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Traversing the Wilderness of Time and Media

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Davor Sanvincenti

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Le lever du jour sur l’océanUndefined WildnessScore for the Found Orchestra Looking over separate distances

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Biti prisutan, osvijestiti vlastito prisustvo, zarobiti trajanje. Pustiti da traje i pustiti da nema više. Gledati. Pokušati djelovati. Vidjeti, čuti, osjetiti titraje svijeta. I prepoznati u njemu čvrstu točku.

Prepustiti se, prepustiti. Biti sam. Biti samo. (Na)učiti živjeti.

To be present, conscious of our presence, to capture duration. Let it last and let it finish. To watch. Try to act. See, hear, feel the vibrations of the world. Recognize a firm point in it.

Let ourselves go, let go. Be alone. Just be. Learn to live.

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TRaVeRSING The WILDeRNeSS OF TIMe aND MeDIa putopis je posvećen anonimnim pejzažima, potraga za izgubljenim ili spota-knutim djelićima vremena, ali i vizualni esej koji zagovara imaginaciju, nježnost i toplinu kao principe osobnog pa onda i zajedničkog pro-stora. Priklanja se poetizaciji svakodnevice, njezinom zbiljskom sivilu usprkos. Šum vjetra u krajoliku... Odsjaji svjetla u blizini jezera... Zvuk ranog mraza ili uporne studeni. Možda taj minimum ponuđene senzacije služi tome kako bi se onaj tko je doživljava umirio, utišao i izoštrio na isto takvu svoju najfiniju moguću razinu percepcije. Utišavanjem vlastitih misli, osjetit ćemo na kraju najviše sebe same. (Evelina Turković) A možda se toga i najviše bojimo? Moć samo-zavaravanja tu kao da promašuje cilj. Neizvjesnost i nesigurnost modernih vremena ne pokazuje se negdje izvan nas, nego u nama. Iako naoko proturječno, tu bi mogla biti i točka obrata. Prizivajući Thoreaua, to je svjesno kretanje rubnim prostorom povijesti kada se mitovi tehnološkog progresa i neprekidnog rasta ubrzano urušavaju. To je priznanje zuba vremena, ali i vrijeme ispunjeno lucidnošću.

Henry David Thoreau (1817. – 1862.) književnik-prirodnjak i kritičar ekspanzionističkih politika u svom je dnevniku napisao, Ničega se ne treba toliko bojati kao straha. Među najpoznatijim Thoreauovim djelima su Walden, usamljenički poduhvat za uspostavljanjem rav-noteže između čovjeka i prirode te Građanski neposluh koji je pre-poznat kao vodič za nenasilne pobunjenike dvadesetog stoljeća. Da li je Thoreau i suvremeni alias umjetnika – tihog buntovnika i sjetnog idealista? UNDeFINeD WILDNeSS središnji je rad izložbe, ujedno i poetičan hommage Thoreauovu Waldenu. Uz bilješke ispi-sane na galerijskim zidovima – citate iz knjige Walden, izložene su fotografske, filmske i zvučne slike. Mogli bi ih nazvati komprimiranim minijaturama pojavnog svijeta koje pomažu da kliznemo iz bujice informacija i uđemo u prostor umirivanja vlastitih raspoloženja. Možda i zato prirodni fenomeni, strukture i logike imaju primarno mjesto u Davorovim radovima, na jednostavan način podsjećajući da je čovjek biće prirodnog poretka, bez obzira na različite koncepcije

