ISODRIFT: almost a photo exhibit
ISO DRIFT exhibit at Obejvak Project Space, was curated by the artist Jo Blin and Michael Rowland (09–14 Sept 2020)
Miro and I have been working on this exhibit for a little over 2 months with our photographic group ‘Good light, Prague’ (led by Andrew Goodall) but we haven’t advertised the event given the unfavourable circumstances of the health warning in Prague.
We want to give an account of the event for those who couldn’t join.
Drift (Verb)
driven or carried effortlessly long a line a in a random or casual way subject to no guidance
(Merriam-Webster Dict. — abridged by AG (blackout)
6 photographers, 6 countries, 6 interconnected themes and techniques under a unique focus: to create a drift of meanings, light reflections, materials, visions.
Whether it be taking images without a lens, through a browned glass, souped in glass/water, through a fish tank, through photosynthesis, through street shadows, skewing the perception of what’s real and what’s projected, all photographs aim towards a parallel world, made of symbols, oppositions, humor.
Our event was almost a photo exhibition, because the photographs we chose are not academically acceptable, they are…drifts.
They intend to provoke discussions with a more thoughtful and skeptical self, challenging one self to go beyond what can be regarded as a “nice picture”.
We like to think of ourselves as photography lovers, but also performers, handymen, craftsmen, videographers, coders of the image. We stand comfortably in the niche of the unknown, the interpretative, the open ended.
Otherwise, how to explain the thought process behind a mesh of threads, snails floating in a fish tank, clouds hanging from the ceiling, shovels hanging from the clouds?
This not to say that there is no explanation. Our work is nowhere near absurdity, on the contrary, it is a deliberate and methodical attempt to awe the reasonable mind.
Just stay focused, then lose your focus and see where it takes you, this is our aesthetics. To put in a more elegant way:
Drift (noun)
The act of driving the current of a river, drawn together in a clump by or as if by wind-driven snow — such as sand
a helter-skelter flock washed ashore, deposited by natural rents, specifically the government’s purport of what is spoken or written, driven down upon or forced into a body under external influence due to air currents
sweep along shift in attitude forgoing any attempt at a true reproduction, representation or reading: an instance of automotive drifting, called also, power slide.
The course of a vein, a small crosscut, over a period of time — drift, an elongated mass
And also stay tuned, because with a group we are forming a new idea that could enable us to work on more cohesive projects and collaborate with other artists.
Thank for all the visitors and people who support us and see you next time 🙂
Originally published at https://saturn9.eu on September 13, 2020.
