Branje prostora
NAŠKO KRIŽNAR
Branje prostora
Music along photographs: Petra Strahovnik, Amaranthine (2019, 27’ 54’’), Saskia Langhorn on piano.
23. 9.–21. 10. 2022
NAŠKO KRIŽNAR
Glasba ob slikah: Petra Strahovnik, Amaranthine (2019, 27’ 54’’), pri klavirju Saskia Langhorn.
Kovič
strukturo. Razstavljeni niz fotografij Naška Križnarja temelji na zavedanju te definicije, na tenkočutnem umevanju razmerij med (u)videnim in posnetim, med modelom (motivom) in njegovo reprezentacijo. Prostor je abstrakten pojem, ki ga med eksaktnimi znanostmi proučuje predvsem teoretska fizika, a je hkrati izziv različnim vizualnim ustvarjalcem. Pojmovanja in obravnavanja prostora so pri posameznikih zelo različna, njegova vizualizacija se največkrat osredotoči na fragment z bolj ali manj arbitrarno določenimi koordinatami, znotraj katerih je možno intervenirati z barvnimi, simbolnimi ali aluzivnimi posegi, ki prostorski koncept pomensko nadgradijo. Ortogonalni format podobe s svojimi robovi seveda določa meje prostorskega izseka in relativizira njegovo izmuzljivost. Na Križnarjevih fotografijah upodobljeni prostor je ta zavestno relativen prostor oziroma njegova iluzija, če smo natančni, prikazan kot samozadostna entiteta, ki se ne zoperstavlja drugim prostorskim entitetam, ampak se obrača navznoter, k sebi, ter izpostavlja tej danosti navidezno tuje elemente –bodisi živa bitja bodisi nežive predmete ali njihove dele –, ki v hipu postanejo lovilci pogleda, gledalca pritegnejo v tistem smislu, v kakršnem je Roland Barthes v svojem znamenitem eseju Camera lucida definiral punctum. Ko gledalčevo oko evidentira ta pogojno »moteči« sestavni del strukture podobe, je sintagmatski učinek fotografskega zapisa vsakič artikuliran drugače in prav zato nam postane razumljivo, zakaj je Križnar razstavljeni ciklus poimenoval Branje prostora. Objektiv njegove kamere sledi zaznavanju členitev konfiguracije terena, beleženje zaznav pa je subjektivna odločitev, ki rezultat (v konkretnem primeru fotografijo) prepušča subjektivni interpretaciji gledalca. Razmerje med izpostavljenim objektom in njegovim ozadjem lahko pobudi različne mentalne odzive, ki segajo onstran prepoznavnega in skušajo identificirati predvsem l’ésprit des lieux, torej tisto, kar je očem nevidno. S tega vidika se Križnarjeve fotografije ne držijo kakega vnaprej izbranega narativnega toka, ki bi posnete motive povezoval pod namenskim skupnim imenovalcem, združuje jih le dejstvo, da jih je odkril isti avtor. Za sodobno fotografijo značilna avtorska prepoznavnost namreč ni več odvisna od stilnega vzorca, od formal(istič)ne paradigme, pač pa od empirično nepreverljivega, v bistvu duhovnega dispozitiva, ki usmerja avtorjeve odločitve. Naško Križnar je ta dispozitiv realiziral na prepričljiv, vizualno sugestiven in izvedbeno inovativen
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Pozornemu gledalcu ne uide, da Križnarjevih posnetkov ne more kar preprosto umestiti v zvrst krajinske fotografije, čeprav so večinoma nastali v eksterierjih, mestoma celo na prepoznavnih lokacijah. Krajina kot ikonografski motiv (tako v slikarstvu kot v fotografiji) se osredotoča na konfiguracijo terena, na skladnost oblik in svetlobnih učinkov, ki dajejo upodobitvi dodaten pomen – dramatičnost, romantičnost, liričnost in številne druge konotacije, pač odvisno od psihičnega dispozitiva fotografa. Inventarizacija krajev, teritorijev, naravnih znamenitosti in njihovih modifikacij se je v obdobju zgodovinskih avantgard spremenila v fascinacijo s strukturnimi značilnostmi pejsaža, njegovo skrito geometrijo in simbolnimi razsežnostmi. Variacije in permutacije krajinske motivike so se nadaljevale tudi v naslednjih desetletjih, vse bolj pa je stopala v ospredje njihova imanentna podstat – občutje prostora. V tem smislu se seveda srečamo s paradoksom par excellence: fotografija kot medij, usodno definiran s ploskovitostjo, lahko prostor zajame samo kot iluzijo, kot pomanjšan model, ki generira mentalno predstavo danosti, ki je v materialni dejanskosti podobe ni in je tudi ne more biti. Zato fotografsko podobo lahko beremo samo kot predmet simbolnega reda, katerega hermenevtika ima specifične zakonitosti znotraj znakovnega sistema oziroma sistema pomenjenj, ki ga vzpostavlja s svojo
Branenačin.
