Stones Ants and Television

Zygmunt Rytka was an intermedia artist associated with the Polish neo-avant-garde of the 1970s and the independent artist community of the 1980s. In his conceptual work, he combined a philosophical and artistic study of nature and perception with ironic reflections on contemporary media and politics. The artist saw the camera as an instrument that creates a convention and begins to influence reality. The book—the first monograph of his photographic work in English— is a comprehensive collection including early conceptual cycles, works dealing with consumer culture, politically charged analytical studies of the language of mass media, and works focusing on the relationship between culture and nature. There is commentary on the cycles provided by notes from the author, an interview conducted by Anna Maria Leśniewska, and new texts by David Crowley, Karol Hordziej, and Daniel Muzyczuk.