Razstava / Exhibition
Opening: Wednesday, 21st of December, 2011 at 8 pm until 27th of January, 2012.
Lokacija / Location: Photon – Center za sodobno fotografijo, Križevniška 10, Ljubljana
Odpiralni čas do 30.12.2011: ponedeljek–petek: med 11.00-19.00, sobota–nedelja: 10.00-14.00.
Zaprto: 31.12.2011–2.1.2012
Odpiralni čas januarja: ponedeljek–petek: 11.00-18.00.
Strip Core / Forum Ljubljana
Photon– Center za sodobno fotografijoVizualni material za novinarje se nahaja tukaj
DK (1970) je član ljubljanske multimedijske umetniške in produkcijske skupine Strip Core. V svoji umetniški praksi se povečini poslužuje fotografskega medija, s pomočjo katerega ustvarja specifične pomensko naglašene kompozicije, ki skozi vizualne metafore predstavljajo intimne in družbeno angažirane komentarje kot odziv na aktualno družbeno stvarnost. Svoja dela je predstavil v različnih kontekstih in razstaviščih v domačem in mednarodnem prostoru. DK živi in deluje v Ljubljani.
Razstava Pričevanja prinaša premierni prikaz najnovejše avtorske produkcije DK, umetnika in fotografa, ki že dobrih dvajset let aktivno soustvarja podzemno ljubljansko kulturno-umetniško prizorišče. čeprav nova fotografska dela povzemajo nekoliko spremenjeno pomensko in formalno izraznost ter napovedujejo navidezen rez z dosedanjo estetiko, kažejo na postopno konceptualno nadaljevanje prepoznavnih avtorskih teženj. Kot večina iščočih ustvarjalcev je tudi DK podvržen nenehnem, četudi zelo subtilnem avtorskem spreminjanju in uvajanju novih referenčnih impulzov. Skrajno senzibilno sledi tokovom hitro spreminjajoče se družbne stvarnosti, ki ji je slehernik hočeš nočeš podvržen, ter vanjo intervenira na način podajanja neprizanesljivih komentarjev skozi natančno zasnovane vizualne metafore. Zavedajoč se kratkega dosega umetnosti med širšo javnostjo se DK kritično odziva na dano situacijo, ko se (zahodni) svet neusmiljeno in ne ozirajoč se na kolateralne žrtve panično oprijema poslednjih bilk, ki bi preprečile skorajšnji zdrs v ponovno ekonomsko, družbeno, kulturno in humanistično kataklizmo. Gledalca vselej nagovarja iz distance, saj zgolj bežno nakazuje interpretacijske možnosti predočenih podob. Sporočilo, skrito nekje med vrsticami vizualne govorice, je treba na podlagi ponujenih motivov in njihove percepcijske energije šele osmisliti. Pričevanja prikazujejo popolnoma konstruirano podobje, linijo fotografskega ustvarjanja, ki jo je moč posplošeno poimenovati režirana fotografija oziroma tableau vivant, kjer je celotni slikovni narativ sežet v eni sami (samostojni) podobi, ki oporeka običajnemu sekvenčnemu pripovedovanju zgodbe: kot v fotografskih serijah ali revijalnih foto esejih. Ta umetniški žanr pa na drugi strani ne skriva afinitete do figurativnega slikarstva iz časa pred iznajdbo fotografije, s čimer na poseben način razkriva možnosti konstituiranja določene scene.[1]
DK k tovrstnemu umetniškemu snovanju pristopa z zavedanjem, da fotografija ne more prenesti objekta kot resnice ali bistva – da je večni približek in zato vedno inscenacija. Na takšen način naslavlja sodobnega človeka in opozarja na možnosti popolnega razvrednotenja. Z insceniranim fotografskim principom, kjer si podobo najprej zamisli, jo nato zgradi, medtem ko je zamrznitev na fotografskem filmu zgolj poslednja instanca dolgotrajnega procesa, se spopada že vse od leta 1990, ko je nastalo delo The Big Wait, kar je v nekoliko predrugačeni luči nadaljeval leta 2008, ko sta bili v sklopu razstave in monografije Prehajanja k modernim skrbem objavljeni velikoformatni “igrani” podobi The Big Sleep in The Big Break. Prav iz tega formalnega in konceptualnega izhodišča se porajajo tudi nova dela. Od produkcije izpred 21 let se sicer odločilno razlikujejo ter nakazujejo smernice avtorskega razvoja in zorenja: izkazujejo boljše tehnične pogoje in pričajo o dramatičnem in malone travmatičnem spreminjanju sveta. Ta se je pravzaprav od leta 1990 obrnil popolnoma na glavo.