Delovanju Naška Križnarja v polju umetniških praks po diahroni osi lahko sledimo vse od šestdesetih let preteklega stoletja, ko je sodeloval s skupino OHO, prvim umetniškim gibanjem, ki je preseglo tradicionalno zamudništvo, tako značilno za slovensko kulturno okolje. Takrat se je namreč prvič zgodilo, da so tudi slovenski ustvarjalci sinhrono, sočasno z umetniki v drugih deželah in na drugih koncih sveta spreminjali paradigme umetniškega izražanja ter hkrati močno razširili obzorja možnega, do koder se lahko širi artikulirana govorica umetniških nagovorov. Križnarja sta najprej pritegnila topografska poezija in eksperimentalni film, ki se mu je posvečal kot scenarist, režiser in snemalec, s filmskim ustvarjanjem pa je nadaljeval tudi pozneje, ko so glavne ideje konceptualizma in njemu sorodnih stremljenj postale neločljive, splošno priznane sestavine zgodovinskega mainstreama. V naslednjem obdobju se je intenzivno posvetil svoji stroki, etnologiji, kot raziskovalec v Goriškem muzeju v Novi Gorici in potem pri ZRC SAZU ter kot profesor vizualne antropologije na Filozofski fakulteti ljubljanske univerze in Fakulteti za humanistične študije Univerze na Primorskem. Stik z (avdio)vizualnim področjem je vseskozi ohranjal kot avtor etnografskih filmov, zadnja leta pa je svoja opazovanja naravnega, fizičnega in bivanjskega okolja tematiziral še v fotografskem mediju.
Kovski vrh, 15. 2. 2021 3
Naško Križnar’s activity in the field of visual culture can be traced diachronically all the way back to the 1960s, when he collaborated with the OHO group, the first art movement to overcome the belatedness hitherto so characteristic of Slovenia’s cultural condition. This was the first time that Slovenian artists altered the paradigms of artistic expression contemporaneously, together with artists in other countries and corners of the world, while at the same time pushing the limits to which the articulated language of artistic narratives can spread. Križnar was initially involved in topographic poetry and experimental film, a medium he dedicated himself to as a screenwriter, director, and cameraman. He continued working on film at subsequent stages of his career, when the principal ideas of conceptualism and related endeavours became inalienable, generally recognised components of the historical mainstream. Later on, he immersed himself in his profession, ethnology, as a researcher at the Gorišk muzej in Nova Gorica and at the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Arts and Sciences, and as a professor of anthropology at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, and the Faculty of Humanities, University of Primorska. He has remained in touch with the (audio)visual sphere throughout his career as screenwriter and director of ethnographic films; in recent years he has also articulated his observations of the natural, physical, and built environment in the medium of photography.
