E N F A C E
/focused on contemporary portrait/
Authors: Peter Barényi, Eja Devečková, Andrea Juneková, Peter Berko, Lenka Cisárová
Curator: Andrea Juneková
Duration: 6. 5. - 6. 6. 2010, Nitrianska Galéria
"Portrait shot is an enclosed field of forces. Here, dicrepances transect and deform four imaginary moments. In front of the lens there is me, the one I consider myself to be, me, the one I want others to see, me, the one that the one standing behind the lens sees, and me, the one that the author uses to demostrate his art."
Roland Barthes
What all can be depicted, expressed, referred through portrayal of a human face, portrait...? Is it even possible to talk about authenticity, when every attempt at human effigy is only a derivative of reality, distorted incomplete picture, frozen moment or sequence exempt from the flow of time...? Five authors in five rooms of the Nitra underground take their own stance towards the issue of portrait genre and by means of media - videoart, photography, painting and their interferance - brings personal reflections and introduces further questions...
Peter Barényi - in his photo-videoslide „Slideshow“ allows others to style him into their own vision of who he is. He emerges as a passive marionette in the hands of his close relatives - friends and family - who stage him into various bizarre postures and costumes. Videoslide of portrait photographies is seconded by an acoustic component - dialogues with individual actors, recorded directly during the process of creating the pictures. The creation of the video was initiated by author's curiosity as the main motive - the desire to discover as much as possible regarding how his relatives percieve him.
Peter Berko lets the spectator to peep into the background of his relationship during the period of separation through an intimate psychological sonde „the Paralells.“ Both main actors, at the time living in different countries, photographed themselves via cellphone at the previously agreed times, always at the place they currently found themselves in. Over the period of 33 days, an equal number of diptychs were created which compose an anthology of authentic images of a simulated conjoint diary of both actors.
Andrea Juneková in her portrait cycle „the In-divi-dual-i-ties?“ focuses on the phenomenon of human individualities. Grand-format photographies are supplemented with extracts of internal monologues of those photographed, streams of consciousness that they captured on a paper. In the final appearance of the photography, these frangments function as an exponentiation of the effort to drag one's self and the spectator in medias res of an distinctive (although not concrete) world of those portrayed in the moment, when they are separated from their real suroundings, in tension with their own internal world.
Instalation by Lenka Cisárová - „Mother and daughter“ - consists of a sophisticated combination of paiting and video, harmonic ooze of these two contradictory elements - static and fluent image. For the fusion of these two media, the author choose the motive of a mirror as an instrument reflecting reality/ilusion. The picture in the mirror is represented by the painting - a frozen depiction of a young girl, viewed by a mature woman - the image of projection. An interesting moment of "aging in live transmission" thus arises.
The intimate occurence of autocommunication is introduced through the video „Dialogue“ by Eja Devečková. Author emphasizes her attempt to create a connection with herself - an effort so often accompanied with non-success. As she expressed herself: „ Duality of a persona brings, uncovers and puts into motion a number of questions, which we sometimes cannot answer. We often don't tell ourselves who and how we are. Subsequently, decoding our internal conflicts leads us to an dead end.“
Andrea Juneková
Peter Barényi, Eja Devečková – graduate in atelier IN, prof. Ilona Németh, Intermedia and Multimedia department V©VU /2009
Lenka Cisárová – graduate in atelier +- XXI, prof. Daniel Fischer, Painting and other media department V©VU /2009
Andrea Juneková, Peter Berko – Master grade students, department of Photography and the new media, atelier of Creative photography MgrA. Miro ©volík, V©VU /2010
The exhibition is held within the framework of the project Gallery of young curators
More information on www.nitrianskagaleria.sk
What all can be depicted, expressed, referred through portrayal of a human face, portrait...? Is it even possible to talk about authenticity, when every attempt at human effigy is only a derivative of reality, distorted incomplete picture, frozen moment or sequence exempt from the flow of time...? Five authors in five rooms of the Nitra underground take their own stance towards the issue of portrait genre...