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RICHTER’S VIEW
Garden. Intermediate space.
P R E F A C E: L E I L A T O P I Ć
“... as its main task, the group considers directing the artistic activity towards a synthesis of all artistic directions; secondly, we want to give an experimental character to artistic work as such, as no progress in the creative approach to the visual arts can be imagined without experimentation.”
– From the Manifesto of EXAT 51
The multimedia artist Bojan Gagić has also been exploring the use of technology, but he is more interested in hybridization and interconnection between optical and sound phenomena. Thus, in his video Richter’s View, Gagić has focused on the perspectives and details of the garden in front of the family house of Vjenceslav and Nada Kareš Richter, trying to reconstruct the way in which the artist saw the garden and the land plot while creating his sculpture park. Gagić’s work is characterised by a complex view of the sculptural and spatial reality, where a decisive role is played by the relationship between sound, light, and the body. Therefore the garden of Richter Collection is shown from the position of interspace, that is, as the first space in which the visitor perceives the concept of private and public sphere, the space of change in his visual perception, in his rhythm of walking and in the sound register with regard to the space of the street. At the opening day of the project, along with his video, Gagić will have an audiovisual performance in the garden of Richter Collection, which will combine sound, music, and coloured light. In the spirit of Richter’s inspiring ideas on the synthesis of all arts, Gagić has consciously introduced sound into the Richter Collection, keeping in mind all the theoretical explanations that support the idea of its importance for the visual culture. Thus, for example, the often quoted Canadian theoretician of cinema William C. Wees has proposed in his book Light Moving in Time that the human brain largely processes the visual information in cooperation with the other parts of brain that are in charge of perception, which means that the eyes actually play the least significant role in our experience of seeing. Similar conclusions have been reached by the French theoretician of cinema Michel Chion, who has in his book Audio-Vision explained the trans-sensory perception, in which the entire human body participates in processing the sensory information.
The research project of Bojan Gagić relies here precisely on the visitor’s trans-sensory perception, that is, on the ability of sound and light to occupy space and to reorganize it. Using its previous experience in working with sound, Gagić has used this project to reassert its equivalence as a creative medium, at the same time contributing to the emerging media culture of multilevel and immersive installations and performances.
Instead of a conclusion, one may say that Richter’s View is a project that completely corresponds to Richter’s idea about the synthesis of all arts. Richter’s motto “As long as there is an atelier to experiment in, EXAT will persist, in any time” acquires a new meaning and significance through such projects, in which authors coming from scientific professions are able to modify their perception and treatment of the reality, reinventing the experiment as the very core of creative activity.
year: 2013
curator: Leila Topić
medium: video
first performance: Sintart 04, Richter Collection
production: MoCA Zagreb
collection curator: Vesna Meštrić
copyright: all rights reserved, Bojan Gagić, 2024.