Attentive viewers will no doubt notice that Križnar’s photographs cannot be simply pigeonholed into the category of landscape photography despite having been mostly shot outdoors, some of them even at easily recognisable locations. The landscape as an iconographic motif (both in painting and in photography) focuses on the configuration of terrain, on the harmony of shapes and light effects that add a specific meaning to the depiction – dramatic, romantic, lyrical, and a multitude of other connotations, depending on the psychological disposition of the photographer. Through avant-garde periods in history, the inventorying of places, territories, and natural wonders, and the modification thereof, morphed into a fascination with the structural characteristics of landscape images and their hidden geometry and symbolic dimensions. Variations and permutations of landscape motifs continued in the subsequent decades as their inherent substrate – the sense of space – increasingly took centre stage. In this sense, we inevitably encounter a paradox par excellence: photography as a medium, fatefully constrained by its flatness, can only capture space as an illusion, as a scale model that generates a mental image of a feature which does not and cannot exist in the material reality of the image. A photographic image can only be interpreted as a subject of the symbolic order whose hermeneutics adheres to specific laws within the system of
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significations created by its structure. The showcased series of photographs by Naško Križnar is based on the awareness of this definition, a subtle understanding of the relations between that which is seen – and perceived – and that which is recorded, between the model (motif) and its representation . Space is an abstract notion, a subject that, among the exact sciences, is of particular interest to theoretical physics but which remains a challenge for visual artists of all kinds. The interpretation and treatment of space varies depending on the individual, the visualisation of space often focusing on a fragment with more or less arbitrarily determined coordinates in the framework of which it is possible to intervene with colours, symbols, or allusions that expand the meaning of the concept of space. The orthogonal format of the image and its edges naturally set the boundaries of the spatial fragment and relativise its elusiveness. The space depicted in Križnar’s photographs is precisely this consciously relative space or, more precisely, an illusion thereof, shown as a self-sufficient entity that is not juxtaposed with other spatial entities but turns inward, towards itself, while highlighting elements that are seemingly foreign to this condition – be it living beings, inanimate objects, of parts thereof – that instantaneously capture attention in the same sense that Roland Barthes defined punctum in his seminal essay Camera Lucida. When the viewer’s eye identifies this seemingly “irksome” constituent part of the structure of the image, the syntagmatic effect of the photographic record is articulated in a different way every time, which is precisely why we realise why Križnar named the exhibited series Reading Space. The lens of his camera follows the perception of the configuration of the terrain, whereby the recording of the perception is a subjective decision whose result (in this case, a photograph) is open to the subjective interpretation of the observer. The relation between the object in focus and its background can trigger a variety of mental reactions that go beyond the recognisable and attempt to identify in particular the l’ésprit des lieux – that which is invisible to the eye. In this sense, Križnar’s photographs do not adhere to a pre-selected narrative course that would bind the recorded motifs with a dedicated common denominator; the only thing they have in common is that they have been discovered by the same creator. The artist’s identity, characteristic of contemporary photography, no longer depends on the stylistic pattern, on the formal(ist) paradigm; it depends on the empirically unverifiable, indeed spiritual, reasoning that guides the artist’s decisions. Naško Križnar implements this reasoning in a way that is convincing, visually suggestive, and innovatively realized.
Brane Kovič
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Valamar resort, Sv. Nikola, 6. 7. 2022
“Kakšne korenine se oklepajo, kakšne veje rasejo iz teh kamnitih podrtin? Sin človekov, ne moreš povedati, ali uganiti, zakaj poznaš samo kup strtih podob, kjer sonce bije, in mrtvo drevo ne nudi sence, olajšanja ne čriček, ne suha skala šuma vode.”
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T. S. Elliot, Pusta zemlja
“Toda to noč mi je nekdo nekaj resno namignil. Da je med črno in modro komaj kaj razlike – da naj pazim, ko se vpletam v polje več stran bežečih silnic.”
