SCENARIO STRATEGIES
The selection of the artists should draw the line between the most recent and also the very fundamental artworks that deal with the strategy of inverting reality into a story. Three Czech artists – photographers are dealing with particular phenomenon of human visual disposition. Thanks to its accessibility nowadays, it is flexible to help us gain power over surrounding visual situations. Three Czech photographers critically inquire the role photography might still play as a medium of meaningful “real – life” reflection. Alena Kotzmannova does it by deepening our sensitivity toward found and collected discreet but poetically rich moments. Kateřina Držková invents unique strategies through which she depicts social relations hidden behind the origin of photographical image. Because of the role photography has played already in our personal memories it functions as a rich referential capsule. Markéta Kinterová makes use of the practice of documentary photography, but she also adds her own manner of “purposeful” shooting. Even her situations – accidentally found outside, look like events directed by an unknown omnipresent author.
- It took us about 6 months to prepare this exhibition.00:00:00.800
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- We collaborated with several Czech artists00:00:06.080
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- and, via the French Institute, with two French collections00:00:10.000
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- that lent us important works by two French authors,00:00:15.240
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- Pierre Huyghe and Cyprien Gaillard.00:00:20.240
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- Pierre Huyghe is represented by two videos00:00:25.240
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- that I see as ultimate attempts00:00:30.120
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- at demystifying the media image.00:00:34.280
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- In his works, Pierre Huyghe constantly tries00:00:39.760
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- to shift the attention from the final product,00:00:45.160
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- such as the American B-horror Poltergeist from 1982.00:00:50.560
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- Pierre Huyghe transforms it into a 1,5 hour long video00:00:57.920
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- where the camera shoots professional actors00:01:04.760
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- who enact a French version of the American blockbuster.00:01:10.360
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- The second French author, Cyprien Gaillard,00:01:24.520
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- is a young emerging star.00:01:29.560
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- He comes from Paris and currently lives in Berlin.00:01:34.680
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- His videos focus on places00:01:39.960
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- that witness the act of pulling down00:01:44.240
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- a civilization idol.00:01:48.920
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- This exhibition comprises two of his older works00:01:52.640
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- that open Gaillard's cycle of fictive landscapes.00:01:58.640
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- One of these videos00:02:04.880
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- presents an intervention of smog into the landscape.00:02:08.400
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- Smog slowly fills up the open space,00:02:16.520
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- creating a potential for drama,00:02:21.040
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- which is up to the viewer to find.00:02:24.240
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- The black and white photographs00:02:27.760
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- by the Swiss artist Bernard Voita00:02:31.200
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- may look like photographs of architecture at first sight.00:02:35.240
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- However, on closer look you'll find out00:02:40.813
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- that they depict minute structures shot in a studio,00:02:45.343
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- offering a half-fictional, half-real experience.00:02:50.239
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- Similar features can be found in the work of Alena Kotzmannová00:02:55.407
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- who made a "film" composed of five shots00:03:00.907
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- from her travels and her archive.00:03:04.689
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- Kateřina Držková contributed with a witty commentary00:03:08.518
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- on the work of the action artists in the 1960's and 1970's.00:03:14.018
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- The third Czech author, Markéta Kinterová,00:03:19.719
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- presents a kind of diptych projection.00:03:24.256
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- She photographs diverse situations00:03:30.889
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- that involve couples.00:03:35.857