Weronika Gȩsicka’s (Włocławek, Poland, 1984) artistic research focuses on the relationship between collective and individual memory, and on the ways in which photography—whether manipulated or not—shapes our perception of reality.
In her most recent project, Encyclopaedia, the artist gathers and reworks false entries found in printed encyclopedias, transforming them into images. These entries were intentionally inserted by publishers as a means of detecting potential cases of plagiarism. Gȩsicka gives them a new visual form through both the use of archival and stock photographs, digitally manipulated, and images generated by artificial intelligence.
The result is an ironic and surreal new encyclopedia, where illustrations accompany and amplify definitions that are at once precise and deceptive.
With this body of work, the artist translates into visual form the distortions that arise from deliberately false information, creating a conceptual short-circuit that prompts reflection on the reliability of sources and the truthfulness of information. The project highlights how today’s epidemic of fake news—amplified by digital technologies—is in fact an evolution of disinformation strategies already in use as far back as the seventeenth century, when many of the first major encyclopedias were produced. The images and encyclopedic definitions elaborated by Gȩsicka span a wide range of fields, embracing diverse disciplines and areas of knowledge.
In the work Near Dark, at first glance, we see a female figure dressed as a cowboy, posing for the camera while holding a revolver. Only upon closer observation do unsettling details emerge, revealing her vampiric nature: bloodshot eyes and sharp fangs protruding from an enigmatic smile.
The vibrant contrast between the blue background and the protagonist’s yellow shirt enhances the figure in the foreground, lending the image a distinctly pop aesthetic that resonates with the visual language of cinema and advertising.
Alongside the photograph appears the encyclopedic definition that inspired the work. In this case, the entry describes Near Dark as an unfinished American horror film about vampires, directed by Ryan Zeller and written by Matt Craven and Kathryn Bigelow: a phantom remake of the cult 1987 horror western directed by Bigelow herself. The artist thus creates a play of references between historical fact and invention, where the false definition generates an image that appears credible precisely because it is rooted in collective imagination.

Weronika Gęsicka, Near Dark, from the series Encyclopaedia, 2023-2024
© Weronika Gęsicka

01/10/25