Alena Kotzmannová

• I had an analogue camera already as a child,00:00:03.670
• 00:00:03.670
• so I enjoyed those experimental amateur beginnings00:00:07.310
• 00:00:07.310
• where I was discovering that what I take a picture of00:00:15.140
• 00:00:15.140
• doesn’t have to look the same way on film as I saw it,00:00:19.610
• 00:00:19.610
• and that the camera is an instrument I can work with,00:00:23.430
• 00:00:23.430
• manipulate it and abuse it,00:00:28.690
• 00:00:28.690
• and this tension was something that interested me greatly00:00:32.410
• 00:00:32.410
• but I didn’t dare to call myself a photographer00:00:37.310
• 00:00:37.310
• or to apply to Photography at FAMU,00:00:42.280
• 00:00:42.280
• and because I was also interested in the overlaps,00:00:46.380
• 00:00:46.380
• the possibilities of installation, adjustation and so on,00:00:49.600
• 00:00:49.600
• so I applied to UMPRUM to Adéla Matasová00:00:56.290
• 00:00:56.290
• who at the time was the head of the Textile studio00:01:01.240
• 00:01:01.240
• but the main focus of the studio was on spatial art00:01:04.520
• 00:01:04.520
• and also there was no studio of photography at that time,00:01:08.510
• 00:01:08.510
• that was started by Pavel Štecha00:01:14.690
• 00:01:14.690
• who came there after I spent two years at the Textile studio,00:01:17.650
• 00:01:17.650
• and then I immediately started thinking about going to the new studio,00:01:23.440
• 00:01:23.440
• which I eventually did.00:01:28.140
• 00:01:28.140
• This is an overview publication that was published last year,00:01:29.790
• 00:01:29.790
• and it is an overview of my works and installations from 1998 to 2009,00:01:34.400
• 00:01:34.400
• the graphic design was done by Marek Pistora00:01:44.810
• 00:01:44.810
• and the accompanying texts by Tomáš Pospiszyl in an interview with me,00:01:46.910
• 00:01:46.910
• here we for example have the series Sphere,00:01:50.740
• 00:01:50.740
• which is probably the most conceptual approach I've ever applied,00:01:53.690
• 00:01:53.690
• since 1998 I've been collecting shots of spheres of various materials00:01:58.730
• 00:01:58.730
• in various environments and of course in various times,00:02:10.780
• 00:02:10.780
• the series is not finished yet.00:02:16.810
• 00:02:16.810
• The black and white photography,00:02:21.000
• 00:02:21.000
• it might sound crazy now,00:02:24.710
• 00:02:24.710
• but strangely it feels closer to the truthfulness of the depiction,00:02:28.070
• 00:02:28.070
• I don’t mean reality,00:02:33.330
• 00:02:33.330
• but there is the process of recording of light and shadows-00:02:36.120
• 00:02:36.120
• black and white on film,00:02:42.550
• 00:02:42.550
• then there are shades of grey,00:02:44.730
• 00:02:44.730
• and there is no other post production moment00:02:46.940
• 00:02:46.940
• through some more developing devices00:02:50.350
• 00:02:50.350
• that move blue to another billion of shades of blue.00:02:55.030
• 00:02:55.030
• Here is an example of the use of colour photography,00:03:00.830
• 00:03:00.830
• that is the series Somewhere else,00:03:07.640
• 00:03:07.640
• and all the photographs look very touristy,00:03:10.210
• 00:03:10.210
• they are like family vacation photographs,00:03:16.250
• 00:03:16.250
• but there is one common element we can discover while closely observing the photographs,00:03:19.690
• 00:03:19.690
• and that is a shadow of a palm tree in each of the photographs,00:03:27.200
• 00:03:27.200
• and this series was exhibited at the exhibition Somewhere else00:03:31.350
• 00:03:31.350
• in the Josef Sudek Gallery at Újezd,00:03:35.860
• 00:03:35.860
• and the aim was that every visitor could take one of the photographs home,00:03:42.140
• 00:03:42.140
• they were at the same time invites for the exhibition,00:03:48.410
• 00:03:48.410
• it was a regular photograph blown up in a minilab00:03:51.790
• 00:03:51.790
• and the same photographs were hung framed on the wall,00:03:54.650
• 00:03:54.650
• and I wanted to relate to the way of photography presentation00:03:59.000
• 00:03:59.000
• when a photograph framed and exhibited in a gallery00:04:04.440
• 00:04:04.440
• immediately has a bigger value than the photograph00:04:06.600
• 00:04:06.600
• that lies somewhere by the exit that we can take,00:04:15.350
• 00:04:15.350
• but in reality it is the exact same photograph,00:04:17.730
• 00:04:17.730
• only presented in two different ways.00:04:22.050
• 00:04:22.050
• I get inspired by things I come across00:04:29.670
