Monika Bulanda

1983–1997 : Early life

Born in Cracow but till her high school she was raised in historical town in southern part of Poland - Stary Sacz… From her very early age she started to show interest in art . She became the youngest member of the local art gallery where for many years she was taking painting classes at the Maria Kaminska and Ignacy Kurowski atelier, at the same time actively taking part in painting competitions that she won couple of times. She started private piano lessons at the age of 6 but she got serious about music at the age of 11, when she started to learn drums from Wiesław Piszczyński who already at that time strongly encouraged her to continue with music professionally. At the age of 13 she started to perform at local weddings and parties with professional bands gaining her first performing experience. Also at her 13 she participated in regional young instrumentalist competitions that she won couple of times in a row.

1997–2004 : High school and career

Preparing to enter art school, she "ended up" entering. VI LO im. A.Mickiewicza in Cracow specializing in linguistics. She graduated with bilingual (Spanish and Polish ) education. At her 16 ( although illegal because of her young age) she started to appear in music clubs in Cracow making her name as one of the first female drummers in Poland. During jam sessions and concerts she met important musicians such as Paweł Maciwoda, Marek Stryszowski and others with whom she also had chance to perform. This same years she was working voluntary at the Warsaw Summer Jazz Days and Jazz Jamboree where she met most of the renowned jazz musicians with whom she played at jam sessions and got encouragement to continue with music career. She appeared on the main TV in Poland at "Droga do Gwiazd" young talent contest where she was discovered by Sony Music that proposed her to join female pop-rock band Matka signed to Sony. With Matka she gained most of her performing experience, appearing on different programs such as [[:pl:Kuba Wojewódzki (talk-show)[edytuj]|Kuba Wojewodzki Show]], "Bar" and many popular soap operas. When she was only 19 the band Matka started to collaborate with polish pop singer Michal Wisniewski. She continued to develop her drums skills with Artur Malik at the Cracow School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, later Wroclaw School of Jazz Music under tuition of Andrzej Lewandowski. She entered Katowice Academy of Jazz Music and continued to study with Adam Buczek. At the same time she also studied in Warsaw at Chopin School of Music "Bednarska" where she was a student of Kazimierz Jonkisz. To continue her interest in linguistics she also entered University of Warsaw at the Oriental Department studying Chinese Language and Culture. Bulanda simultaneously graduated from both Universities and holds BA in Music and BA in Sinology.

2007–2008 : China

After graduating from two universities she quit all her bands and after 2 weeks she left to Beijing China to in order to "discover the world". She got admitted to Beijing Film Academy at the Foreign Department of Chinese Language and Culture. Very soon she started to appear at Beijing Music scene playing with different Chinese musicians and bands in clubs and during music festivals all around China. She was also invited to conduct drums workshops for Sonor Drums in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia that finished with releasing the workshop DVD.

2008–present : Turkey

Invited by American bass player Tony Jones to join his project in Turkey for couple of months she came to Bodrum but after she moved to İstanbul and continues to live there. She collaborates with Turkish pop singer Kenan Doğulu as well as Mabel Matiz playing percussion. She is also drummer on popular TV Show in Turkey- Elin Oğlu. She recorded drums for turkish guitarist Bilal Karaman on his album Bahane and Turkish pianist Selen Gülün with her project Kadın Matınesı. She is involved in many Dj acts as well as appearing on Jazz Festivals and concerts through collaborations with jazz musicians. Besides collaborating with many Turkish musicians she is developing her music project - she is writing music, lyrics and singing. İn April 2015 she released her solo pop album Forever İ'll Be Young that she produced herself under Turkish music label 3 Adım Müzik.

Painting

Bulanda's painting interest started in her very early age. She was taking intensive painting classes at the local art Gallery in Stary Sacz and at her 13 years old she won first prize in a regional painting competition.

