(b Warsaw, 14 April 1943). Polish designer and installation artist. He trained as an industrial designer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (1962-8). His first works, all precisely designed and executed, but functionless, were an ironic response to the invasion of modern technology (e.g. Personal Instrument, 1969; L?dz, Mus. A.). In 1973 he constructed the Vehicle (L?dz, Mus. A.). Built of wood and bicycle wheels, it can be set in motion by someone walking up and down on it or by other non-productive action, such as gesticulation. In the 1970s he also examined the relationship between the real object and its visual perception. Drawing of a Stool (1974; Warsaw, Gal. Foksal), flat projections of stools drawn directly on the walls, produced a three-dimensional illusion. These were followed by similar but more sophisticated experiments with line, space and perspective. After 1975 Wodiczko worked and taught in Australia and Canada. He finally settled in the USA, where he started to use a slide projection method to explore the idea of cultural and socio-political contexts of works of art. His Public Projections, large-scale projections on public buildings, often conveyed ironic allusions to the institutional function of the architectural structure, as in Documenta 8, in which a praying figure with a gas-mask and a Geiger counter was projected on to the fa?ade of the Lutherkirche in Kassel, Germany (1987). Together with a group of the New York homeless Wodiczko constructed the Homeless Vehicle (1987-8) 'an instrument of survival for urban nomads'. The aim of this project was not only to supply a multi-purpose shelter and means of transport for the homeless, but also to draw attention to the problem of homelessness in modern society.
See the Abbreviations for further details.
