DISKRETNI ŠARM MIRU

Barbara Jakše Jeršič & Stane Jeršič

DISKRETNI ŠARM MIRU Fragmenti časa in prostora v fotograﬁji

THE DISCREET CHARM OF PEACE Fragments of time and place in photograpy

Sarajevo - Ljubljana - Portoro탑 - Benetke - Dunaj - Munchen - San Francisco 2003 - 2005 Sarajevo - Ljubljana - Portorose - Venice - Vienna - Munich - San Francisco 2003 -2005

Fragmenti časa in prostora v fotograﬁji

Fragments of time and place in photograpy

DISKRETNI ŠARM MIRU THE DISCREET CHARM OF PEACE

Barbara Jakše Jeršič & Stane Jeršič

Koroški pokrajinski muzej Slovenj Gradec 02.09. - 24.10.2005

Koroški pokrajinski muzej

Glavni trg 24 2380 Slovenj Gradec Slovenija

tel : +386 (0)2 88 42055, 88 22930 dir : +386 (0)2 88 22931 fax: +386 (0)2 88 42055

Najnovejša serija fotografij Barbare Jakše in Staneta Jeršiča nastaja v angažirani vizualizaciji sodobnih, z uniformnostjo globalizacije ožigosanih urbanih ambientov na različnih koncih sveta. S tenkočutnim prediranjem tančic zunanjega videza mestnega utripa se fotografa spuščata v zakulisje fragmentiranih okruškov življenja, ki jim vselej zoperstavljata izpraznjeno, skoraj sterilno izhodiščno podobo, nekakšno arhetipsko veduto prepoznavne mikrolokacije, v panoramskem posnetku razširjene v sugestivni, domala metaforični »psihološki portret« prostorov, neposeljenih s človekom, a z jasno čitljivimi sledovi njegove siceršnje prisotnosti. Natančni, visoko estetizirani črno-beli posnetki ne sledijo individualni identiteti izbranega okolja, ujeti skušajo vzdušje napetosti pričakovanja: navidezne oaze miru in posvojene, organizirane varnosti so tudi prizorišča nenehne latentne nevarnosti sodobnih urbanih spopadov. V arhitekturnih okvirih Ljubljane, Dunaja, San Francisca, Münchna, Benetk in ožigosanega mesta Sarajeva skušata Jeršič in Jakšetova poudariti dihotomijo človekovega funkcioniranja v ambientih sodobnega sveta, v katerem se individualnost posameznika utaplja v splošno sprejetih kodih zapovedanega obnašanja množice. Na izjemno tenkočuten način opozarjata na svojevrstno krizo identitete urbanega, saj izpostavljata konflikt med arhitekturo oz. stavbami kot nosilkami lokalne prepoznavnosti, ter ljudmi, ki v naprezanju po aktualnem vživetju v zahteve časa in prostora prostodušno podlegajo vzorcem globalnih trendov. Kot da bi bil realni prostor ujetnik sedanjega trenutka, kot da ne bi bilo zgodovine, morda le še novica prejšnjega ali tega dneva, kot da bi vsaka individualna zgodovina izčrpala svoje motive in se znašla v nenehni izpraznjeni sedanjosti, prestreljeni s ponorelim hlastanjem za čim hitrejšo konzumacijo dobrin. Figure se zlivajo z okoljem, v njem izginevajo, se konformistično zapredajo v njegove nevidne niti in skupaj z njim oblikujejo iluzijo navidezne simbioze, diskretnega šarma miru v hipertrofiranem ritmu vsakdanjega življenja. Krhkost logike urejenega, nadzorovanega stanja stvari najbolj jasno razgalja prav fotografija, saj kot podoba ne obstaja v realnem, vzvrtinčenem in pospešenem dojemanju časa. Izrgana iz konteksta realnega časa, uklenjena v negibnost in tišino, veliko prepričljiveje kot vseprisotna, neulovljiva elektronska gibljiva slika označuje stereotip vsakodnevne reciklaže globaliziranih vzorcev bivanja v sodobnem svetu.