She planned to enter art school, but due to her allergy of paints which was only the excuse to prevent her from "Bohemian youth in arts schools" she finally entered linguistic school. For many years she continued painting as a hobby, and collaborated on different art projects of other artists. After visiting New York in 2010 inspired by its architecture and it's multi cultural aspect, she developed her unique mixed technique which is collage with 3D acrylic contours. Soon after she signed a contract with one of the biggest galleries of contemporary art in İstanbul. Her works were presented at Contemporary Istanbul Art Fair and aroused big interest of art collectors. Soon after she opened couple of group and solo exhibitions. She collaborated with Dutch artist Mathilde ter Heijne on her project and also Levent Kunt on his project at the Depo Culture Centre.

Bulanda has begun her art life in early ages. The first prize she has received in Poland, which is her homeland, has been an important step for her art life in later years. After completing her academic career, she has visited and lived in many big cities from New York to Beijing, from Paris to Istanbul. The passionate and emotional relationship she has established with these cities was an important matter, which formed the basis of her art.

Watching the Unknown

Probably the most romantic reflection of twentieth-century thought is the naive belief that the world will become a more liveable place once man realises the ongoing ‘evil’ and opens his eyes to it. At the same time, ironically, while perception of scientific and technological progress and enlightenment is present and reshaping our world, it has also redefined the social norms. Monika Bulanda projects the paradoxes, reflections and exorbitances of past century onto her works in her recent exhibition. Not only through the techniques and materials used in her works, but also via the structural connotations of toile, can be seen, the traces which put forward Bulanda’s artistic practise. However, contrary to her previous series, the artist explores an abstract space rather than material themes, along with ‘journey of the unknown’.

In Schrödinger's experiment, one of the best metaphors which shows the impact of the spectator on reality; A cat is in a box filled with gunpowder where the possibility of exploding is fifty percent. At the end of one minute, the probability of cat being alive or dead is statistically equal and the cat is in superposition (to the conductor); that is, the cat is both alive and dead. Whether the cat is alive or dead can be seen only when the box is opened. In other words, ‘the curiosity of spectator’s eyes is the one who kills the cat (and creates the reality)’. Similarly, the eye in Bulanda’s works appears to us as a metaphor which creates alternative realities and dimensions. Notwithstanding that no dead cat is there, we can say that the reality (or the dimension) in the works is a creation of the subject. Being considered from a different angle ‘man has been stealing the mystery of God’ in artist’s expressing, this mystery is indeed the act of creation.

The materials used in the works and the colours and forms changing according to the spectator’s perspective, are as it were, the traces which declare that the act of creation has been democratised. Theoretically, when looked at by different individuals at the same time, the work that each spectator sees by representing only one out of infinite possibilities will offer a new dimension and reality in each instance. In this sense, it is possible to say that Bulanda directly associates the spectator at the exhibition space with the eye in her work and the one creating the work is entirely ‘the gaze’ of the spectator in parallel with Schrödinger’s experiment. Besides having defined the act of gaze as a power relation, Bulanda uses this metaphor as a reflection of current political atmosphere. Now the eye points to the stranglehold of the ‘man in power’ while the variational and lubricious space on the toile indicates the distorted ‘reality’. It becomes possible to see the traces of süper modernity on the surfaces where real and fiction, rational and irrational blend together. Especially the indistinct architectural structure in which the works turn into spaces that capture ‘the spirit of time’ as well as carrying out the traces of thoughts which Auge conceptualised as ‘non-place’. The essential question for the spectator lies in the intersection of these narratives. Following the established logic, is it possible to centralise the concept of ‘power’ if man is both the master of the reality which he has created by his own gaze and the victim of the gaze (reality) imposed to himself? If not, is it meaningful to fight against ‘man in power’ or where is the field of conflict? Having revealed or recognised all of these relations, would a change be possible or would life continue as aware cynical subjects? All of these questions will find their answers in the reality created by the eyes gazing at Bulanda’s work or surrender to a metanarrative.

Discography

All music composed by Monika Bulanda.