Alma Trtovac – SHIFT

Opening of the exhibition on 15th of April 2014 at 7 pm

April 15 – April 24, 2014

Karas Gallery

Praška 4

10000 Zagreb, Croatia

 

 

“Shift”, a spatial installation art by Alma Trtovac, represents a type of virtual reality walled within an eight-sided chamber by forty-seven acrylic paintings on canvas. As painting translates into architecture, the very act of painting also becomes an act of building, construction and reconstruction.

The author constructs a hybrid urban landscape based on the mental images of two cities – Zagreb and Dresden. As they share the traumatic ordeals of war and destruction, a fluid urban organism emerges from their experiences. The spatial concept of the installation is based on the cycle of life, everlasting change, but also on the permanent repetition of history. The symbolism of the octagonal space is found in the interpretation of a classic Chinese text, I Ching: The Book of Changes, its philosophy being close to the author’s sensibility. The four main walls represent the four sides of the world, but also the four seasons. This newly created city contains within itself the entire world. The subjects of change, the everlasting dynamics of energy and the uninterrupted process are obvious when one approaches the installation – movement and  recognizing the vibrating chamber are transformed into a “work in progress”, an experience which repeats itself – each time in a different way. The urban whole remains elusive. The schizophrenic and fragmented character of the contemporary city, the artificially joined pieces of urban tissue appear in flashes and compel us to circle endlessly, repetitively wandering through the neon urban landscape.

The colors of the urban environments react to the UV lights and flash almost aggressively as they are exposed to the lights’ stroboscopic movements. The flickering lights suggest chaos and decay, out of which something new is born. The observer is bombarded with lights, evoking the real traumatic experiences of the two cities. Through her artistic work, the author tries to intimately involve the observer – the experience of the cities becomes our experience, the discomfort one feels stems from participating within the simulated atmosphere.

The lights “train” the observer, who is forced to adapt to the new situation and the newly created urban landscape. Art and space take on an almost Benjaminian role as they become a training ground for new subjects and new psyches. The space forces the observers to adapt to it, but also to seek meaning within it, to critically approach the situation, rather than blindly accepting it.

One can no longer escape to Utopia – art has to maintain alertness and encourage a critical approach. It cannot be seen as “light” in character – rather than comforting us with art for art’s sake, the bright flashes hit us directly and force us to act, to accept the new situation and give in to change.

Resembling Fritz Lang’s scenographic collage, a sort of timeless metropolis is created as the paintings’ frames dissolve within the neon chaos. In this cycle of destruction, a tear appears and out of it emerge the possibilities for change and creation. The universal experiences of pain and war force us to rethink history, to move beyond the trauma through revealing it, much like the ashen hair of Shulamite in the works of Anselm Kiefer. The phoenix city rises from the ash, born anew, strengthened by the experience of individual and collective memory colliding and the healing which results.

 

Ana Bedenko

 

Born in Zagreb in 1988. In 2012, received her Master of Fine Arts Degree at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, under the mentorship of Professor Zoltan Novak.

 

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