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i konstrukcije; ekstenzije i nadomjeske koje neprestano umeće u odnos prema prirodi. Preduhitriti ne samo svitanje i zoru nego, ako je moguće, i samu prirodu! Nikada, doduše, nisam fizički pripomo-gao Suncu da svane, ali bilo je izvanredno važno samo prisustvovati svitanju. Spomenuti navod gotovo je personificiran u umjetnikovim radovima koji pretražuju odnose prisutnosti i odsutnosti, prolaznosti i otpornosti, naglašavajući strpljivost i samozatajnost nasuprot danas dominantnih zamašnjaka – kulta brzine i trenutačne učinkovitosti. Tako se na izložbi zagledavamo u polaroide tri različita pejzaža koji bilježe trajanje jednog mogućeg dana – od zore do zalaska Sunca, kroz hotimice nesavršenu razabirljivost. Ili se pak susrećemo sa sunčevim pandanom, projekcijom svjetlosnog snopa dobivenog posredstvom neuobičajene primjene projektora. Svjetlo žarulje u projektoru, koje gledatelju omogućuje da vidi sadržaj filma korespon-dira sunčevoj svjetlosti, koja svijetu daje da bude vidljiv oku, poručuje Sanvincenti. Dakako, tehnološka evolucija kreće se brže od biološke ostavljajući za sobom mnoge zapuštene ili preskočene projekte i mogućnosti. Kretanje sunca, metamorfoza leptira... i dalje nas za-divljuju, dok su Edisonov fonograf ili Tehnikolor-film danas dijelom muzeja jurskih tehnologija.1

Instalacija UNDeFINeD WILDNeSS potvrđuje interes za neumitnimsenzacijama percepcije, a zastarjelim tehničkim uređajima i nosačima.Sve započinje s komadićima 16 mm filma iz 1950-ih godina, koje je Davor pronašao na dnu drvene kutije projektora, naručenog iz Njemačke. Slučajnost? (...) Jedan nasuprot drugom dva su video rada. Već spomenuti nađeni filmski isječci, očišćeni i animirani, 57 frameova u 2 sekunde, koji se vrte u loop-u, prikazuju osobu sa šta-povima u rukama i ogromnim teretom na leđima. Lijevom rukom štiti glavu, dok se desnom probija kroz snijeg... (Iva Prosoli) Nasuprot je snimak planine, omotane oblacima, s pridruženom zvučnom kulisom vjetra i ljudskih koraka. Ishod čovjekova puta ostaje neizvje-stan. Možda posustane. A možda ga upravo nepredvidiva energija prirodnog poretka pokrene na još jedan korak. Na iskorak iz vlastitih

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mogućnosti i kršenje statusa quo. Filmski zapis star pola stoljeća postavljen je tako da se vrti u kružnoj petlji, uz usporedna pitanja o današnjim odnosima napretka, sagorijevanja i mogućnosti novih početaka. Na temu upitnosti progresa izravno se nadovezuje i insta-lacija LOOkING OVeR SePaRaTe DISTaNceS koja se temelji na nađenoj stereoskopskoj snimci i alteriranoj verziji koju Sanvincenti izvodi pomoću digitalne obrade. Izvorna slika prikazuje vojni tabor i figuru na obronku koja gleda prema vojnicima. U umjetnikovoj zamjeni vizura ta je pozicija izvidnice ponuđena posjetitelju koji, uzimajući stereoskop, na uvid dobiva izmijenjenu verziju polazišne fotografije.Vojni je tabor sada potopljen. Ocean preuzima mjesto vojnika. Gledanje kroz razdvojene udaljenosti, kako sugerira naslov rada,postaje putovanje kroz vrijeme – premošćivanje optike 21. stoljeća, s onom klasične fotografije pred više od stotinu godina. Pritom se, po principu analogije, danas marginalizirani medij stereoskopske fotografije koristi kao podsjetnik za marginalizirana iskustva i po-tisnute utopijske modele. Kao pitanje o mogućnosti preokretanja hijerarhijske ljestvice s tehnokracijom na tronu u horizontalni model suradnje čovjeka i prirode.

TRaVeRSING The WILDeRNeSS OF TIMe aND MeDIa navodi na putovanje prostorima percepcije i imaginacije u kojem spoznajni i tehnološki procesi nisu postavljeni kao oprečni, već nadopunjujući. Propitujući međuprostor statične i pokretne slike, pažnju preusmje-rava na ulogu pokretne slike u odnosu na ranije forme reprezentacije i vizualnosti. Razmišljanje o (ne)pokretljivosti donekle je prispodobivo Barthesovom sugestijom o filmu, da ...bit filmičnosti ne leži toliko u pokretu, koliko u mirovanju. ...otpuštanjem slike iz tehničkih ograni-čenja narativnog slijeda ili pak struje kinematskog pokreta, moglo bi se kreirati slobodnije vrijeme – vrijeme čitanja koje zastajkuje te traži zamišljanje nad svakom slikom.2 Pandan pronalazimo u Le LeVeR

DU JOUR SUR L’OcéaN, filmu snimljenom u jednom kadru kojeg Davor medijski naziva – tekućom fotografijom. U Buđenju dana na oceanu, pogled klizi tihim trenucima kada Sunce glača površinu više nego

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što ju rasvjetljava. Senzacija kontempliranja omogućena je fluid-nošću slike, njezinim sporim, gotovo praznim hodom koji otvara liminalnu zonu u prostoru i vremenu.

