Markus Soukup / WORKS 2004 - 2014

MARKUS SOUKUP WORKS 2004 - 2014 www.toofastproductions.co.uk

This catalogue comprises a selection of documentation material about projects made between 2004 and 2014. During that period my artistic practice focussed on the production of time-based audio visual installations, 2D & 3D animations, digital photography, typographic and performative experiments as well as the work with sound.

The printed documentation is meant to provide a point of review (or departure) to contemplate about new artistic directions to be taken in the future - a moment of critical evaluation to answer questions about the artist’s responsibility when living at (or through) this particular time of rapid technological development, environmental crisis & societal contradictions.

Digital technologies are changing rapidly and with it our modes of perception, exploration and expression are transforming too. During the last decades we have seen the development from linear to non-linear video editing, from the magnetic (PAL / NTSC) video tape (VHS, Beta, U-matic) via optical discs (DVD) to high definition and 4K resolution video, where current cloud based storage systems made video on demand possible.

With the change of materiality to more intangible and immaterial characteristics new concepts and understandings of ‘objects’ are emerging in a similar way as the rise of networked communication tools transforms ways of thinking, artists practice and research.

Are we experiencing artificial intelligence, when the technological object becomes a ‘smart object’ and the characteristics of subject and object seem to be inverted or twisted in a way that the human subject becomes the object emitting the data to be collected and analyzed by the ‘smart object’?

I am interested how to translate reflections about contemporary situations into ‘perceivable outcomes’ for the audience. The task to create thinking spaces, which enable reflection and contemplation, was leading to scenarios or narratives presented as installations containing different media.

Some of the works are exploring the relation between image and text especially in a time-based situation. Other points of reference are the symbolic, the imagination, the dream in relation (or contrast) to perceiving objective reality.

The visitor navigates through moving images, still images, sculptural and other objects. Gaps exist not only between these different objects and elements within the physical set up, but also between various parts of audiovisual material. The positions of montage, where edits are placed within the time-line of a video, can be understood as undefined spaces creating zones of imagination.

On the one hand these unspoken in-between-spaces or anti-shapes will continue to be fascinating and on the other hand they provide a kind of refuge for imagining and conceptualizing poetic responses.

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FROM SLICES OF REALITY TO ILLUSIONS NEVER HAPPENED DVD I 11:40 min I 2008 A photographic animation project exploring peoples situations in spaces they relate to. In some ways the project explores the photographic process of the portrait but it works on an extended level, which is the time-based quality presenting a situation where movements of the individual within time and space are reflected. Fragments of time-based photographic interventions are linked up to create a map or collage of performative sequences.

Perfomances by: Becs Andrews | Sam Meech | Tim Brunsden | John O’Shea | Danny O’Shea Laura Powers | Hannah Peel | Sam Skinner | Markus Soukup 04

Sound by Igor Hax | Camera & Edit by M. Soukup Camera support by L. Powers | H. Peel | T. Brunsden | S.Skinner

TO OR AT A DISTANCE DVD | 10:00 min | 2009 The video material was filmed during a trip to Mexico to participate in the laboratory ‘Who is afraid of the in-between?’ organized by Werner Moebius and Mariella Greil as part of the Prismaforum, which took place in Oaxaca and Mexico City in 2009. The video explores the phenomenon of the cabin as a moving container in transit. Its movement through space creates another dimension of space and time for the traveller, which is quite different to the dimension of walking speed.

The window acts similar to a screen or interface making this different dimension appear. The rapid movement through space creates a fascinating perception, which I tried to capture with the camera. Fast travel could be seen as a means of teleportation creating a kind of displacement for the travelling subject. The still or moving image taken from one place and carried to another place could be understood as a teleportation too.

Filmed in Mexico, England & in between I Sound by Igor Hax I Camera & edit by M. Soukup Thanks to Werner Moebius & Mariella Greil I Supported by Arts Council England

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The selection of work in the ARTIFICIAL MEMORIES exhibition looks at how our mind or consciousness is influenced by perceiving written & visual information through mass media (television, press, cinema, the internet, etc.) The experimental exploration (in progress) includes motion typography, minimal animations and digital photography.

Many thanks to Arts Council England and Arena Gallery & Studios for making this exhibition possible from 10th - 25th October during the Liverpool Biennial 2014.

ELECTRIC LIGHTS BEHIND 8 digital photographs | 8x6 inch | 2014 An ongoing series of photography documenting advertising boards without adverts exploring the ‘mechanics’ of advertisement and deconstructing how these ‘information structures’ are setup in public spaces. It can be seen as a homage to the minimalist Dan Flavin who was working with fluorescent lights.

ARTIFICIAL | MEMORIES Two light boxes | 2014

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The light boxes contain the two words, which are used in the animation AXIS / GRID and function as the title for the exhibition. It can be seen as a starting point to reflect on our own perspective of how some internal representations are actually memories related to synthetic (artificially created) content. At this point it is possible to interpret the situation we are living in as science-fictional.

