an architect at

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. He became a fellow at the

Center for Advanced Visual Studies The MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology (ACT) has its origins in the Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), an arts and research center founded in 1967 by artist and teacher György Kepes ...

at MIT in 1978, and continued in that position until 1985. In 1985, he became president of the ''Ars Technica'' Association connected to the

Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie The Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie ("City of Science and Industry", abbreviated la CSI) or simply CSI is the biggest science museum in Europe. Located in the Parc de la Villette in Paris, France, it is one of the three dozen French Cultur ...

uniting philosophers, artists, scientists such as

Jean-Marc Levy-Leblond Jean-Marc is a French masculine given name. It may refer to: * Jean-Marc Adjovi-Bocco (born 1963), Beninese former football player * Jean-Marc Ayrault (born 1950), French politician * Jean-Marc Barr (born 1960), French-American film actor and dir ...

, Claude Faure,

Jean-Max Albert Jean-Max Albert (born 1942) is a French painter, sculptor, writer, and musician. He has published theory, books on artists, and a collection of poems, plays and novels inspired by quantum physics. He perpetuated experiments initiated by Paul Klee ...

, Sara Holt,

Piero Gilardi ''For the 19th-century painter and sculptor, see Pier Celestino Gilardi'' Piero Gilardi (born 1942, Turin) is a visual artist. Born in Italy from a Swiss family, he studied at the Liceo Artistico in Turin. In an interview with LeGrace G. Benson, G ...

, Jean-Claude Mocik, reflecting on the relationship between art and new technologies. He was named professor at École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris in 1987. He died in Paris.

Bibliography

* ''Sisyphe géomètre'', with

Ghérasim Luca Gherasim Luca (; 23 July 1913 – 9 February 1994) was a Romanian surrealist theorist and poet. Born Salman Locker in Romania and also known as Costea Sar, and Petre Malcoci, he became an apatrid after leaving Romania in 1952. Biography Born ...

(poème), Genève, Impr. Union (Paris), Claude Givaudan, Givaudan 1966 * ''Le Chant de la carpe'', with

(poème), Paris, François Di Dio, Le Soleil Noir, 1973 * ''Kowalski, espaces, épreuves'' : contient ''Serre des temps'' de Henri-Alexis Baatsch ; ''Cimento : Kowalski'' by

Jean-Christophe Bailly Jean-Christophe Bailly (3 May 1949) is a French writer, poet and playwright. Biography Bailly was born in Paris. Very early on, he decided to devote himself to writing. His book ''Tuiles detachées'' explains this decision, as well as several ...

; ''Idées récurrentes sur l'épreuve du sens'' de Jacques Dyck, Genève, Givaudan, 1978 *''Piotr Kowalski'', by Jean-Christophe Bailly : Éditions Hazan, Paris, 1988 * Information Transcript (CDrom édité par le Métafort d'

Aubervilliers Aubervilliers () is a commune in the Seine-Saint-Denis department, Île-de-France region, northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Albertivillariens'' or ''Albertivillariennes''. Geography Localisati ...

) * ''Art et Science, Hommage à Piotr Kowalski/.., 20/21^e siècles, Cahiers du Centre Pierre Francastel, n°3, automne 2006 * ''Piotr Kowalski, A contemporary’s Insights,'' by

, ''Far-Sited'' : California International Sculpture Symposium 1965/2015, University Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach, 2018

Filmography

* ''Deux temps, trois mouvements'', Gisèle et Luc Meichler, Centre Georges Pompidou et EXLGM©, Paris, 1982 * ''In Situ Kowalski'', Gisèle et Luc Meichler, Paris, EXLGM©, Paris, 1993 * ''Le Cube de la Population'', Gisèle et Luc Meichler, Paris, EXLGM©, Paris, 1995 * ''Piotr Kowalski'' entretien avec Claude Guibert, Encyclopédie audiovisuelle de l'art contemporain, Paris, 1996 * ''Piotr Kowalski, entretiens à propos des projets'', Gisèle et Luc Meichler, EXLGM©, Paris, 2000

Outdoor works

*''Now'' 33° 46' 52.24 N 118° 06' 46.07" W, 1965. *''L'Axe de la Terre'' 48° 50' 25.21" N 2° 35' 04.17" E. 1992. **''L'Axe de la Terre'' Université de Marne la Vallée, *''L'Arche de Saint-Quentin en Yvelines'' 48° 47' 23.55" N 2° 02' 08.92" E *''Place des Degrés'' (Place Blaise Pascal) 48° 53' 22.93 N 2° 14' 08.40" E *''Le Grand Escalier'' 48° 53' 29" N 2° 14' 11" E. 1991-1993. *''Signal (Tour de Vitry)'', 48° 47' 19" N 2° 23' 25" E. 1974 *''Bimetallic'', the Metal Forum in Danube Park, (''Thermocouple'', forum metall Donaulande) Linz, Austria *''Tour de Créteil'' 1990. *''Totem Holographique'' 1993. *''Windmill'', Yamaguchi Beach 34°00'19.16" N 131°22'25.35" E *''Sunflower'', Daikanyama, Tokyo 35°38'56.39" N 139°42'08.29" E *''Oike Dori Fountain'', Kyoto 35°00'39.40" N 135°46'11.22" E. 1997. *''Electronic Tree'', Morioka Japan

References

External links

www.piotrkowalski.com

at the 1995 First Biennale de Lyon
Leonardo Electronic Almanac
volume 12, number 5, May 2004. In memoriam: Piotr Kowalski, by Jean Delsaux

April 28 – May 26, 1979 The Mirror, Time Machine

California State University, Long Beach
Piotr Kowalski in the National Gallery of Australia's Kenneth Tyler collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kowalski, Piotr 1927 births 2004 deaths 20th-century Polish people 20th-century sculptors 20th-century Polish architects Neon artists Polish sculptors Polish male sculptors Polish emigrants to France Polish emigrants to Brazil Artists from Lviv MIT School of Architecture and Planning alumni