Preusmjeravajući pažnju na zanemarene osjetilne signale i zametnute tehnološke uređaje, Sanvincenti uobičajeni progresivni inženjering okreće unatrag. Mimo nadglasavanja klasičnih medija posredstvom novih, koristi se njihovim uštimavanjem. Rad ScORe

FOR The FOUND ORcheSTRa tako polazi od pronađene dagerotipije iz dvadesetih godina, koristeći zvučni zapis kako bi pokrenuo statičan fotografski format, zagrijao distantno oko kamere. Nepoznati orkestar dobiva suvremeni eho – dajući dojam da nastupa još jednom, za današnjeg posjetitelja. Sublimirajući stvarno i zamišljeno, zvuk kao da nadmašuje prostorne barijere i granice vidljivog ili opipljivog. Na sugestivan način upućuje na autorov interes za arheologijom medija, za kulturnim praksama koje tehnologiju sagledavaju u otklonu od tržišnih interesa i pratećih scenarija brzog zastarijevanja, odnosno želje za posjedovanjem nečeg novijeg, nečeg boljeg i to prije negoli što je to potrebno.3 Nađeni materijal koristi se izvan svoje primarne funkcije, preoblikovan i prenamijenjen uz pomoć novih estetskih i senzoričkih svojstava. Poigravajući se odnosima svršenog i aktualnog, dohvatljivog i udaljenog, Sanvincenti nadilazi zakočenost nađenih materijala, ostavljajući dojam da su kulturno, tehnološko i prirodno tek različita obličja istoga sadržaja, ovisna o specifičnim povijesnim trendovima. Zalazeći u sjecišta novih tehnologija i onih isteklih, digitalnih i analognih medija, kao da upu-ćuje blagi podsmijeh potrebi modernog čovjeka da snimi, pohrani i zadrži tragove vlastite prisutnosti. S jedne je strane rastuća zaliha dokumentarnih zapisa, a s druge upitna sposobnost da ih se obradi i reartikulira. Memorija pohrane i radna memorija, čini se, zapinju u obrnuto proporcionalnom odnosu, uz neizostavni šum i zastoj koji obično imaju negativan prizvuk. Međutim, manjkavost bismo mogli shvatiti i kao dobrohotnu nužnost koja nas navodi na provjeravanje koliko smo prebrzi i povodljivi.

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TRaVeRSING The WILDeRNeSS OF TIMe aND MeDIa tako otvara pauzu u ekscesu vanjskih informacija, informacijskom zasićenju pretpostavlja dulju usredotočenost na sam proces gledanja i osluškivanja. Crno-bijeli fotografski i filmski zapisi prvenstveno su nenametljivi – aluzivni i reducirani u pojavnosti. Eliptični... mali ‘prikazi’ neprikazivog, neizrecivog, putem vidljivog vode nas, kao krajnje diskretne i rafinirane ‘aluzije’ u kontemplaciju onog što vid-ljivo nije...,4 a posjetitelju daju odlučujuću ulogu u odgonetavanju mogućih scenarija. Uzimajući u obzir avangardnu vjeru u utopijske zamisli i tehnološki progres, ali i kritiku razdoblja antropocena o općoj krizi ekosustava i socijalnih struktura, okupljeni radovi zalažu se za nestandardno poimanje vremena. Smjerajući izazivanju do-minantnih normi i potrazi za zanemarenim ili zatomljenim rutama, zagovaraju začudnost naspram pragmatičnosti. Poetičnost vs. normalnost tehno-birokratskog aparata kojem bismo inače mogli postati i previše prilagođeni.5 kSeNIJa OReLJ

http://www.e-flux.com/journal/the-off-modern-mirror/

Usp., https://www.academia.edu/3219198/The_Still_Moving_Image_Cinema_and_the_Arts

https://www.academia.edu/1182981/Zombie_Media_Circuit_Bending_Media_Archaeology_

into_an_Art_Method

Branko Cerovac: Ljudski lik i sublimno, u: Slava Raškaj i estetika šutnje, MGR, Rijeka, 1993., str. 5.