Everything seems to be as ‘usual’, but the network, computer programs, databases and robotic machines change our perception, our way of organizing information and communications as well as most other parts of our society.

RANDOM DANCE SITE minimal animation | action script running live on LCD screen | 2014 The minimal animated drawings on the computer screen are generated by a partly randomized action script running live from the machine.

The script was programmed in a way that the resulting figures would appear as possibly drawn by a ‘human’. A minimal approach to explore how attention is sought by the movement of visual ‘content’.

RASTER digital image | 8x6 inch | 2014 An image relating to the surface and structure of a LCD screen. A very common element in everybody’s life. A reflection on how this interface connects us to the vast infinity - the flow of existing digital content and information 24/7.

AXIS / GRID digital animated video | DVD | 2:53 min | 2014 The video contains animated typography and minimal animations. It can be seen as the central element of the exhibition project, which contemplates about the perceptual nature of contemporary screen culture and reflects upon processes of how attention is influenced or targeted within mass media culture.

The increasing immersion of the audio-visual senses leads to a consciousness where the gap between reality and hyper-reality seems to get more and more indistinguishable.

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UNTITLED ROUTINE DVD loop | 2:05 min | 2008 The material was recorded just shortly after moving into the studio space at the Bluecoat. It is one of the first bits of work produced there and in a way it is an experimental way of defining a new space with a gesture or tracing a regular movement. The split screen version underlines different perspectives, situations in time and speed.

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Installation view at the ‘LOST SOUL AND STRANGER SERVICE STATION’ exhibition at the Bluecoat - part of Liverpool Independents Biennial 2008.

IN PRAISE OF NINE TO FIVE DVD loop played on TV | 4:17 min | Liverpool | 2008 Is a result as part of a series of typographic time-based work to be continued. The video piece was produced for the poem by Nathan Jones, who is part of the Mercy Arts organisation based in Liverpool.

The video investigates language and its structure by deconstructing the content or flow, breaking it into parts and reconstructing it on a time based level.

OHNE TITEL 3 C-prints | 10cm x 10cm | 2008 A typographic piece trying to create a picture of a situation by not using imagery.

It can be seen as a basis for the CHAIR CHAIR SIT INBETWEEN video installation produced in 2010.

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UN SPACE video installation | 2011

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The ‘Un Space’ video project explores an ‘in between’ place, a fascinating space in continuous change, which is characterized by a cyclic accessibility relating to forces of gravity.

During the DEC lab in February 2011 Graham Harwood invited me to have a walk on the ‘mud’. This experience was the starting point for the project and made me explore the subject of the tidal phenomenon in more detail during a following residency at Metal Culture in Southend.

The main video incorporates stop-motion animated scenes, which required longer periods of observation. An animation about the relation between tidal and lunar movement is shown on a second monitor.

CHAIR CHAIR SIT INBETWEEN 5 channel video installation | 5 DVD loops | 2010 The first time it was shown in the exhibition ‘Terribility Studios / Liverpool - London’ at the Lost Soul and Stranger Service Station during Liverpool Biennial 2010.

A minimal performance for 1 person. A non-serious exploration of a sincere and re-occurring situation most people can relate to. The title ‘CHAIR, CHAIR, SIT IN BETWEEN’ is taken from a minimal typographic work I made in 2008.

The performance seeks to express a situation based on visualising and interpreting this typographic piece by using body movements and other non-verbal expressions.

I had planned the performance since a long time - finally it was recorded in Summer 2010 in Liverpool.

To actually do the performance was a very intense physical experience and was necessary as the actual performing unfolded different, additional and unforeseeable aspects and possibilities of expressions.

As a result I edited the material into 5 parts: ‘Intro - Outro’, ‘Result - Output’, ‘Attempt’, ‘Part One’, ‘Part Two’ and ‘Part Three’.

I decided that the 5 parts could be shown as loops simultaneously. The differing length of the loops leads to continuously changing combinations of video scenes and sound-scapes.

The arrangement of loops creates a more open narrative showing various aspects at the same time. In this way it is possible to either grasp an overview over the elements or get immersed into it as long as wanted. As a result the audience can enter or leave the installation at any time.

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ZWISCHENVERBINDUNG 2D / 3D animation & prints | Liverpool 2012 Title from the German: zwischen (between) and Verbindung (connection) A 3D & 2D animated sculpture situated in a virtual space made accessible via TV screens. ‘Zwischen-Verbindung’ was inspired by responding to the particular space at the Walker Art Gallery and its collection of Italian Renaissance paintings. The animation can be seen as a bridge or attempt linking the technology of the past with that of the present. Contemporary 3D-animation probably would not exist without the discovery of the scientific principles of perspective by Renaissance artists.

