Measuring the world is closely related to the human need to understand the environment in which one finds oneself. Hungarian artists Benedek Regs and Czech Jan erých and Jakub Valenta each deal in different ways with the close relationship between photographic media and measurement techniques. “Photography has historically proven itself, among other things, as a scientific measurement tool, to ensure the desired precision and objectivity. Measurement, often with the help of photographic technology, thus plays an important role in modern times and carries the same burden. The world needs to be measured first to be cut and finally sold,” explained the exhibition curator Vojtch Märc a Tereza Rudolfi.
The meter, as an indispensable figure of modern cultural traditions, on whose shoulders lies the burden of an accurate measurement of reality, moves through the landscape. Such survey dance with a tripod represents Benedict Regős. In the series Angle and Distance emphasizes the context of photography and Euclidean geometry, although following in the footsteps of current surveyors, it captures the marks that their measurements leave in the short and permanent. What at first glance has nothing to do with measurement becomes measurable in his works. The angles and distances he chooses are not only a means of representation, but also a reflection of himself.
In science, the measurement nature of photography is manifested primarily in photogrammetry, the field that deals with the processing of information in photographic images. Jan erých using machine mapping techniques to remove the original meaning and create an abstract pattern that is unique to it. In maps consisting of satellite photos, it relies on a non-human scale. A simple artistic move hidden from usable cutouts and zooms erých explores the Gobi Desert exclusively via Google Earth, navigating us beyond a clear destination.
While Regős conveys a generally overlooked sense of reality, and the Shery family turns to the surface of the earth from a distance, Valent’s work is inward. Jakub Valenta enter the digital environment and reveal measurement as a prerequisite for measurement and monetization of our daily lives. This is reflected in the arrangement of tables, graphs, and charts, which subtly deviate from the established format and environment. Whatever that is a transparent projection of a personal account accompanied by an imagestock image depicting income and expenses, a self-portrait of a company that emerges from an answer in a poll on a news website or an attempt to find out how world events are reflected in the colors of the website.
This year, the second exhibition of the Photographic Gallery captures Regős, erých and Valenta’s “measurement” techniques and presents photography in the light of the dubious universality of science and technology. This will demonstrate the eternity and integrity of the world, however temporary and approximate.
Measurement deviation. 1392 exhibition hours. Among them 237 opening hours
Opening: April 14, 19:00
Exhibition duration: April 19-11 6. 2022
Venue: Photo Gallery, Jungmannova 19, Prague 1
Exhibitors: Benedek Regős, Jan erých, Jakub Valenta
Curators: Vojtěch Märc, Tereza Rudolf
Further information: fotografgallery.cz/uchylka-mereni-1392-hodin-vystavy-z-toho-237-otevreno
Admission: free
Showcasing the artists and their work:
- Jan Serych, Doll, Replica (2021)
- Benedek Regs, Angles and Distances, (2020 – dosud).
- Jakub Valenta, Accounts (2016 – present), Website Colors, (2020/2022), Polls from Novinky.cz (2016 – present)
Link:
Companion program
Lectures and film screenings
24. 5., 18:00
lecture by Tomáš Dvořák Parameterization of vision: eyes, images, equipment
a film by Sasha Litvintseva and Beny Wagner Constant (2002)
Guided tour for high school and follow-up workshops that develop the themes embodied in the exhibition. In request.
PHOTOGRAPHER
The aim of the Photographers association is to promote and support photography in the field of fine art, its wider integration into the context of contemporary art and the awareness of the general public not only in our country, but also significantly on the international scene. The association publishes magazines, operates galleries and organizes festivals. The photography magazine has been published three times a year since last year as a comprehensive, 80-page thematically designed magazine. It has been available in Czech and English versions since 2002. In 2020, it was redesigned. Photographers resumed magazine activities in 2009 and two years later the Photographers Festival was founded.
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