12. December 2008 – 18. January 2009
„It is not known what was being extracted from the mine, it was probably only a prospectors‘ mistake.The shaft is 130 meters deep and there are several dead-end corridors branching out from it….“ Pavel Sterec (25) draws mainly from a live performance in his activities. These are recorded and converted by a wide range of means and devices from photography and video to an actual object and installation. The exhibition is a part of the project „Gallery Warming“.
The Day Before Evening
The exhibition consists of five works equally arranged in broken space of a former boiler house – MeetFactory. There are two “pairs” and one solitaire work.
The first “pair” is a performance and installation called All Evening Star.
The row of cinema seats is placed close to a projection screen. The audience (performers) are sitting in the chairs and touching the projection surface with their palms while pressing their thumbs against their closed eyes – in this way pressure images occur – inner movie. (the performance is intended to be of full feature-film length)
Pressure images are visual sensations arising in an eye without the presence of light beams, being produced just by pressing against the retina. They were described in detail by Jan Evagelista Purkyne (1787-1869) who himself generated them in various ways and sketched them. He was interested not only in the exploration of the physiology of an eye but mainly in the theory of vision (A Subjective View of Vision – 1818)
Opposite the impromptu screen there are ten modified Rorschach inkblots displayed.
Rorschach inkblot test is one of psychological methods used for personality analysis. It is a projection test based on the projection of a person’s train of thought and personality characteristics on the vague images. Rorschach created hundreds of inkblots and finally chose ten of them which suit best for the personality test. I continue in the codification (in the field of vision) by simplifying the inkblots and turning them into images with clear outlines and primary colours.
The other “pair” consists of large-scale photographs of the dead ends of mine tunnels and an installation with a book. Mining in Přibyslav mine went on in the Middle Ages probably for ten years. Nobody knows what was mined there. In all probability it was just a mistake of the prospectors.
In the space a “book” is installed. The “book” consists of photocopied pages of all the books I own and have never finished. I tried to find the last page which I can remember in all of them.
The connecting line between these two “pairs” is formed by a video taken during the performance (carried out together with David Landa) – we fired a signal rocket out of a “Russian Wheel”at the moment we reached its highest point – transforming thus the observation wheel into a large Ó letter – an interjection expressing amazement – for a moment.
photodocumentation