Present Perfect!
27 Jun - 28 Oct 2005
Present Perfect!
Artists: Jan Christensen, David Maljkovic, Martin Sedlák
Opening: Monday 27 June, 2005, 19,00
Period: 28 June – 28 October 2005
Gallery hours: 17– 20, Tuesday - Friday
1st Venue: T293, Via Tribunali, 293 - 80138 Naples
Tel: 0039 081 295882
info@t293.it - www.t293.it
The present is the only time at our disposal. It is a vital dimension, a place of experience, where intuition can’t always be implemented. Something is always missing, just out of reach, since our daily experiences are so ordinary and intuition is always delayed in taking its full shape. Present Perfect! is a dynamic, reactive and rich time, fruit of the coupling between reality and simulation, between a sense of history and future scenarios, between intuition and action, between historic conscience and a sense of criticism. The T293 gallery is proud to host the artistic pursuits of Jan Christensen (Denmark), David Maljkovic (Croatia), and Martin Sedlák (Slovakia) in its Via Tribunali headquarters. In their own different ways, these artists delimitate and exceed a hypothetical space-time dimension beyond which to work and realise an idea of the present perfect. The present becomes a metaphoric space where intuition and action are synchronised, until they are almost identical. The present perfect is a tension that projects the present into the future, making its realisation possible through the artist’s immediacy. Though cultural, social and political confines, defined as fluctuating entities, are by now a given, it is less evident that a series of gaps and shortages which have sparked the imagination of artists of recent generations belong to this global phenomenon. An equal but opposing reaction corresponds to all this dynamic density (cultural, social, artistic, ethnic), unifying and controlling the differences constructed by economic and political systems. Because of this, current migrations of ideas, information, traditions and images push artists to question themselves and emphasise the present as the only time and place possible to revitalise differences and gaps. This is a place where even history can be reread through shaman-like visions: in the video Scene for a new heritage, David Maljkovic imagines being in the future (2045) and following three men to a monument destroyed in the recent conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Time has lightened the consequences of the war, creating a sort of primitive amnesia. Present perfect! is the principle of something new and enthralling, which corresponds to an imprint, a direct action that wants to claim its “own time”, and consequently its own space. Painting myself into a corner is the title of the wall drawing by Jan Christensen, who literally pushes himself in his work, and exasperates the concept that unites an artist to his personal initials. Christensen, through meagre and psychic gestures, indicates a process aimed at conjuring up his presence as an imprint/presence of colour. Martin Sedlák’s sculptures shock with surprising essentiality, ordinary entities which enrich the presence with precise sensorial qualities. Sedlák does this by using light and its evocative properties, luminescent electric wires that evoke subtle cracks that filter a mysterious and fleeting luminous presence.
Selected biography
Jan Christensen, 1977, Denmark. 2005 Prague Biennale 2, Karlin Hall, Prague (group); Hordaland Kunstsenter (with Josefine Lyche and Lars Morell), Bergen Unfinished Painting, Yvon Lambert, New York (solo); Painting Myself into a Corner, Galleri MGM, Oslo (solo); Some Titles for Which I Don't Know What to Make, c/o - Atle Gerhardsen, Berlin (solo); Post Notes, ICA, Institute of Contemporary Art, London (group); 2004 None of the Above, The Swiss Institute, New York (group); 2002 c/o - Atle Gerhardsen, Berlin (solo).
David Maljkovic, 1973, Croatia. 2005 Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam (Solo); Istanbul biennial 9 (group); IBCA, Prague (group); Imaginary is Potential, Nikolaj centre of contemporary art, Copenhagen (group); artist book presentation & exhibition, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam (group). 2004 Normalisation, Nova Gallery, Zagreb (group); Love it or leave it, Cetinje biennial 5, Cetinje; 2003 R.A.B.K, Amsterdam (group); Emerging artists, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka (group).
Martin Sedlák, 1978, Slovakia. 2005 IBCA, Prague (group); Essl Award 2004; farbi100, Jan Koniarik Galery, Trnava, Slovakia (group); Svetliny, Galery Na bidilku, Brno, Czech Republic; "INSIDE OUT", Basel, Switzerland (solo); Linolschnitt Heute - contemporary graphic art, Betigheim-Bissingen, Germany; Trip na 3, State Gallery Banska Bystrica, Slovakia 2003 Instant fusion, Museumsquartier 21, Wien, Austria (group).
