The photographs selected from this long-term investigation offer broad views—moments of transformation that, due to their expansiveness, place the observer in a contemplative state. Like a panorama that adjusts our sense of scale to appreciate vastness, these images evoke the feeling we get when looking up at the stars, where we might feel small yet infinitely significant.
At the center of these photographs is an element, a sculptural figure, that symbolizes the capacity for abstraction in human thought—the ability to think 'about' rather than just 'of.' A crane, a guardrail, a fence, a leveled ground, a concrete structure—these are not merely physical objects or key ingredients of an infrastructural narrative; they are symbolic elements of a 'plan' that a society uses to relate to and transform its territory according to its needs.
The title 'Temporary Landscapes' adds and emphasizes the 'temporal,' or rather 'provisional,' nature of the landscape. The photograph itself captures a moment in a process, not the entire process. This collection of moments then defines a space that is contemplative before it is geographical, drawing the viewer into its own horizon, its 'templum,' or within a circumscribed space of vision.
When we look at these photographs, we are certainly informed of the existence of a new highway in Poland, but more importantly, we are drawn into that space and share in the original meditation. In this sense, the image differs from a verbal description of the highway, which leaves imaginative room for prefiguration. The image, being present and concrete, 'summons' us into a symbolic space of configuration that shapes our perception.