• 00:04:29.670
• and then I build the whole idea of a series around it,00:04:33.390
• 00:04:33.390
• and I try to fulfill this idea retroactively,00:04:39.890
• 00:04:39.890
• and I enjoy preparing the individual shots in my head first00:04:43.060
• 00:04:43.060
• and then meet them, that is what I find the most exciting,00:04:49.030
• 00:04:49.030
• that even though I can in no way influence the chance of the situation,00:04:54.080
• 00:04:54.080
• there are moments in which you can tune your own inner radars00:05:02.540
• 00:05:02.540
• and then the scenes come to you00:05:11.460
• 00:05:11.460
• and the way you capture it and work on it is up to you.00:05:13.930
• 00:05:13.930
• This is a suit for the inhabitants of Perla,00:05:20.430
• 00:05:20.430
• that I made for the first exhibition here in the Perla gallery in Vrané and Vltavou,00:05:24.400
• 00:05:24.400
• it is kind of a new national gallery started by Ivan Mečl,00:05:30.500
• 00:05:30.500
• and when I was thinking about what to make for this unstable collection00:05:36.160
• 00:05:36.160
• that will expand gradually in some way,00:05:44.810
• 00:05:44.810
• I decided to dig down in the archives00:05:47.440
• 00:05:47.440
• where I found these exposed photo canvases from 1998- 2000,00:05:49.440
• 00:05:49.440
• photos that I did not stretch onto a frame00:05:54.440
• 00:05:54.440
• because they were either second copies,00:06:00.380
• 00:06:00.380
• and back then I only made a single copy00:06:04.300
• 00:06:04.300
• because I wanted to get closer to the painting medium,00:06:06.300
• 00:06:06.300
• or there were some tiny mistakes,00:06:10.500
• 00:06:10.500
• so I used this material to sew a suit for the inhabitants of Perla,00:06:12.500
• 00:06:12.500
• which could be anybody,00:06:21.180
• 00:06:21.180
• but I actually had Ivan Mečl in my mind,00:06:24.210
• 00:06:24.210
• walking around here dressed like this as the gallery administrator...00:06:27.370
• 00:06:27.370
• Another way of building of a mental space in the viewer’s imagination00:06:39.030
• 00:06:39.030
• is the series Apartments from 2006,00:06:46.300
• 00:06:46.300
• where I drove through countryside and took photographs,00:06:51.050
• 00:06:51.050
• or I even walked through architecture,00:06:58.730
• 00:06:58.730
• that together composed an apartment00:07:01.600
• 00:07:01.600
• and the views out of its windows,00:07:05.190
• 00:07:05.190
• and I counted on the individual shots to merge into00:07:07.450
• 00:07:07.450
• a certain mental image of an apartment00:07:13.100
• 00:07:13.100
• that physically does not actually exist.00:07:17.220
• 00:07:17.220
• I simply think that in my work it is unimportant to point out00:07:21.990
• 00:07:21.990
• when and where the certain photograph was taken,00:07:29.350
• 00:07:29.350
• I go against the documentary recording00:07:32.520
• 00:07:32.520
• because I feel that the important shots for me00:07:37.750
• 00:07:37.750
• are those that transcend the place and time,00:07:42.190
• 00:07:42.190
• that are, in a way...00:07:45.640
• 00:07:45.640
• I don't want to say timeless, that would be arrogant,00:07:50.510
• 00:07:50.510
• but those where the essence of the recording00:07:55.910
• 00:07:55.910
• denies any place or time, it could be anywhere and anytime,00:08:00.440
• 00:08:00.440
• and from these pictures I then compose series00:08:03.710
• 00:08:03.710
• that are given the concrete shape00:08:07.420
• 00:08:07.420
• depending on the selection and the name of the series,00:08:11.550
• 00:08:11.550
• and depending on the stand I take to time in the series,00:08:15.510
• 00:08:15.510
• so those are the series made before 2000,00:08:20.220
• 00:08:20.220
• looking into the future,00:08:22.560
• 00:08:22.560
• where I try to use my analogue camera without any manipulation00:08:24.730
• 00:08:24.730
• to record shots from the future,00:08:32.040
• 00:08:32.040
• or shots that seem to be from the future,00:08:34.060
• 00:08:34.060
• and then on the other hand there is the series Klasika00:08:37.120
• 00:08:37.120
• where I looked back into the past00:08:39.630
• 00:08:39.630
• and again with no digital manipulation00:08:41.480
• 00:08:41.480
• I wanted to convince the mechanical eye of the camera00:08:44.490
• 00:08:44.490
• to see the reality as if from the thirties, twenties,00:08:47.490
• 00:08:47.490
• the golden age of Czech photography.00:08:51.250
• 00:08:51.250
• I made the Cyclone project during my residency in New York,00:08:57.210