Usp., http://www.e-flux.com/journal/the-off-modern-mirror/

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Davor Sanvincenti naručuje iz Njemačke 16 mm projektor.U kutiji pronalazi i tridesetak centimetara dugačak komadić filma, koji sadrži 57 frameova u trajanju od dvije sekunde. Film predstavlja kratak pokret osobe koja u gotovo polarnim uvjetima hoda noseći na leđima ogroman naramak nekakva ogrjeva. Odlučuje istražiti porijeklo filma, doznati ime autora, lokaciju, vrijeme radnje i razvijati ovaj rad s obzirom na dobivene podatke ili tek pokušaje njihova dobivanja ili bilo čega vezanog za taj proces. Kao zrno teorije na podlozi praktična beskraja ili mjehurić materije na obzorju duhovna prostranstva, tako komadić slučajno pronađena filma postaje upo-rište mašti koja jedina može otkriti autentičnu prirodu stvari, istinu, stvarniju od svakog realizma. Sanvincenti sjedi za stolom i proučava taj kadar. Otklanja prvotnu pomisao da preuzme perspektivu osobe na slici, pretpostavi cilj njena puta i metaforički ga prevede u konačan cilj bilo kojeg puta koji putnika dovodi na krajnju točku (sjevera ili juga) gdje bilo koju osobu iščekuje zaključno pitanje. Potaknut idejom takva pitanja, prebacuje kontekst razmišljanja na širi plan u kojem je fokus na film tek jedna od dimenzija. Pitanje ne treba kon-kretno postaviti, nego predstaviti situacije na koje bi se ono također moglo odnositi.

Formalno je polazište komadić filma. Multipliciranjem tih frameova u loop dobiven je film što pomalo podsjeća na vizualnopreskakivanje ploče. Na sadržajnoj se razini zapravo ne događa ništa, neprestano se ponavlja tek dio jednog pokreta. Sve elemente ve-zane za sadržaj dobili bismo i fotografijom. No, s obzirom da izložba predstavlja trenutnu etapu istrage potaknute komadićem tog filma, dosljednost zahtijeva da se taj otponac u istom mediju i reprezentira. Istodobno, jedna od dimenzija koju medij filma uključuje jest pre-zentacija svijeta iza granice projekcionog platna. Taj svijet i ovdje postoji, no konceptualno je iskorišten kao ishodište, kao materijal ili platforma za autorski proces. On, dakle, širi svoj okvir, pitanjem kojeg postavlja susreće samog sebe kao predmet u svijetu i s ove strane granice. Na isti se način i Sanvincentijeva istraga pojavljuje

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kao predmet u svijetu brišući granicu između nje i njenih rezultata. Jer sve može biti rezultat koji otkriva svoju istinu, mimo bilo kojeg realizma. Realizma koji započinje onime iza granice projekcionog platna, a nastavlja se putovanjem nekim drugim realizmima, neprestano, međutim, misleći o istini koju ti realizmi, kao uostalom niti bilo koji drugi, ne mogu doseći. Iako iz njih izvire. Istini koja nije egzaktna nego se temelji na filozofsko poetskoj interpretaciji ele-mentarnog, odnosno doživljaja svojevrsne komunikacije na relaciji priroda, nebesa, svemir. Razgovora koji neprestano teče, a kojemu je čovjek medij kroz kojeg se on jedino i može odvijati. Razgovora koji ne rješava nikakvu konkretnost, ali potpomaže mogućnosti da se ta konkretnost nešto bolje razumije i osobnije doživi.