Življenje v večjih mestih s hitrim kopičenjem spreminjajočih se podob in oblikovanjem vedno novih javnih prostorov kot ključnih elementov urbanih strategij resnično ne prinaša stabilnosti, nasprotno, povzroča razdrobljenost in izgubo orientacije. Fotografske podobe so lahko zato fotograﬁje česarkoli: podobe klišejsko prepoznavnih prostorov mestne identitete in podobe spregledanih, morda še bolj avtentičnih efemernih ambientov, ter kogarkoli: ljudi, ki so neznani drug drugemu, ki se zbirajo v skupine, vrste, mimoidoči, ki se srečujejo v trenutku, ki nima opraviti s preteklostjo. Razen morda v Sarajevu. V mestu nepredstavljivega trpljenja, kolektivnega sovraštva, medsebojne solidarnosti, dvoumnega odpuščanja in globalne brezbrižnosti, v mestu brez vzora in vzorca, z avtentično in znova vzpostavljeno, v marsičem vsiljeno, ponarejeno identiteto, ter nepreglednim labirintom sveže izkopanih grobov. Ali je tukaj, v nedrih bodoče skupne, zaokrožene Evrope nastavljeno zrcalo resnične mentalitete lažnih prerokov Zahodnega sveta ter razgaljena demarkacijska linija Novega svetovnega reda in njegovega razsutega sistema vrednot? Stane Jeršič in Barbara Jakše ne iščeta odgovorov in zaključene vizure sveta, saj se bržkone samo sprašujeta: Ali so sodobna urbana okolja v resnici prisiljena v proizvajanje potrošniške mentalitete kot edinega pragmatičnega cilja družbene strukture? Ali je vizualni red, kakršnega lovi njuna kamera, zgolj večno ponavljajoča se simulacija prostora v njegovi globalni, namišljeni razsežnosti nekakšnega umetno nadinvestiranega sveta, v katerem ni več prostora za lucidno misel posameznika in epifanijo podobe - ikone, ki navdihuje? Marko Košan

The latest series of photographs by Barbara Jakše and Stane Jeršič takes shape in the conscious and committed visualization of contemporary urban environments in various parts of the world that have been “branded” by the uniformity of globalization. Sensitively piercing the veils of the external appearance of urban life, the photographers enter a behind-the-scenes space of fragmentary scraps of life against which they place an emptied, almost sterile initial image, a kind of archetypal view of a recognizable microlocation, expanded in a panoramic photograph into a suggestive, almost metaphorical “psychological” portrait of spaces unoccupied by human beings but with clearly legible traces of their presence. The precise, highly aestheticized black-and-white images do not follow the individual identity of the chosen environment; rather, they try to capture the atmosphere of the tension of expectation: apparent oases of peace and adopted, organized security are also the settings for the constant latent danger of contemporary urban conﬂicts.

vertiginous and sped-up conception of time. Torn from the context of real time, fettered in immobility and silence, it characterizes – far more convincingly than the omnipresent, elusive electronic moving image – the stereotype of the daily recycling of globalized patterns of living in the modern world.

Within the architectural frameworks of Ljubljana, Vienna, San Francisco, Munich, Venice and the stigmatized city of Sarajevo, Jeršič and Jakše try to emphasize the dichotomy of human functioning in the environments of the modern world, in which the individuality of the human being is drowned in generally accepted codes of the prescribed behavior of the crowd. In a very subtle way, they draw attention to the unique identity crisis of the urban, by exposing the conﬂict between architecture – or buildings – as the props of local recognizability, and the people who, in their efforts to accustom themselves to the demands of time and space, ingenuously succumb to the patterns of global trends. As though real space were a prisoner of the current moment, as though there were no history but perhaps only news from yesterday or today, as though every individual history had exhausted its motifs and found itself in an unending, empty present, shot through with a frenzied clutching at consumption, as rapid as possible. Figures blend with the environment, they disappear in it; they wrap themselves conformingly in its invisible threads and, bonded with it, form the illusion of apparent symbiosis, the discreet charm of peace in the hypertrophied rhythm of everyday life. The fragility of the logic of the ordered, controlled state of things is most clearly exposed by the photograph: as an image it does not exist in the real,

Except perhaps in Sarajevo. In a city of unimaginable suffering, collective hatred, mutual solidarity, doubtful forgiveness and global indifference, in a city without pattern or model, with an authentic and re-established identity, in many ways imposed and falsiﬁed, and a confused labyrinth of freshly dug graves. Or has a mirror of the true mentality of the false prophets of the Western world been set up here in the bosom of the future common, complete Europe, and the demarcation line of the New World Order and its fragmented system of values been laid bare?