The sculpture is influenced by the idea of ‘interconnectivity’. In this concept, all parts of a system interact with and rely on one another and the whole system can not be analysed by only looking at its parts separately.

The prints surrounding the main piece are extensions of ideas about the concept of ‘Zwischen-Verbindung’ and show stills from early attempts for the animation project.

‘Zwischenverbindung’ was produced for the ELEMENTS & SATELLITES exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery Liverpool 24 March to 15 July 2012.

Commissioned by Arts Council England / Curated by Laura MacCulloch The solo show was a result of winning the Liverpool Art Prize in 2011.

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STRATA HD video | Peterborough 2013 | 6:26 min The STRATA project looks at how technology has developed over time and how our landscape is shaped through processes of civilisation.

As an example local materials like wood and clay were used to construct early settlement structures with thatched roofs. To burn the clay for producing bricks was a significant step in the development of long(er) lasting housing. A starting point was the exploration of the surrounding fen landscape characterised by a symbiotic relation between land and water, where the construction of dykes was necessary to access otherwise unreachable areas.

The video includes scenes filmed at Flag Fan, where timbers as part of the Bronze Age track-way have to be kept wet regularly to prevent decay by using water sprinklers.

To film the mysterious structures containing recently discovered bronze age boats inside an old brick kiln in Whittlesey was an experience itself.

Isolated visual elements are edited by using montage and transitions to achieve a flow within the narrative. By merging layers of present and past the work critically investigates representation(s) of reality. As the reconstructed historic material is mediated via digital images it appears as real in the end. As a result ‘present’ and ‘historic’ sources seem rather indistinguishable.

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Produced during a residency at Metal Culture Peterborough and exhibited at the ‘STILL’ exhibition, City Gallery Peterborough in 2013 Commissioned by Metal / curator Simon Poulter

ROLES ROLL DVD | 6:10 min Berlin – Liverpool 2003 - 2007 The main scenes were recorded in Berlin and some additional footage was taken in Liverpool.

It is a collaborational dance performance video project

by Chilean choreographer and dance artist Julieta Figueroa and M. Soukup.

ROLES ROLL examines concepts of linearity.

Opposed to circularity, repetition and oscillation the project explores interruption as impulses for non-linear principles. A significant basis for the performative narrative was the exploration of a situation appearing to be save or stable on it’s surface, but being rather fragile, easily to distract, distorted or quickly out of it’s balance.

camera & edit by M. Soukup / sound by Igor Hax camera support by Dounia Chama dance performance by Julieta Figueroa balancing & falling down person by M. Soukup

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MASQUE Typographic Animation | 3:21min Liverpool 2011 MASQUE is an animation based on a dream made using only typography and sound. The project explores the relation between text & symbol and its relation to perception, understanding and imagination. An important part was the deconstruction of language and its reconstruction by arranging the isolated elements and animating their movements on the screen into a time based sequence.

By refusing the realistic image the project could be seen on the one hand as an anti-film as it subverts cinematographic expectations, but on the other hand it offers a subjective moving image unique to each audience member.

SUPPORT TO FLY Typographic Animation | 2:30 min Liverpool 2004

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An animation project based on a real dream reflecting the text- and image relation of cinematographic approaches.

The typographic film as an anti-film refuses the expectations of the audience to receive a fully depicted situation. The text-sound marriage creates in a paradoxical way audiovisual conceivable material without using real film footage. In one way the animation relates to the linear text used in books - it provokes imagination processes. And in another way it is equivalent to a sequence of film, where objects and actions are positioned in a frame.

BY TWO FEATHERS DVD | 4 min | Liverpool 2004 with: LUCKA HELIKAROVĂ (Czech Republic) ALEXANDRA LAMARQUE (France) MARC MEHU (Belgium) Directed, filmed & edited by M. Soukup 3D animation by M. Soukup Sound produced & arranged by Igor Hax The BY TWO FEATHERS video provides a visual version confronting the text-based animation SUPPORT TO FLY. The visual approach completes the projects exploration and translation of the original dream material. The video can be understood as a cinematographic attempt of translating the memory of the particular dream into an audio-visual perceivable artefact. The hero as a dreamer experiences a story relating to the process of finishing his work. The last two missing feathers of his sculpture receive the indicative meaning by the narrative and on the other hand they define aspects of the symbolic content of the sculpture itself.

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INTEGRITY DVD | 3D & 2D animated video 5 min | 2005

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The integrity-project brings together a 3D-animated split-screen narrative with ‘thrown in’ elements of animated text. These fragments of text are synonyms or antonyms to the title integrity and provide an additional layer of expression.

The 3D-animated part can be understood as a virtual sculpture. Its characteristics point towards the edge where perception processes of sculptures or objects are defined similar to film work.

