translated and summarized by: Liz Wollner-Grandville,
160810: Camera Austria Iosif Király – Reconstructions, Christian Wachter – Impressions d’Afrique
Camera Austria
Iosif Király – Reconstructions, Christian Wachter – Impressions d’Afrique
09.07.10 – 05.09.10
A photographic archive as the modus operandi
The fact that photography not only consists of shots and prints that were created by a photographer, but that a photographic archive can play a significant role, is currently proven by the exhibition at the Camera Austria in Graz. The exhibit combines the works by the two artists Christian Wachter and Iosif Király, who use photographic archives as the modus operandi for their artistic work. And even if an archive forms the basis for both their work, their presentations could not be more different.
Christian Wachter’s photographs refer to Raymond Roussel’s literary work “Impressions d’Afrique”, the description of an imaginary Africa, in which European artists are stranded. In a series titled “The Incomparables”, Wachter uses his own photographs as well as photographs taken in Burkina Faso in 1985 depicting people involved in sports and other activities – provided to him through an archive. The sequence of the individual works is mainly based on formalities. The same is applicable to the series “Koda”, dealing with the development of African countries based on the example of Burkina Faso- ranging from its independence movement to its megalomaniac leader.
In “Reconstructions”, also based on a photo archive, Iosif Király assembled individual photos as tableaus and visualized personal recollections. He interprets his pictures as snapshots each representing one byte of stored information; and these bytes are presented on a wall in the classic 9 x 13-format. The design in its entirety is equally impressive as each individual photo, which offers information on selective recollections.
By Nora Theiss
Camera Austria
8020 Graz, Kunsthaus Graz, Lendkai 1
Tel: +43 316 81 555 00
Fax: +43 316 81 555 09
email: office@camera-austria.at
http://www.camera-austria.at
Mehr Texte von translated and summarized by: Liz Wollner-Grandville
160810
Camera Austria
8020 Graz, Kunsthaus Graz, Lendkai 1
Tel: +43(0) 316/ 81 555 00, Fax: +43(0) 316/ 81 555 09
Email: office@camera-austria.at
http://www.camera-austria.at
Öffnungszeiten: Di-Sa 10-17 h
Camera Austria
8020 Graz, Kunsthaus Graz, Lendkai 1
Tel: +43(0) 316/ 81 555 00, Fax: +43(0) 316/ 81 555 09
Email: office@camera-austria.at
http://www.camera-austria.at
Öffnungszeiten: Di-Sa 10-17 h