Kaja Teržan, Krog
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Srednje Bitnje, 13. 7. 2022
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Črni vrh, 14. 6. 2020 9
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Divči, 8. 9. 2022
Barva na kovini Srednje Bitnje, 4. 3. 2022
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Škofja Loka, 24. 9. 2021 12
Nova Gorica, 12. 5. 2022 13
Differentia specifica Papirnica, 15. 2. 2021 14
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Prehodi čez žabnico Srednje Bitnje, 21. 4. 2022
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Differentia specifica Strmol, 12. 2. 2022
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Differentia specifica Srednja vas, 1. 1. 2022
AUTHOR
ABOUTAVTORJUTHE
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Razstavo in izid kataloga je finančno omogočila / The exhibition and catalogue have been financially supported by:
NOVA GORICA
MESTNA OBČINA
Naško Križnar, upokojeni znanstveni svetnik, je bil v šestdesetih letih prejšnjega stoletja sodelavec umetniške skupine OHO. Med letoma 1963 in 1970 je deloval predvsem v polju topografske poezije in eksperimentalnega filma, kjer je kot režiser, snemalec in scenarist podpisal 29 kratkih eksperimentalnih filmov na 8 in 16 mm traku z »ohojevsko zasedbo«. OHO je danes kanonični pojem slovenske, v svojem času jugoslovanske neovantgarde, ki je v slovenski umetniški prostor vpeljala nove konceptualne in procesualne pristope ter zastopala alternativne, eksperimentalne in nedogmatske ustvarjalne prakse, skozi katere sta se igra in življenje nepretenciozno vpletla v umetnost. Po ohojevskem obdobju je kot svobodni filmski delavec posnel štiri kratke filme za Neoplanto film in za Vibo film. Nato pa se je vse do upokojitve posvečal najprej etnološkim raziskavam v Goriškem muzeju v Novi Gorici, kasneje pa vizualnemu raziskovanju kulture v Avdiovizualnem laboratoriju Znanstvenoraziskovalnega centra SAZU, še posebej produkciji etnografskih filmov. Vizualno antropologijo je predaval na Filozofski fakulteti Univerze v Ljubljani, kjer je tudi doktoriral in na Fakulteti za humanistične študije Univerze na Primorskem. V zadnjih letih se je začel intenzivno ukvarjati s fotografijo, ki je postala tako rekoč podaljšano oko za opazovanje in vstopanje v latentne strukturne značilnosti vizualne okolice in rekonstruiranje njene znakovne topografije. Marca 2022 je imel prvo fotografsko razstavo v Atriju ZRC SAZU, v Ljubljani.
Slika na naslovnici: Pes, Zlato polje, 23. 3. 2021
dr. Nadja Gnamuš
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Naško Križnar, a retired senior research fellow, was a contributor to the artistic group OHO in the 1960s. Between 1963 and 1970 the focus of his work was topographic poetry and experimental film, having worked as director, cameraman, and screenwriter on 29 8-mm and 16-mm shorts featuring OHO members. OHO has since been canonised as a paragon of the Slovenian – and at the time Yugoslav – avant-garde, which introduced into the Slovenian artistic space new conceptual and procedural approaches, and engaged in alternative, experimental, and non-dogmatic creative practices through which play and life were unpretentiously interwoven with art. After the OHO period, he shot four short films as a freelance film maker for producers Neoplanto Film and Viba Film, whereupon he spent the rest of his career until retirement first focusing on ethnographic research at the Goriška Museum in Nova Gorica and subsequently on the visual exploration of culture at the Audiovisual Laboratory of the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Arts and Sciences, in particular the production of ethnographic film. He taught visual anthropology at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, where he received his PhD, and at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Primorska. More recently, he has dived into photography, which has become an extended arm of sorts for the observation of and participation in the latent structural features of the visual environment, and the reconstruction of its signage topography. In May 2022 he had his first photographic exhibition at the Atrium of the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Arts and Sciences in Ljubljana.
Katalog izdal/Catalogue issued by: Kulturni dom Nova Gorica (Zanj/Represented by: Pavla Jarc) - Urednica/Editor: Mateja Poljšak Furlan - Avtor besedila/Texts written by: Brane Kovič - Prevod/Translation: Sebastijan R. Maček - Podatki o avtorju: dr. Nadja Gnamuš - Glasba: Petra Strahovnik - Digitalni tisk: Nejc Grašič, Foto GM Kranj - Oblikovanje in prelom/Catalogue design & DTP: Vid Simoniti - Tisk/Print: Tiskarna Present d.o.o. - Kraj izida/Place of publication: Nova Gorica - Leto izida/Publication year: 2022 - Naklada/Nr. of copies: 300
Dr. Nadja Gnamuš
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