The split screen version represents three perspectives of the virtual kinetic installation at the same time.

The movement of the figurine (the main character) is situated in between a changing environment which on the one hand seems to be fragmented and randomized but on the other hand stable, where every element is determined by a defined position.

(Only one of the three spatial coordinates of each jigsaw piece changes.)

The work formulates in an abstract way how different elements or aspects shape a situation (- such as experience, memory, place or identity).

Furthermore it explores paradoxical relations of independence & dependence and at the same time it questions freedom & decision.

UNTITLED ‘HA’ digital photograph inkjet print on acetate | slide projection London 2012 A photograph taken of a part of an electric device box at the North side entrance of the Rotherhithe tunnel in London. The story of finding a use for this one image for a slide projection is also the story of finding the CGP Gallery in Southwark Park, where the piece was made for and exhibited end of 2012. It can be seen as a poetic palindrome - a projection showing two different words at the same time.

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RELICTS series of typographic prints | 2011

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A series of 28 typographic prints, attempts to consider the interdependence and complexity of different aspects of contemporary problems – from environmental issues to questions about changes within society – some of which related to recent technological developments.

The title ‘relicts’ suggests a perspective where some of those elements appear similar to a sort of endangered species.

Some of the words used in the series present abstract concepts impossible to visualize in a single image. The space of each black square (and between the squares) resists depiction and creates an area for association, interpretation and imagination.

By using photographic material the work plays and contemplates about photographic representation and its limits.

In a formal sense it can be seen as a homage to Malevich’s black square.

TRANSIT / DIMENSION series of digital photographs | London | 2014 The photographs were taken during recent road journeys. The speed of travel creates a different dimension for perceiving the environment. As a result new surfaces and shapes appear and disappear in a fragment of a second.

LIGHT DRAWINGS 8 digital photographs | 15 x 20 cm | Liverpool | 2010 An experiment playing with movement and perception to create a dynamic and minimal aesthetic outcome.

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IMPRESSUM Thanks for all the support during the last years by: The Bluecoat Liverpool / The Lost Soul and Stranger Service Station / Static Gallery Liverpool / Metal Culture Liverpool, Southend & Peterborough / SoundNetwork / Furtherfield London / Arena Gallery and Studios Liverpool / CASS London / Mercy Arts Liverpool / CGP London / Red Gallery London / Mello Mello Liverpool / WCS Liverpool / The Walker Art Gallery Liverpool / Videoclub Brighton / Film London / Liverpool Art Prize / Prisma Forum Mexico / ICDC Liverpool / Interactive Media department Goldsmiths University London / Kunstraum Goethestrasse xtd Linz / Four Corners London / WRO 2005 / IF ONLY Liverpool / Directors Lounge Berlin / Zentrale Randlage Berlin / Saison Video Roubaix / Emergeandsee festival / AND Festival Liverpool / 10th Seoul International New Media Festival Republic of Korea / View Two Gallery Liverpool / FACT Liverpool / Cable Street Studios London / Hive Collective Liverpool / Privatelektro / Synch Festival Athens / FIAV 05 Barcelona / Mariella Greil / Werner Moebius / Greg Byatt / Ross Dalziel / Nicholas Lowe / Simon Poulter / Jenny Porter / Ian Brownbill / Graham Harwood / Inari Wishiki / Mark Kauri / Stella Sideli / Sara Jayne Parsons / Katriona Beales / Steve Boyland / Lynne Robertson / V. Davila Polo / Ben Egerton / Alexander Wendt / Sam Meech / Tim Brunsden / John o’Shea / Sam Skinner / Nathan Jones / Aphra Hodgson / Delfin Ortiz / Olga P. Massanet / Alessandra Scapin / David Hotz / Priya Sharma / Javier Calderón / Xenia Helms / Bronac Ferran / Laura MacCulloch / Jamie Wyld / Klaus Eisenlohr / Astrid Klein / family Soukup / and others This catalogue production is supported by Arts Council England.

Statements about work are written by Markus Soukup designed in 2015 All rights reserved © by www.toofastproductions.co.uk contact: info@toofastproductions.co.uk ++44 7760444801 UNTITLED (2014) The process of ‘automatic writing’ was adapted onto digital image processing for making this image.

Image front page:

MATERIALISATION OF LANGUAGE (2014) A contemplation about the fascinating characteristics of verbal and written language systems.

The print is created by using digital image processing software. As a result the image itself is a surface produced by a digital code, which is not visible.

Image page 2:

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RE / PRE / SENT / PAST lightbox | black metal + blue perspex 2009 - 2014 The light box functions as a container for the title of the exhibition(s).

(The now modified object was originally built for the ‘Apport’ exhibition at ‘The Lost Soul and Stranger Service Station’ in Liverpool.)

The shape of the black metal box suitcase as a symbol of portability appears as to be just opened and left in space.