From the Surreal to the Hyper-real
By Peter Rak
Painting exhibition
Božidar Kamperle - Zmago Lenárdič
No Darkness - No Subject (Ni teme, ni téme)
Maribor Art Gallery
A paraphrase of techno-metaphysics
"The realisation of a technique needs to take place within a field
close to that technique, but at the same time differing from it
in its quintessence; such is the field of art. The more critically
we think about the technique, whose essence is actually not technical,
the more mysterious becomes the essence of art." (Heiddeger)
An exhibition of work by Božidar Kemperle and Zmago Lenárdič entitled
"No Darkness - No Subject" at the Maribor Art Gallery is a project
(in this case this technical term can or rather needs to be used
without reluctance, no matter how controversial it may otherwise
be considered in art) which represents a real apotheosis of the analysis
of the technical in art. Their work is a non-linear, hyper-textual
grand maniere of a technological inventory, which expands like metastases
throughout the exhibition grounds and constructs some kind of mechanical
wunderkammer.
However, the exhibition is far from being intended for the gurus
of adrenaline high technology and cybernetics - on the contrary,
it has extremely "low tech", mechanical elements, a kind
of junk retro-technology, "infused" with ready-made objects,
canvasses, as a classical art medium and organically designed vehicle,
which interrupt
the strict rhythm of spatial composition. The result is a techno-installation
in its literal sense, which creates an icy cold atmosphere of total
alienation. A network of metallic bearers or Knauf cross-sections
interconnects the elements, which at first sight seem like objects
with precisely defined and positioned functions, but later prove
to be a sum of non-functional elements. The monotonous repetitive
rhythm of mechanical elements, sounds and monitors, where the "programme"
has already ended or has never even begun, and of lighting effects,
is transformed into a grotesque static state of imaginary construction,
which could have been part of the neo-gothic laboratory of some weird
inventor in Victorian England.
What is the significance of this techno-metaphysics? The rather brief
text accompanying the show says that the main motto of the project
is an analysis of the phenomenon of distance which, according to
its own relative laws, ascribes meanings; through the optics of distance
and infinitely multiplied axes, both body and illusion change their
own forms of appearance, which can seemingly be achieved only by
using so-called new media. However, with such realistic simulations
of a virtual "internetv and the exposure of the formal aspects
only, the whole project could also be characterised as an ironic
paraphrase
of the fascination with the technology, often lost in intelligible
functions, or seemingly, virtual purpose. The monochrome and calligraphic
canvasses, trapped in this mechanical bestiary, function as elements
of alienation in an emptied, hollow totality.
The entire project could be evaluated as a transition from the mystical
symbols of concealment, typical of (post)modernism, to symbols of
concealment/disclosure that show there is nothing behind this, a
jump from the surreal to the hyper-real. Or simply "a mad exhibition",
as someone wrote in the visitors book.
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