• 00:08:57.210
• where I used a different principle,00:09:04.310
• 00:09:04.310
• the series was made after I realized00:09:07.710
• 00:09:07.710
• that every shot that would catch my attention00:09:10.510
• 00:09:10.510
• while wandering through the city I took twice,00:09:14.250
• 00:09:14.250
• the reason was very banal,00:09:17.620
• 00:09:17.620
• I just thought that if it doesn’t work out on the first attempt,00:09:21.210
• 00:09:21.210
• on the second one it surely will,00:09:23.530
• 00:09:23.530
• but then after developing the negatives I did it consciously,00:09:25.450
• 00:09:25.450
• I would take all pictures twice,00:09:31.600
• 00:09:31.600
• and there was a certain shift between the two shots,00:09:33.600
• 00:09:33.600
• it could either be a shift in time,00:09:36.570
• 00:09:36.570
• it could be a month for example,00:09:40.310
• 00:09:40.310
• this is a mountain I shot while on a train,00:09:43.490
• 00:09:43.490
• and then I was on the train again one month later00:09:47.220
• 00:09:47.220
• and tried to find the same shot again.00:09:52.630
• 00:09:52.630
• Sometimes the shift is really only minimal,00:10:01.870
• 00:10:01.870
• several seconds,00:10:05.800
• 00:10:05.800
• for example with the blinking neon light00:10:07.800
• 00:10:07.800
• on the Cyclone roller coaster at Coney Island.00:10:12.520
• 00:10:12.520
• Sometimes it is the point of view that changes,00:10:19.140
• 00:10:19.140
• like in this situation for example.00:10:23.270
• 00:10:23.270
• But why I did not say is that00:10:32.350
• 00:10:32.350
• I mainly work with my archive that also consists of pictures00:10:36.360
• 00:10:36.360
• that I made just like that, out of pure interest,00:10:41.500
• 00:10:41.500
• I saw something and I captured it,00:10:46.580
• 00:10:46.580
• some of the series are made retroactively,00:10:49.883
• 00:10:49.883
• when, based on a certain inspiration,00:10:52.535
• 00:10:52.535
• I think of a topic I would like to present in some way,00:10:55.293
• 00:10:55.293
• and I go back into the archive and I choose the shots00:11:03.435
• 00:11:03.435
• and that is why time and space is not important,00:11:07.992
• 00:11:07.992
• because I use them for a new reality00:11:11.320
• 00:11:11.320
• that I create and build through the series00:11:14.023
• 00:11:14.023
• that is created based on a current inspiration.00:11:18.514
• 00:11:18.514
• Here, because the book ends in 2009,00:11:26.306
• 00:11:26.306
• there's the installation from the Chalupecký award00:11:28.980
• 00:11:28.980
• which I was twice nominated for00:11:32.170
• 00:11:32.170
• and this is an installation specific for the DOX gallery,00:11:34.491
• 00:11:34.491
• because the name DOX always evoked docks to me00:11:38.002
• 00:11:38.002
• and at the same time Holešovice used to be a port,00:11:42.023
• 00:11:42.023
• so I made an installation called 193 meters above sea level,00:11:46.764
• 00:11:46.764
• which is the altitude of the DOX terrace.00:11:49.897
• 00:11:49.897
• I brought a shipwreck00:11:52.566
• 00:11:52.566
• and built a little cabin in it,00:11:57.139
• 00:11:57.139
• that is a symbol of a dream come true in the Czech republic,00:12:00.142
• 00:12:00.142
• when a person locks himself in his own cabin00:12:05.450
• 00:12:05.450
• and the horizon is so high you cannot even see it,00:12:10.009
• 00:12:10.009
• which manifested itself in the inner space00:12:15.664
• 00:12:15.664
• the windows really were higher that one could see,00:12:18.462
• 00:12:18.462
• and in the inner space of the cabin I installed00:12:25.239
• 00:12:25.239
• postcards sent from various seaside areas to the Czech republic00:12:28.057
• 00:12:28.057
• that I had been collecting over the course of two years00:12:31.426
• 00:12:31.426
• and they are purposely hiding the other side of the photography00:12:34.765
• 00:12:34.765
• where it is told where it is sent from.00:12:39.451
• 00:12:39.451
• In the analogue process I really enjoy the tension00:12:47.335
• 00:12:47.335
• of not knowing immediately what there is,00:12:54.051
• 00:12:54.051
• I know it sounds old fashioned and silly,00:12:56.502
• 00:12:56.502
• but the accordance with the machine is much greater for me00:13:00.876
• 00:13:00.876
• because I have experienced many times00:13:05.198
• 00:13:05.198
• that the mechanical eye could be shaped in a way,00:13:07.198
• 00:13:07.198
• and talk it into something.00:13:11.606

Zde se můžete vyjádřit. (*nutné)