polE zine by Piotr Grabowski

"Ping Flood" is the title of the latest (#11) cool issue of polE zine, a polish magazine launched in 2009 by Piotr Grabowski. polE is a Warsaw, Poland based DIY magazine with wide range works of polish young artists.

Piotr Grabowski tells us about this number;

"New issue of polE zine is a little bit sentimental, a bit futuristic, a bit provincial and strongly fatalistic. For me, surprisingly up to date, as I hear about the flood and hundreds of bodies floating in the sea. I use the history and current status, to show the phenomenon of congestion, the state of fatigue, drift and helplessness in the time of disasters. This situation is terrifying but somehow accustomed at the same time. Recurs every six months but yet incomprehensible. Future can be calculated, applied to the formula, illustrated by the scheme, but we are still completely uncertain and confused. Maybe the problem is in computational power. I am exploiting a digital cliché in that story, it is handy for me to show overloading of reality, space being pervaded by digitality today." See more;

"I called this issue "Ping Flood”. It's a simple hacker's attack on network server, that drives to overloading the system. For me it is the equivalent of what happens in many other contexts – the flood of seemingly harmless events that leads to massive system's congestion and to much more radical effect of changes, revolutions, personal dramas. But, after all, ping flood is not any sophisticated attack, it is quite primitive method, with no fireworks and its effects are easily reversible by RESET button." - Piotr Grabowski

I asked him about the usually content on polE magazine, because this issue seems to have a quite abstract style, but Piotr tells that polE's style depends on the moment of the story at each time. The abstraction is frequently used but is not a required thing for others artists. "Pole" in polish means area, field, sphere, so the art which Piotr is looking for, is not specified. The zine is a space opened for a creative exploration. 

Recent numbers are created by one person, sometimes inviting others to cooperate with, and the previews issues were like group exhibition.

Piotr Grabowski, "Ping Flood”, polE#11, Warsaw, 2011
Paper recycled, 80g, white ISO 70 brightness.

24 pages , 21 x 29.7 cm