Despite the fascination of the intertwined hands, in Jolana Havelková’s double exposure one simultaneously feels the urge to separate the overlapping contours of the backs of the hands from one another and to conceive them as distinct body parts. What does this reaction say about our relationship to the Other? In Tina Bara’s Konstellationen [Constellations] it’s every person for her or himself. Bodies photographed in hard light cast heavy shadows onto one another. A clear dividing line remains visible in every contact. Heji Shin photographs the exact moment when two bodies are separated. She conveys the instant of birth in which the baby’s purple coloured head emerges and becomes something distinct, the Other, the sight of which is strange to us. In his works Miloš Šejn returns to his own body, diving into a pond and encountering himself in contact with the acquiescent water as a foreign body. In Zdeněk Lhoták’s sports photography from 1986 the ideal of a stable structure of interactive bodies is disturbed. Some of the bodies moving about in the mud look like headless masses. In his contemporary works Andreas Schulze refers to structures in which bodies as such no longer exist. All that is left are fragments such as eyes in which desires and fears and information are reflected – or their absence is conveyed in the grid of black image surfaces. This dominance of the cutout-like image also plays a role in Dirk Braeckman’s work. He films the photograph of a woman lying down as if he could breathe life into the captured image. This second view, however, reinforces both the power of the photographic vision and the failure to come closer. In Yvon Chabrowski’s double projection uniformly dressed individuals push from one image field into the next and against each other. There seems to be no escape.
About Festival
The Fotograf Festival explores intersections in photography and contemporary art – just like its partner projects – Fotograf Gallery and Fotograf Magazine. Festival is held in Autumn months and it presents current topic through solo as well as group exhibitions prepared in cooperation with invited domestic or foreign curators in various Prague galleries and institutions. A series of discussions, atist talks, site-specific events, public space exhibitions, projections and guided/commented tours accompany that exhibition program. Fotograf Festival is the only thematic- and curator-conceived photography festival in the Czech Republic. Its aim is to promote the photographic medium and its broader integration into contemporary art and into the conscience of the general public.
The discussions, at which invited experts debate each other on the current festival theme in the context of visual art, are meant not only for the expert public, but for the lay public as well. Fotograf Festival looks to build a tradition and a new platform for a photography festival that places Prague among other important centers for photography and the visual arts in Europe. It strives to share contemporary photographic art and the creation of a thematically-focused space where the general public and experts from around the world can meet.
Archiv
Fotograf Festival is organised by
Fotograf 07 z.s.
Jungmannova 7
Praha 1, 110 00
info@fotografnet.cz
+420 605 553 432
fotografestival.cz
fotografgallery.cz
fotografmagazine.cz
Team Team Fotograf Festival #13
Světlana Malinová
Creative director
svetlana.malinova@fotografnet.cz
Monika Čejková
Author of the concept & curator of the exhibition in Trade Fair Palace
Tina Poliačková
Curator of the exhibition in the Fotograf Gallery
Pavel Matěj
Manager of the Festival
pavel.matej@fotografnet.cz
Jan Hladonik
Marketing
jan.hladonik@fotografnet.cz
Graphic Design
Anymade Studio
Karina Golisová
Coordination
karina.golisova@fotografnet.cz
Tereza Vacková
Socials & Media Relations
tereza.vackova@fotografnet.cz
Viktorie Vítů
Accompanying Program
viktorie.vitu@fotografnet.cz
Markéta Kinterová
editor-in-chief Fotograf Magazine
marketa.kinterova@fotografnet.cz
Barbora Čápová
Production, advertisement Fotograf Magazine
barbora.capova@fotografnet.cz
Marie Rozmánková
Finance and Administration
marie.rozmankova@fotografnet.cz
Aleš Loziak
Web
ales.loziak@fotografnet.cz
Fotograf Festival is organized by Fotograf 07 z.s. under the auspices of the City of Prague, the Municipal District of Prague 1, Prague 7 and with the financial support of the Prague City Hall in the amount of CZK 300.000 the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and the State Culture Fund of the Czech Republic. With support of the Government of Flanders.