Awareness and Reality
In their series The Replacements, young Czech art couple Barbora Zurkova and Radim Zurek reflect upon the relationship between identity and portrayal, original and copy. Featured are digitally reworked analogue photographs of children whose mimic and gesture exhibit astonishing similarity to that of movie stars’ and other prominent figures’. What is real and what is artificial in these images? Can personal and irreplaceably unique physical features exist in today’s world? In the age of digital image production, global social networks and genetic research blur the former lines of identity. It poses contemporary questions, discovered by the arts as an exciting field for experimentation. The artistic couple, which has worked with the theme of identity for quite a while, touches upon precisely that irritating point that lies between original and copy. It is no longer distinguishable to the viewer where the line between true and false lies. The children could be unknown, close relatives of the famous figures – as if they had similar characteristics only by chance. These similarities are especially astonishing in that they come from the world of adults but are carried over onto the children, bringing the consciousness and knowledge of the viewer into question, as one normally tends to think in clear categories of real or fake. Did photography once guarantee a moment of truth, or at least an unavoidable moment in reality? Here, all certainty is erased. Reality is replaced by an artificial medium. What we see are the mirrored images of our own awareness and reality, saturated by media.
Stephan Reisner
| Barbora Zurkova | |
| 1987 | Born in Beroun, Czech Republic |
| 2002-2006 | VOS and SPSG graphic, Hellichova 22 Praha 1, Polygraphy, Czech Republic |
| 2004-2006 | Prague School of Photography, Czech Republic |
| 2006 | Start of studies at Institute of Creative Photography, Silesian University, Opava, Czech Republic |
Radim Zurek | |
| 1971 | Born in Prerov, Czech Republic |
| 2003-2005 | Prague School of Photography, Czech Republic |
| 2006 | Start of studies at Institute of Creative Photography, Silesian University, Opava, Czech Republic |
| Czech Press Photo 2010 - 3rd place / Riverside Paradise (Environment) |
| Lab East - 30 photographic positions from Central and Eastern Europe - photeur.net |
| Final selection for tomorrows Photographers Today / Musée de l'Elysée Lausanne |
| Czech Press Photo 2008 - Honorable Mention / The Blinds (Portrait) |
| IPA - International Photography Awards - Honorable Mention / The Replacement |
| Musée de l'Elysée, Switzerland |
| Michaelis School of Fine Art, South Africa |
| Galerie Heinz-Martin Weigand, Germany |
| Artitled-contemporary art, The Netherlands |
Exhibits (Selection)
| Single Exhibitions | |
| 2010 | The Replacement, Artitled-contemporary art, Herpen, The Netherlands |
| The Replacement, Galerie Heinz-Martin Weigand, Ettlingen, Germany | |
| The Replacement / Descendants, Opera Gallery in Ostrava, Czech Republic | |
| 2009 | The Replacement, Month of Photography, Bratislava, Slovakia |
| Homeworks, Gallery FotoGrafic, Praque, Czech Republic | |
| 2008 | Descendants / The Blind, House of Arts, Opava, Czech Republic |
| Group Exhibitions | |
| 2011 | Ludwig Museum - Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest, Hungary |
| Preus Museum, Horten, Norway | |
| Aperture Foundation, New York, United States | |
| 2010 | Centre Gallery, Miami Dade College, Miami, United States |
| Galleria Carla Sozzani, Milan, Italy | |
| Photokina Cologne, Germany | |
| Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, China | |
| Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town, South Africa | |
| Tomorrow's photographers today - Les Rencontres d'arles, France | |
| The Twentieth Year of ITF - Tomorrow's photographers today - Musée de l'Elysée Lausanne, Switzerland | |
| Fotofestiwal in Lodz - Factory of Photography, Lodz, Poland | |
| The Twentieth Year of ITF - Galerie Gamu, Praha, Czech Republic | |
| The Twentieth Year of ITF - National Theater, Brno, Czech Republic | |
| Prague Photo Festival - Exhibition Hall Manes, Prague, Czech Republic | |
| 2009 | Prague Biennale 4 / Prague Biennale Photo 1, Real Unreal, Prague, Czech Republic |
| The Young Czech Photography, Galeria Luksfera and Galeria Klimy Bocheskij - Warsaw Festival, Poland | |
| Identity of Young Czech Women Photographers, The Hungarian House of Photography-Mai Manó House, Budapest, Hungary | |
| 2008 | Czech Press Photo, Prague, Czech Republic |
| 9PH Identité 08 LYON Septembre de la Photographie, France | |
| Photokina Cologne, Germany | |
| Prague Photo - Exhibition Hall Manes, Prague, Czech Republic | |
| 2008 | Young Czech Women Photographers - Month Of Photography, Bratislava, Slovakia |
| "Czech Start" Fotobild, Berlin, Germany | |
LINKS
www.zurkovi.com
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