LAACT [Light as a Creative Tool] 2025

LAACT [Light as a Creative Tool] is a long-running project that critically explores contemporary media art, with a particular focus on light art in an academic setting.

It combines both practical and theoretical approaches—offering hands-on workshops led by artists as well as fostering reflection through an international academic conference and panel discussions.

The LAACT workshops welcome not only students from Poland but also participants from art academies and universities across Europe. Alongside these activities, the project has a strong publishing component—this year marks the release of the second volume of the LAACT publication.

Each edition, the organizers—the Department of Media Art and the Department of Stage Design, in collaboration with Robert Sochacki and noks collective—invite a wider audience to take part by hosting exhibitions, post-workshop presentations, and guided tours.

This year, LAACT proudly represents Wrocław Academy of Fine Arts in the cultural program of Poland’s presidency in the Council of the European Union.

LAACT 25 will be a multidimensional exploration of post-anthropocentric narratives in contemporary art. The project takes inspiration from Andrzej Marzec’s book Anthropocene. Philosophy and Aesthetics After the End of the World (PWN) as well as theoretical perspectives from Timothy Morton, Graham Harman, Jane Bennett, and Quentin Meillassoux.

This year’s edition will focus on practical workshops with students, exhibitions by invited artists, and a series of conference lectures exploring interactions between human and non-human entities—bodies, technological creations, natural elements, and artistic forms. Moving beyond anthropocentric perspectives, the project will highlight the agency and experience of non-human objects, materials, and ecosystems. This shift will be a crucial step in our artistic approach, aiming to develop a language of collaboration rooted in keen observation and critical reflection.

Inspired by the works of Sarah Sze, Song Dong, and Diana Lelonek, and framed by Bruno Latour’s Actor-Network Theory (ANT), LAACT 25 will immerse participants in interdisciplinary creative processes, particularly through audiovisual installations. By engaging in discussions on the evolving relationship between art, philosophy, technology, and science, the project will explore artistic strategies that acknowledge the agency of objects and materials within a post-anthropocentric vision of reality.

The researchers and artists invited to this year’s LAACT include:
Andrzej Marzec [PL] , Martina Tritthart [AT] , Yvonne Dröge Wendel [NL] , Małgorzata Dancewicz-Pawlik [PL] , Martha Kicsiny [HU]/[BE] , Holger Lang [AT] , Judith Röder [DE] , Ingo Wendt [DE] , Robert Sochacki [PL] , Natan Kryszk [PL] , an-hoer / Wojciech Unterschuetz and Piotr Bratoszewski [PL] , Sara Buoso [IT] , Mia Kivinen [FI]

The project will take place in Wrocław on the following dates:
April 23 – May 31, 2025: exhibitions, workshops, lectures
May 6 – 10, 2025: international scientific conference

Location: N2 - Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław  (Niemcewicza 2, Wrocław)

Organizer:
Robert Sochacki 
Department of Media Art / Department of Stage Design – Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław
noks collective

Partners:
Department of Art Mediation, Department of Glass – Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław 
Institute of Cultural Studies – University of Wrocław

International Partners:
University of Klagenfurt / IKKG (Austria) 
Saar Academy of Fine Arts / HBKsaar (Germany)