Weronika Gęsicka - Encyclopaedia - 2024

Weronika Gęsicka: Encyclopaedia – Warsaw, Blow Up Press/Jednostka Gallery – First edition printed in 1500 copies in November 2024

in 4to, 23,1 x 30,7 cm., publisher’s cloth, 251 pages, lavishly illustrated throughout, Weronika Gęsicka's creative images are accompanied by an essay written by Charlotte Cotton, an internationally renowned curator and photography theorist, condition: as new.

*Encyclopaedia* is an acclaimed art project and photobook by Polish photographer Weronika Gęsicka that explores the boundary between truth and fiction through the use of manipulated stock images and artificial intelligence. The artist gathered hundreds of fake entries and non-existent terms (such as "Mountweazel" or "jungftak") originally inserted by the editors of old encyclopedias and dictionaries as "copyright traps" to detect plagiarism. Gęsicka illustrated these invented definitions by modifying archival photos and generating new images using artificial intelligence, creating a visual catalog of non-existent events, animals, and characters.
The work challenges the viewer to consider our blind trust in sources of authority and knowledge in an era dominated by information manipulation and fake news. But behind this seemingly amusing collection lies a very important question: how can we function in an age of information manipulation and fake news, when even encyclopaedias cannot be trusted? What sources can we rely on to ensure that they do not provide fabricated data? How can we distinguish between fake news and reliable information?

Winner of the 2025 Polish Photographic Publication of the Year, Shortlisted for the 2025 Rencontres d'Arles Author Book Award, Shortlisted for the 2025 Paper Photo Award, Shortlisted for the 2026 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize

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