Tem spremembam je iz dokaj intimne perspektive mogoče slediti tudi v opusu DK, ki je uspel uspešno združiti oba ustvarjalna načina: dokumentarnega in insceniranega. Jeff Wall je fotografe razdelil na dve sekciji, “lovce” in “gojilce”, torej ustvarjalce, ki pristopajo k fotografiji bodisi na način lovljenja trenutka bodisi ustvarjanja (gojenja) situacije. DK je moč umestiti v oba sklopa. čeprav je vselej težil k principu konstruiranja, je večina njegovih podob plod povsem naključno ujetega trenutka, ki se je preprosto zgodil nekje v toku življenja; številne omenjene fotografije pa ne glede na svojo hipno naravo dajejo vtis likovne intervencije, saj prav tako kot “igrane” podobe izpostavljajo specifično metaforo. Ujeti motiv torej predstavlja zgolj namig, medtem ko je osrednji pomen skrit v plasteh pod površjem. Vsebina posameznih fotografij je tako vselej določena s svojo formo in izborom motiva. V ta segment pač ne moremo umestiti nekaterih koherentno zaključenih ciklusov, ki so nastali na drugačnih izhodiščih, pač pa projekte, ki se razvijajo in dopolnjujejo v daljših časovnih razponih: to so proto-serije War, Animal, Silence in nenazadnje The Big.
Izhajajoč iz slednje, se tri fotografske podobe pod skupnim imenom Pričevanja brez olepšav nanašajo na stvarnost vsakdanjika ter duh trenutnega (nestabilnega) časa. S centralno kompozicijsko natančnostjo, ki pridobiva malone sakralno konotacijo, avtor dosega želeno mero dramatičnosti in monumentalnosti predočenih motivov. Ti izpostavljajo pomembnost samozavedanja lastne nemoči in vpetosti v neusmiljeno kolesje monstruoznega družbenega ustroja, ki ga slehernik pravzaprav poganja (tudi) sam. Podobno kot so srednjeveške freske ali baročne slikarije iz sten cerkva opominjale ljudstvo k samozavedanju in upoštevanju vzpostavljenih vrednot, so podobe Pričevanj podobni opomniki človeštvu s kratkim zgodovinskim spominom, ki pa namesto k slepemu sledenju nagovarjajo k ponovnemu premisleku in nejevernosti. V tem duhu podoba v temačnem prostoru vklenjenega levitata govori o času brezizhodne ujetosti in nezavedne represije v obliki diktata norme. Novodobnega kvazi elitneža, ki iz lastne praznine, zdolgočasenosti in objestne perverzije vsiljuje dekadentne družbene norme, DK prikaže kot gurmana, ki dobesedno srka sočloveka. Zaradi svojega prikradenega ali prirojenega družbenega statusa je prepričan v svoj privilegij do popolne frivolnosti in nedosegljivosti pred zakonom.
Kljub mučnemu in brezizhodnemu vzdušju, ki ga sprožajo posamezne podobe, je Pričevanja moč brati tudi kot izkaz avtorjevega prikritega idealizma: zavedanje lastne ujetosti (lahko) namreč vodi do skorajšnje osvoboditve.
Miha Colner
DK (born in 1970) is a member of Ljubljana-based multimedia artistic and production group Strip Core. His artistic practice mostly revolves around photography which helps him to create specific compositions that through selected visual metaphors provide intimate and socially engaged comments on now and here. Indeed, they are his response to current social and political reality. In his artistic career he exhibited his works in various contexts and venues both locally and internationally.
DK lives and works in LjubljanaThe exhibition Testimonies presents the most recent artistic production of DK, an artist and photographer, who has been active on Ljubljana’s underground art scene for more than 20 years. Although his new works in terms of form and content somewhat digress from his mode of ex-pression and anticipate an apparent break with his previous aesthetic, they clearly show gradual conceptual pursuit of distinctive artistic tendencies. The same as the majority of ‘artists-in-search’, DK is also subject to constant creative mutations and the implementation of new referential im-pulses. With utter sensibility he follows the flows of quickly changing social realities that – like it or not – every individ-ual is subject to. He intervenes by way of uncompromising comments in a form of precisely designed visual meta-phors. Aware of art’s short-range impact within the broader public DK critically reacts to and reflects upon the situation, depicting how (Western) world – ruthlessly, in panic and without any consideration for collateral damage – grasps at a straw to prevent another forthcoming economic, social, cultural and humanistic cataclysm. The spectator is always addressed within certain distance whilst possible interpre-tations of images are merely indicated. The message, hid-den somewhere between the lines of visual language, shall only become loud and clear on the base of motifs and their perceptive energy. Testimonies reflect fully constructed im-agery, the area of photographic practice often referred to as staged photography or tableau vivant, where the picto-rial narrative is concentrated into a single image, a stand-alone picture which opposes photographic narrative played out sequentially and printed as photo-stories and photo-es-says in picture magazines. Genre of staged photography clearly shows its affinity to figurative painting before the invention of photography and demonstrates a shared un-derstanding of how scene could be choreographed for the viewer.[1]
DK’s affinity to such artistic approach is based on awareness that photography fails to transfer an object as ultimate truth or essence – indeed, it is a perpetual approx-imation and therefore always staged. In such a way he ad-dresses the modern man drawing attention to the possibility of total devaluation. Since the production of The Big Wait in 1990, DK has been dealing with the principles of staged photography, where final image is first conceived and cre-ated, whereas the photographic caption is the last instance of a long-term process. Such orientation continued and somewhat transformed with two big-format ‘feature’ pho-tographs, The Big Sleep and The Big Break, published for the exhibition and the monograph Passages to Modern Concern in 2008. His new works also originate from this formal and conceptual approach although they are signifi-cantly different from the production of 21 years ago. In-deed, the images illustrate artistic development and maturation, demonstrate better technical conditions and testify to the dramatic and traumatic changes of the world.
Since 1990 the world turned upside down and dramatically changed. These changes can very subtly, from intimate point of view, also be traced in DK’s body of work successfully join-ing both artistic universes – documentary and staged. Jeff Wall divided photographers into ‘hunters’ and ‘farmers’; i.e. artists who hunt a moment and those who create (breed) the situation. DK’s work reflects both options. Al-though he has always pursued the principles of construct-ing, most of his pictures are the result of a randomly captured moment that simply happed and occurred in the course of life. However, regardless their momentary nature a number of said photographs give the impression of artistic interventions; the same as staged images highlight a spe-cific metaphor. Thus the captured motifs are only a hint whilst the essence is always hidden few layers beneath the surface. In terms of content, any individual photograph is always determined by its form and selected motif. Of course this segment doesn’t include some coherent and completed series based on completely different premises, but the projects developed and completed during a longer time period – proto-series such as War, Animal, Silence and finally The Big.
Three photographs from The Big series entitled Testi-monies reflect the reality of everyday life and the spirit of the current (unstable) moment in history. By a precise cen-tral composition with nearly sacral and spiritual connota-tions the artist gives the images a dramatic and monumental edge. The motifs point out the significance of being aware of one’s own helplessness and entrapment into the machinery of monstrous social structure that an indi-vidual actually (also) propels by themselves. Similar to me-dieval frescoes or baroque paintings which drew people’s attention to self-awareness and adherence to the estab-lished values, the images of Testimonies seem to be re-minders to the humankind that has extremely short historical memory. Instead of convincing people to blindly follow regulations, DK’s images promote critical reconsid-eration and disbelief. Following this spirit, the image of chained levitate in a deep dark space speaks about the pe-riod of a dead-end entrapment and unconscious repression dictated by a norm. DK portrays a member of the new age so-called elite as a gourmet who literary sucks and swal-lows his fellow human’s brains. Out of his own emptiness and ruthless perversion he imposes opinion upon decadent social norms. Due to his appropriated or inborn social status he believes in the privilege of being completely frivolous and far beyond the law. Despite awkward and dead-end atmosphere provoked by individual photographs, Testimonies can also be inter-preted as a statement of the artist’s covert idealism: being aware of entrapment (might) lead to imminent liberation.
Miha Colner