Dušan Skala’s and Jan Freiberg’s Slow Photography
In the exhibition by Jan Freiberg and Dušan Skala the countryside is neither a territory, nor a complex of social ties. It means finding oneself “outside” and feeling the time-space, where man is more alone with himself. Being alone is man’s most intimate experience. When man is alone, he has completely different goals than when he is forced to prove something to others. Let’s understand this isolation as isolation from art or isolation with art. Jan Freiberg experienced this during several years spent in Klenová in the Klatovy area. Dušan Skala went in search of it to the village, Zahrádka, near Nepomuk. Both at a certain moment gave up their own creative process. And both have now returned with a joint photography exhibition. Due to their understanding of an internal countryside. Freiberg dusted off older photos. Dušan Skala photographed himself thanks to the experience. In the countryside we spend a lot more time observing cigarette smoke.
- First I should say about the exhibition00:00:01.569
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- that I addressed both authors being aware00:00:04.113
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- they had interrupted or even terminated00:00:09.308
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- their artistic work in order to00:00:15.785
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- divert their attention somewhere else.00:00:18.424
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- First I addressed Jan Freiberg a year and half ago00:00:21.273
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- and told him I'd like to make him an exhibition.00:00:27.106
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- During our first talk we discovered00:00:31.855
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- it would be very interesting to invite00:00:35.719
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- Dušan Skala we had both met before.00:00:40.151
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- Though Honza more intensively as they were schoolmates.00:00:44.262
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- I came across his work randomly during his studies00:00:47.953
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- and later when he started to have exhibitions.00:00:51.522
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- We both also knew he had ended his artistic career00:00:56.659
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- in 2008 and started to engage in something else.00:01:02.714
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- We didn't want to push him to anything,00:01:08.643
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- but we wanted to know whether he was interested00:01:11.831
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- after some gap to realize00:01:15.759
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- an expositional collection, adding his new experience.00:01:18.831
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- Surprisingly he agreed, but then he balked at00:01:22.483
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- his approval several times and00:01:26.884
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- reappraised conception of his contribution.00:01:30.120
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- At one moment we discussed the use of00:01:35.859
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- the video material he works with for other purposes.00:01:40.846
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- But after Honza said he would like to look back00:01:45.119
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- from a certain time distance at his own photographs00:01:51.779
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- he had made when working in Klenová00:01:57.867
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- some eight or ten years ago,00:02:02.167
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- Dušan ruled out the eventuality00:02:04.237
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- to work with a video and00:02:08.819
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- he came with a set of photographs.00:02:11.628
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- As for the name Slow Photography,00:02:16.067
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- it was created arduously at our email correspondence00:02:18.605
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- which wasn't very fruitful.00:02:25.180
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- If we are to transmit the slowness to the exhibition,00:02:29.020
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- it should be done not only through the character00:02:35.362
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- of work with a photographic medium,00:02:38.667
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- but rather through the slow process of00:02:41.477
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- applying experience the person takes the00:02:44.113
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- photos with or of anything he does.00:02:48.446
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- The key was simple, primarily I didn't want00:02:50.468
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- to spend a lot of time on it.00:02:54.604
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- I wanted to show things that had been closed.00:02:57.912
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- It goes for photographs from Týnec surroundings,00:03:05.006
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- it's a village near Klenová Gallery in Klatovy where00:03:10.092
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- I worked as a curator and a photographer for eight years.00:03:12.735
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- There I lived in a small house00:03:17.226
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- and on the photos are views from the house.00:03:20.140
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- There wasn't water, electricity or any rear00:03:24.647
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- and thanks to the missing background00:03:28.827
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- I could spend there a life which allowed me00:03:32.660
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- to experience the country and myself00:03:39.292
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- in a way which appears slowed down and sensory00:03:42.564
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- from the city point of view.00:03:47.322
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- So I was simply given the themes and00:03:54.207
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- I just took pictures of what I had seen.00:03:58.635
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- It was mostly the landscape I encountered on daily basis,00:04:02.821
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- and enjoyed it because I like the country.00:04:06.685
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- At the same time I placed myself00:04:10.703
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- into various forms of photographs.00:04:14.097
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- Another aspect belonging to that is the wood,00:04:18.208
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- because I would cut and chop it00:04:22.117
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- and I would use it for heating.00:04:26.366
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- I was pretty fascinated by growing trees, wood and its matter.00:04:28.288
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- The wood is part of the photos as well,00:04:36.612
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- the cycle was called The Wood Doctor or00:04:40.483
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- Knotty Body and I made it in 2004 and 2006.00:04:45.458