We went to interview Dawid Marcinkowski about an interactive project, The Trip, which we’ll be showing in a couple of weeks, but Dawid wanted to talk more about his work partner and girlfriend Kate and her personal projects.
We like that in a man. Especially today.

KissingerTwins, Kate and Dawid, are a London based multimedia-duo with Polish roots.
She is a photographer, he is an interactive director at unit9.
Together they have been mixing photography and film with the latest in digital.
As Kissinger Twins they have created noted projects in various creative arenas, including photography, interactive movies, advertising, music videos and beyond.
The story in each project is essential for them.
Kate simplifies, Dawid complicates. She is looking for the beauty beyond the obvious, Dawid for pop trash hidden gems.
And yes, they are a couple.
It helps…apparently.

Kate, how did the Kiss Kiss series come about?

My goal in the KissKiss project was to capture the truths of passion and emotion.
All the images are natural poses, without staging.
There is no post-production embellishments or retouching.
The kiss is seen as a sign, a symbol of the sealing of two personalities.
The characters presented in this embrace are seen in a realistic light, sincere and spontaneous in their actions.
With these naked emotions, the subjects project more than what is seen on the surface.
Despite the apparent similarity of the action of the kiss, every couple does it in a singular manner.
Much can be gleamed from a couple’s kiss, personalities revealed.
Overall the visuals attempt to break free of the constraints of modern ‘ideals’ and explore imagery that veers off the mainstream.

KissKiss is a work in progress. I’ve been taking photos of the couples for few years.
Most of them were made in Poland, but now I’m preparing to take photos of British couples.

I also decided to expand it by creating an interactive photography installation.
In the dark room invisible images of kissing couples are projected on the wall. The viewer must move and make gestures to unmask the image (there’s a movement detectment technology used here). The images become unmasked only through participation of the viewer. The aim is to create an intimate and subtle interaction between the viewer and a kissing couple.
Darkness, voyeurism, closeness and gesture are all explored. What makes this interaction mysterious and ever-changing is the fact the viewer never sees the entire image of the kissing couple.

What led you to the decisions to choose these particular subjects?

I am very interested how body, intimacy and closeness are presented in a contemporary visual culture and media.
When I started to work on this project I reflected on a lot:
How much are we accustomed to the idealized portraits?
What kind of response evokes in us a natural view of the bodies that have not been retouched?
How do we react to the sight of a kiss without the infantile romanticism to which we have become accustomed via pop culture?

Where did you photograph your subjects?

KissKiss has been made in Warsaw/Poland, but as I mentioned I’m preparing now to take photos in London and later this year in Rio. I think about KissKiss as a unique never ending journey.
There are so man wonderful couples all over the world.
So far Kiss Kiss as a photo series won the Best Personal Photo Series at KTR Festival in Poland and was selected at Festival Voies Off, Arles 2010,P’silo/ Festival Images Contre Nature, Marseille.
Interactive photography installation was presented in 2011 at Cork Street Gallery in London, it was a collaboration with Dawid with whom I work as Kissinger Twins.

See the whole project here: