Alena Kotzmannová
Spojení konceptuální fotografie a klasické analogové černobílé fotografie může v dnešní době, kdy je revival analogu spojený s jistou exkluzivitou materiálního artefaktu, působit v jistém smyslu paradoxně. Tvorba Aleny Kotzmannové (nar. 1974) je ale založená právě na těchto dvou postupech.
Kotzmannová je zastánkyní „čistoty“ fotografického záznamu. Pracuje zásadně bez digitální manipulace a aranžování scén, k narušení „nevinnosti fotografického oka“ přistupuje skrze úhel pohledu, expozici, práci s detailem a měřítkem apod. Výsledkem ale nebývá krásný snímek v tradičním smyslu. Kotzmannová fotografuje věci banální, někdy i nevzhledné a o některých fotografiích bychom mohli říci, že odporují zásadám správného fotografování. Přesto mají svůj půvab. Umělčiným mottem, které se snažila předat i svým studentům, je, že fotografie může být kontextu současného umění spíš prostředkem vyjádření, než technikou.
Kotzmannová koneckonců není bezvýhradnou fotografkou, byť je pro ni toto médium nejcharakterističtější. Na pražské VŠUP studovala nejprve v Ateliéru tvorby konceptuální a intermediální a až následně přestoupila do nově založeného Ateliéru fotografie. Příznačné pro ni je, že s fotkou často pracuje jako s objektem – ať už jde o adjustaci nebo celkovou instalaci v rámci výstavy. Často využívá také kombinaci fotky s videem nebo projekcí diapozitivů a neostýchá se ani projektů ve veřejném prostoru.
Charakteristická je pro její tvorbu narativita vznikající sestavováním snímků do sérií – jednotlivá zobrazení spolu nemusí nijak přímočaře souviset, význam, který je generovaný zejména metodou asociací, se utváří až na rovině celku.
Kotzmannová sice své snímky druhotně neupravuje, přesta nezřídka vytváří klamavý obraz. Často je tu důležitá hra s divákovým vnímáním. Té je mimo jiné docilováno dojmem jakéhosi bezčasí, časoprostorové nezakotvenosti, která je pro autorku významná. Není tedy divu, že jako symptomatický motiv se v posledních letech znovu a znovu objevuje moře (a mořeplavba), jehož zdánlivá bezbřehost Aleně Kotzmannové zjevně imponuje.
Tereza Jindrová
- I had an analogue camera already as a child,00:00:03.670
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- so I enjoyed those experimental amateur beginnings00:00:07.310
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- where I was discovering that what I take a picture of00:00:15.140
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- doesn’t have to look the same way on film as I saw it,00:00:19.610
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- and that the camera is an instrument I can work with,00:00:23.430
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- manipulate it and abuse it,00:00:28.690
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- and this tension was something that interested me greatly00:00:32.410
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- but I didn’t dare to call myself a photographer00:00:37.310
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- or to apply to Photography at FAMU,00:00:42.280
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- and because I was also interested in the overlaps,00:00:46.380
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- the possibilities of installation, adjustation and so on,00:00:49.600
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- so I applied to UMPRUM to Adéla Matasová00:00:56.290
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- who at the time was the head of the Textile studio00:01:01.240
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- but the main focus of the studio was on spatial art00:01:04.520
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- and also there was no studio of photography at that time,00:01:08.510
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- that was started by Pavel Štecha00:01:14.690
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- who came there after I spent two years at the Textile studio,00:01:17.650
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- and then I immediately started thinking about going to the new studio,00:01:23.440
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- which I eventually did.00:01:28.140
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- This is an overview publication that was published last year,00:01:29.790
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- and it is an overview of my works and installations from 1998 to 2009,00:01:34.400
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- the graphic design was done by Marek Pistora00:01:44.810
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- and the accompanying texts by Tomáš Pospiszyl in an interview with me,00:01:46.910
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- here we for example have the series Sphere,00:01:50.740
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- which is probably the most conceptual approach I've ever applied,00:01:53.690
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- since 1998 I've been collecting shots of spheres of various materials00:01:58.730
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- in various environments and of course in various times,00:02:10.780
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- the series is not finished yet.00:02:16.810
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- The black and white photography,00:02:21.000
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- it might sound crazy now,00:02:24.710
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- but strangely it feels closer to the truthfulness of the depiction,00:02:28.070
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- I don’t mean reality,00:02:33.330
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- but there is the process of recording of light and shadows-00:02:36.120
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- black and white on film,00:02:42.550
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- then there are shades of grey,00:02:44.730
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- and there is no other post production moment00:02:46.940
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- through some more developing devices00:02:50.350
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- that move blue to another billion of shades of blue.00:02:55.030
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- Here is an example of the use of colour photography,00:03:00.830
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- that is the series Somewhere else,00:03:07.640
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- and all the photographs look very touristy,00:03:10.210
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- they are like family vacation photographs,00:03:16.250
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- but there is one common element we can discover while closely observing the photographs,00:03:19.690
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- and that is a shadow of a palm tree in each of the photographs,00:03:27.200
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- and this series was exhibited at the exhibition Somewhere else00:03:31.350
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- in the Josef Sudek Gallery at Újezd,00:03:35.860
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- and the aim was that every visitor could take one of the photographs home,00:03:42.140
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- they were at the same time invites for the exhibition,00:03:48.410
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- it was a regular photograph blown up in a minilab00:03:51.790
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- and the same photographs were hung framed on the wall,00:03:54.650
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- and I wanted to relate to the way of photography presentation00:03:59.000
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- when a photograph framed and exhibited in a gallery00:04:04.440
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- immediately has a bigger value than the photograph00:04:06.600
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- that lies somewhere by the exit that we can take,00:04:15.350
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- but in reality it is the exact same photograph,00:04:17.730
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- only presented in two different ways.00:04:22.050
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- I get inspired by things I come across00:04:29.670
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- and then I build the whole idea of a series around it,00:04:33.390
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- and I try to fulfill this idea retroactively,00:04:39.890
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- and I enjoy preparing the individual shots in my head first00:04:43.060
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- and then meet them, that is what I find the most exciting,00:04:49.030
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- that even though I can in no way influence the chance of the situation,00:04:54.080
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- there are moments in which you can tune your own inner radars00:05:02.540
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- and then the scenes come to you00:05:11.460
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- and the way you capture it and work on it is up to you.00:05:13.930
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- This is a suit for the inhabitants of Perla,00:05:20.430
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- that I made for the first exhibition here in the Perla gallery in Vrané and Vltavou,00:05:24.400
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- it is kind of a new national gallery started by Ivan Mečl,00:05:30.500
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- and when I was thinking about what to make for this unstable collection00:05:36.160
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- that will expand gradually in some way,00:05:44.810
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- I decided to dig down in the archives00:05:47.440
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- where I found these exposed photo canvases from 1998- 2000,00:05:49.440
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- photos that I did not stretch onto a frame00:05:54.440
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- because they were either second copies,00:06:00.380
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- and back then I only made a single copy00:06:04.300
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- because I wanted to get closer to the painting medium,00:06:06.300
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- or there were some tiny mistakes,00:06:10.500
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- so I used this material to sew a suit for the inhabitants of Perla,00:06:12.500
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- which could be anybody,00:06:21.180
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- but I actually had Ivan Mečl in my mind,00:06:24.210
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- walking around here dressed like this as the gallery administrator...00:06:27.370
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- Another way of building of a mental space in the viewer’s imagination00:06:39.030
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- is the series Apartments from 2006,00:06:46.300
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- where I drove through countryside and took photographs,00:06:51.050
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- or I even walked through architecture,00:06:58.730
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- that together composed an apartment00:07:01.600
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- and the views out of its windows,00:07:05.190
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- and I counted on the individual shots to merge into00:07:07.450
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- a certain mental image of an apartment00:07:13.100
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- that physically does not actually exist.00:07:17.220
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- I simply think that in my work it is unimportant to point out00:07:21.990
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- when and where the certain photograph was taken,00:07:29.350
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- I go against the documentary recording00:07:32.520
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- because I feel that the important shots for me00:07:37.750
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- are those that transcend the place and time,00:07:42.190
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- that are, in a way...00:07:45.640
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- I don't want to say timeless, that would be arrogant,00:07:50.510
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- but those where the essence of the recording00:07:55.910
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- denies any place or time, it could be anywhere and anytime,00:08:00.440
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- and from these pictures I then compose series00:08:03.710
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- that are given the concrete shape00:08:07.420
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- depending on the selection and the name of the series,00:08:11.550
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- and depending on the stand I take to time in the series,00:08:15.510
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- so those are the series made before 2000,00:08:20.220
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- looking into the future,00:08:22.560
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- where I try to use my analogue camera without any manipulation00:08:24.730
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- to record shots from the future,00:08:32.040
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- or shots that seem to be from the future,00:08:34.060
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- and then on the other hand there is the series Klasika00:08:37.120
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- where I looked back into the past00:08:39.630
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- and again with no digital manipulation00:08:41.480
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- I wanted to convince the mechanical eye of the camera00:08:44.490
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- to see the reality as if from the thirties, twenties,00:08:47.490
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- the golden age of Czech photography.00:08:51.250
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- I made the Cyclone project during my residency in New York,00:08:57.210
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- where I used a different principle,00:09:04.310
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- the series was made after I realized00:09:07.710
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- that every shot that would catch my attention00:09:10.510
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- while wandering through the city I took twice,00:09:14.250
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- the reason was very banal,00:09:17.620
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- I just thought that if it doesn’t work out on the first attempt,00:09:21.210
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- on the second one it surely will,00:09:23.530
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- but then after developing the negatives I did it consciously,00:09:25.450
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- I would take all pictures twice,00:09:31.600
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- and there was a certain shift between the two shots,00:09:33.600
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- it could either be a shift in time,00:09:36.570
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- it could be a month for example,00:09:40.310
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- this is a mountain I shot while on a train,00:09:43.490
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- and then I was on the train again one month later00:09:47.220
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- and tried to find the same shot again.00:09:52.630
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- Sometimes the shift is really only minimal,00:10:01.870
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- several seconds,00:10:05.800
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- for example with the blinking neon light00:10:07.800
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- on the Cyclone roller coaster at Coney Island.00:10:12.520
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- Sometimes it is the point of view that changes,00:10:19.140
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- like in this situation for example.00:10:23.270
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- But why I did not say is that00:10:32.350
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- I mainly work with my archive that also consists of pictures00:10:36.360
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- that I made just like that, out of pure interest,00:10:41.500
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- I saw something and I captured it,00:10:46.580
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- some of the series are made retroactively,00:10:49.883
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- when, based on a certain inspiration,00:10:52.535
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- I think of a topic I would like to present in some way,00:10:55.293
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- and I go back into the archive and I choose the shots00:11:03.435
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- and that is why time and space is not important,00:11:07.992
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- because I use them for a new reality00:11:11.320
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- that I create and build through the series00:11:14.023
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- that is created based on a current inspiration.00:11:18.514
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- Here, because the book ends in 2009,00:11:26.306
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- there's the installation from the Chalupecký award00:11:28.980
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- which I was twice nominated for00:11:32.170
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- and this is an installation specific for the DOX gallery,00:11:34.491
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- because the name DOX always evoked docks to me00:11:38.002
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- and at the same time Holešovice used to be a port,00:11:42.023
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- so I made an installation called 193 meters above sea level,00:11:46.764
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- which is the altitude of the DOX terrace.00:11:49.897
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- I brought a shipwreck00:11:52.566
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- and built a little cabin in it,00:11:57.139
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- that is a symbol of a dream come true in the Czech republic,00:12:00.142
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- when a person locks himself in his own cabin00:12:05.450
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- and the horizon is so high you cannot even see it,00:12:10.009
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- which manifested itself in the inner space00:12:15.664
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- the windows really were higher that one could see,00:12:18.462
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- and in the inner space of the cabin I installed00:12:25.239
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- postcards sent from various seaside areas to the Czech republic00:12:28.057
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- that I had been collecting over the course of two years00:12:31.426
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- and they are purposely hiding the other side of the photography00:12:34.765
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- where it is told where it is sent from.00:12:39.451
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- In the analogue process I really enjoy the tension00:12:47.335
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- of not knowing immediately what there is,00:12:54.051
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- I know it sounds old fashioned and silly,00:12:56.502
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- but the accordance with the machine is much greater for me00:13:00.876
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- because I have experienced many times00:13:05.198
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- that the mechanical eye could be shaped in a way,00:13:07.198
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- and talk it into something.00:13:11.606