Life in big cities, with the rapid accumulation of changing images and the constant formation of new public spaces as key elements of urban strategies, does not truly bring stability. Quite the opposite, it causes fragmentation and loss of orientation. Photographic images can therefore be photographs of anything: images of the clichéd spaces of urban identity and images of overlooked, perhaps more authentic ephemeral environments; and of anyone: people who are strangers to each other, who gather in groups, queues, passers-by who encounter each other in a moment that has nothing to do with the past.

Stane Jeršič and Barbara Jakše are not looking for answers and a ﬁnal vision of the world. They are probably merely asking themselves: Are modern urban environments really forced into the production of a consumerist mentality as the only pragmatic goal of social structure? Is the visual order of the kind their camera is hunting merely an eternally repeating simulation of space in its global, imaginary dimension of a kind of artiﬁcially overinvested world, in which there is no more space for the lucid thought of the individual and the epiphany of the image/icon that inspires? Marko Košan

06. San Francisco San Francisco / Exploratorium: Muzej znanosti, umetnosti in človeške percepcije Exploratorium: the Museum of science, art and human perception / 2005 08. Ljubljana Ljubljana / Kolosej: Multi kino kompleks Kolosej: the Multi cinema complex / 2005 10. Ljubljana Ljubljana / City park: Nakupni center City park: the Shopping center / 2003 12. San Francisco San Francisco / Blagovna hiša Nordstrom Nordstrom store / 2005 14. Munchen Munich / Letališče Airport / 2005 16. Ljubljana Ljubljana / City park: Nakupni center City park: the Shopping center / 2004 18. Sarajevo Sarajevo / Banana City: tržnica Banana City: the Covered market / 2005 20. Ljubljana Ljubljana / Interspar: Nakupni center Interspar: the Shopping center / 2004 22. Ljubljana Ljubljana / City park: Restavracija City park: the Restaurant / 2003 24. Benetke Venice / Arsenale Arsenale / 2005 26. San Francisco San Francisco / trg Union Square the Union Square / 2005 28. Dunaj Vienna / Prater Prater / 2005 54

30. Sarajevo Sarajevo / Železniška postaja the Railway station / 2005 32. Ljubljana Ljubljana / Kolosej: Multi kino kompleks Kolosej: the Multi cinema complex / 2005 34. Ljubljana Ljubljana / Kolosej: Multi kino kompleks Kolosej: the Multi cinema complex / 2005 36. Dunaj Vienna / Prater Prater / 2005 38. San Francisco San Francisco / Metreon: Multi kino kompleks Metreon: the Multi cinema complex / 2005 40. San Francisco San Francisco / Metreon: Multi kino kompleks Metreon: the Multi cinema complex / 2005 42. Portorož Portorose / Grand hotel Bernardin Grand hotel Bernardin / 2004 44. Benetke Venice / pred hotelom Metropole in front of the hotel Metropole / 2005 46. San Francisco San Francisco / Most Golden Gate Golden Gate Bridge Alkatraz Alkatraz / 2005 48. Benetke Venice / ulica pri trgu sv. Marka the street nearby St. Mark’s Square / 2005 50. Benetke Venice / Beneški bienale: the Giardinni the Venice Biennal: the Giardinni / 2005 52. Sarajevo Sarajevo / Pokopališče Bare the Cemetery Bare / 2005

Barbara Jakše Jeršič (1967) in Stane Jeršič (1957) ustvarjata na področju fotografije od leta 1987 in živita v Sloveniji. Izdala sta vrsto monografij, imela številne samostojne razstave in bila uvrščena v skupinske predstavitve v Sloveniji kot tudi Evropi, Japonski in Ameriki. Njuna dela so vključena v uveljavljene javne in zasebne zbirke fotografije. Barbara Jakše (1967) and Stane Jeršič (1957) have been working in the field of photography since 1987 and lives in the Republic of Slovenia. In the next few years they published several books, have many one-person exhibitions and have been selected in different group shows in Slovenia as well as in Europe, Japan and the United States. Their photographs form part of of well-known public and private collections of photography.

www.portfolio.si/jaksejersic/ barbara.jakse@guest.arnes.si stane.jersic@guest.arnes.si