Michał Staszczak

"I draw on the boundless forms and shapes of the world around me. Imagination fuses them into new beings – familiar, yet not quite tamed. Liquid metal makes it possible to stop time for a moment." Michał Staszczak (b. 1979) graduated in sculpture from the E. Geppert Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław. He received his diploma in 2005 in the studio of Prof. Leon Podsiadły, with an annex in small sculptural form in the studio of Prof. Jacek Dworski. Since 2006 he has been employed at his alma mater, where he currently runs the artistic casting studio. In 2019 he obtained the degree of habilitated doctor. From 2016 to 2020 he was Head of the Department of Sculpture Techniques at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław. Since 2020 he has been Vice-Rector for International Cooperation and Promotion at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław. He is the founder and co-organiser of the High Temperature Festival. He leads casting workshops and demonstrations, and builds outdoor furnaces for melting bronze, aluminium and cast iron. He creates assemblage sculptures, reliefs and installations, which he casts in metal himself. In his creative process he also uses 3D design and printing technology. He takes part in numerous exhibitions in Poland and abroad.