Born in Warsaw in 1964, he is a multi-media artist, composer and pianist. He studied at the Music Academy in Warsaw and the University of California at San Diego (ucsd). In various periods of his life he also resided in Djakarta, Paris and Montreal. He has received awards at numerous festivals including the unesco Film sur l’art Festival in Paris (1992), VideoArt Festival in Locarno (1992, 1993), and the Festival of New Cinema and New Media in Montreal (2000). His works have been presented at festivals and concert venues (Lerchenborg Music Days in Denmark, De Ijsbreker in Amsterdam, Musik der Jahrhunderte in Stuttgart, International Computer Music Conference in Thessaloniki, the National Arts Centre Hall in Ottawa) through video, animation or new media events (Tokyo Video Festival, Video-Fest Berlin, fipa Cannes, Animated Film Festival in Annecy, wro Media Art Biennale) to contemporary art museums (New York’s moma, Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe, Palais de Tokyo, Centre Pompidou in Paris and Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal).
Jarosław Kapuscinski has given lectures and workshops at numerous universities including the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts & Music, the Catholic University of Porto, McGill University in Montreal and the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Currently he teaches at the Conservatory of Music at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.

Selected works: Impromptu for tape (1986), Jatayu for piano and tape (1987), Sonata in the Woods for a singing cellist (1988), Mass for soprano, alto and chamber ensemble (1989), Chagalliana for violin, synthesizer and tape (1990), Esquisses afectives for orchestra (1991), Mondrian Variations, video (1992), Glass of Water for amplified flute, glass of water and video projection (1993), Catch the Tiger! for piano and video projection (1993), Square One for conga, voice of Marilyn Monroe and video projection (1994), Japatul for drum and video projection (1995), Mudry, video (1996), Preludes in magical time for violin and tape to an animated film by Sara Petty (1999), 3/78 for violin, piano and tape to an ani-mated film by Larry Cuba (1999), Two Space for piano and tape to an animated film by Larry Cuba (1999), Yours for musical instrument and projected body (2000), Catch the Tiger! 2.0 for piano and computer projection (2001), The Point Is... lecture/performance for piano and computer projection (2002), 5 Conversation Pieces, performance/installation in collaboration with Artificiel (2003), Koan for piano and computer projection (2004), Enso, concerto for percussion, computer projection and orchestra (2005).

The Enso is one of the principal subjects in the Japanese Zen art of calligraphy. It is a circle created in one brush stroke. Traditionally it is part of a painting that includes also a short comment by the monk who painted it. Enso is a universal symbol of wholeness and completion and of the cyclical nature of existence. It represents a continuing action through time. It has no fixed, finite or static meaning. As an example, in his comment to the Enso the monk Nantembo (1839–1925) said: ‘We are born within the spinning circle of life. The human heart too should always be kept round and complete.’ Another monk, Kankei Jomin (1876–1934), accompanied his Enso with the remark: ‘Arouse the mind without letting it settle anywhere!’
Shortly after beginning work on the piece I realized its resemblance in many ways to painting an Enso. I envisioned a large overall shape closing on itself and an intense but simple low-level activity that will bring to the fore the living texture and matter. I wanted it to be practically devoid of any thematic melodic motives or phrases that could be retained in memory and could arrest the mind. It was to be just a constant small and large-scale circling. I was interested in exploring the paradox of the simultaneous coexistence of motion and stasis and how it can be experienced in music and images that are either extremely slow or extremely fast. My Enso is a piece about motion itself, about the state of passing through. It is also about the need and the impossibility of stopping.

Enso was commissioned by the Warsaw Autumn Festival and was composed for Steven Schick as the soloist. Duration – ca 20 minutes.

Jarosław Kapuściński