© David Maljkovic
Scene for a new heritage, 2004
Still from video
Artists: Jan Christensen, David Maljkovic, Martin Sedlák
Opening: Monday 27 June, 2005, 19,00
Period: 28 June – 28 October 2005
Gallery hours: 17– 20, Tuesday - Friday
1st Venue: T293, Via Tribunali, 293 - 80138 Naples
Tel: 0039 081 295882
info@t293.it - www.t293.it
The present is the only time at our disposal. It is a vital dimension, a place of experience, where intuition can’t always be implemented. Something is always missing, just out of reach, since our daily experiences are so ordinary and intuition is always delayed in taking its full shape. Present Perfect! is a dynamic, reactive and rich time, fruit of the coupling between reality and simulation, between a sense of history and future scenarios, between intuition and action, between historic conscience and a sense of criticism. The T293 gallery is proud to host the artistic pursuits of Jan Christensen (Denmark), David Maljkovic (Croatia), and Martin Sedlák (Slovakia) in its Via Tribunali headquarters. In their own different ways, these artists delimitate and exceed a hypothetical space-time dimension beyond which to work and realise an idea of the present perfect. The present becomes a metaphoric space where intuition and action are synchronised, until they are almost identical. The present perfect is a tension that projects the present into the future, making its realisation possible through the artist’s immediacy. Though cultural, social and political confines, defined as fluctuating entities, are by now a given, it is less evident that a series of gaps and shortages which have sparked the imagination of artists of recent generations belong to this global phenomenon. An equal but opposing reaction corresponds to all this dynamic density (cultural, social, artistic, ethnic), unifying and controlling the differences constructed by economic and political systems. Because of this, current migrations of ideas, information, traditions and images push artists to question themselves and emphasise the present as the only time and place possible to revitalise differences and gaps. This is a place where even history can be reread through shaman-like visions: in the video Scene for a new heritage, David Maljkovic imagines being in the future (2045) and following three men to a monument destroyed in the recent conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Time has lightened the consequences of the war, creating a sort of primitive amnesia. Present perfect! is the principle of something new and enthralling, which corresponds to an imprint, a direct action that wants to claim its “own time”, and consequently its own space. Painting myself into a corner is the title of the wall drawing by Jan Christensen, who literally pushes himself in his work, and exasperates the concept that unites an artist to his personal initials. Christensen, through meagre and psychic gestures, indicates a process aimed at conjuring up his presence as an imprint/presence of colour. Martin Sedlák’s sculptures shock with surprising essentiality, ordinary entities which enrich the presence with precise sensorial qualities. Sedlák does this by using light and its evocative properties, luminescent electric wires that evoke subtle cracks that filter a mysterious and fleeting luminous presence.
Selected biography
Jan Christensen, 1977, Denmark. 2005 Prague Biennale 2, Karlin Hall, Prague (group); Hordaland Kunstsenter (with Josefine Lyche and Lars Morell), Bergen Unfinished Painting, Yvon Lambert, New York (solo); Painting Myself into a Corner, Galleri MGM, Oslo (solo); Some Titles for Which I Don't Know What to Make, c/o - Atle Gerhardsen, Berlin (solo); Post Notes, ICA, Institute of Contemporary Art, London (group); 2004 None of the Above, The Swiss Institute, New York (group); 2002 c/o - Atle Gerhardsen, Berlin (solo).
David Maljkovic, 1973, Croatia. 2005 Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam (Solo); Istanbul biennial 9 (group); IBCA, Prague (group); Imaginary is Potential, Nikolaj centre of contemporary art, Copenhagen (group); artist book presentation & exhibition, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam (group). 2004 Normalisation, Nova Gallery, Zagreb (group); Love it or leave it, Cetinje biennial 5, Cetinje; 2003 R.A.B.K, Amsterdam (group); Emerging artists, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka (group).
Martin Sedlák, 1978, Slovakia. 2005 IBCA, Prague (group); Essl Award 2004; farbi100, Jan Koniarik Galery, Trnava, Slovakia (group); Svetliny, Galery Na bidilku, Brno, Czech Republic; "INSIDE OUT", Basel, Switzerland (solo); Linolschnitt Heute - contemporary graphic art, Betigheim-Bissingen, Germany; Trip na 3, State Gallery Banska Bystrica, Slovakia 2003 Instant fusion, Museumsquartier 21, Wien, Austria (group).
© David Maljkovic
Scene for a new heritage, 2004
Still from video