Pjesmu ‘Pitija’ pisao je na selu u okolici Avranchesa, ustajući po svom običaju rano u zoru i hodajući bosonog po travi, da izazove u sebi bolnu lucidnost sasvim probuđena čovjeka: Osjećao sam vitalnost duha, koja mi se čini danas kao najpoželjnije blago. (Bonifačić o Valéryju) Divljina označava nešto što nije pripitomljeno ili ukroćeno, ono što nije osvojeno. To mogu biti maglom obavijeni planinski vrhovi ili stjenovita morska obala. To može biti i jedva vid-ljiva ljudska figura na uzvisini pustinjskog krajolika. Te su situacije vanvremenske, njihova neodredivost ili nepripadnost bilo kojem konkretnom vremenu asocijativno je povezana, pa gotovo i proizlazi iz doživljaja neukrotivosti prirode kao manifestacije nebesa odnosno univerzuma. No, vrijeme kao da je u pozadini i tog univerzuma, kao da je u pozadini bilo čega što bi se moglo poimati. I nije u pitanju rješavanje te enigme pred koju je čovjek postavljen, nego je prola-ženje njenom divljinom njegova pozicija. On prolazi služeći se sobom kao medijem, to je njegov alat u odnosu na bilo koji kontekst. Taj je alat, međutim, napravljen od istog materijala kao i kontekst. Odnosno,ono neuhvatljivo, ono neukrotivo u njemu, ono što mu i stoji i ne stoji na raspolaganju, istovjetno je onome za što mu to i služi. Kad ne bi bilo čovjeka, ne bi bilo niti zore, a teško se može reći kako zora postoji isključivo radi čovjeka. No, postoji, međutim, medij koji spaja

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zoru i čovjeka. Taj je medij ovdje autorski dvojako interpretiran, odnosno prisutan na dvije razine: načinom oblikovanja radova (forma je medij) i suštinom koju nastoji iskazati (čovjek kao doživljavatelj je medij).

U kontekstu izložbe, ‘medij’ se, dakle, pojavljuje kao nosač poruke odnosno simbolični označitelj prostora pretvorbe elementarna prizora u metaforičku dimenziju. Klasični, gotovo staromodni televizor emitira snimku stodvadeset metarske trake u trajanju od deset minuta, film pod imenom Le LeVeR DU JOUR SUR

L’OcéaN. Film nema drugog sadržaja osim onog navedenog u nazivu. Teško da će ga bilo koji posjetitelj pogledati u cijelosti zato što prikazuje situaciju koja gotovo da se i ne mijenja. No, točno toliko koliko traje traka, traje i izlazak sunca. Film u jednom kadru nema drugog sadržaja osim predstavljanja najelementarnije moguće situacije koja se događa u jednom kadru, i koja je započela i završila u njegovom trajanju. U nekakvom metafizičkom prijevodu između točke zore i točke čovjeka izdiže se točka filma i postaje nezavisna, kao simbolična materijalizacija medija koji čovjeka spaja sa zorom. Sublimiranje te neopisive grandioznosti u malenu kutiju, koja, iako u njoj zatvorena i dalje jednako opstoji, kao da pomalo personificira i nas spram te elementarnosti. Odnosno skicira mogućnosti našeg doživljaja nje.

Medij je i multimedijalna instalacija koja putem 3D slide-viewera i žarulje proizvodi arhivsku stereoskopsku sliku stare foto-grafije što prikazuje jedva vidljivu ljudsku priliku usred stjenovite pustare. Rad se zove LOOkING OVeR SePaRaTe DISTaNceS - kroz napravu što stoji na postamentu nalik na stari dalekozor gledamo povećani detalj fotografije koja je na zidu i izložena. Iz različitih ili razdvojenih udaljenosti promatramo naoko isti motiv. Originalna fotografija, osim te ljudske prilike, predstavlja nekakav vojni logor u podnožju uzvisine. Gledajući, međutim, kroz slideviewer, namjesto logora vi-dimo vodenu površinu, dakle, ne samo različite udaljenosti nego

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i izmijenjeni sadržaj. Civilizacije je nestalo, prizor sada posve odgo-vara ideji divljine. Istodobno, instalativna forma naglašava prostor između dimenzije motiva i dimenzije perspektive, s jedne je strane sadržaj a s druge njegov tretman izražen postavom i nazivom. Te dvije strane ostvaruju dijalog na drugoj razini, on sam sebe u gale-rijskom okruženju pojavnjuje, postaje predmet u svijetu - ostvaruje značenje samim sobom i mogućnošću doživljaja sebe. Naglaša-vanjem tih razdvojenosti postajemo svjesni prisustva medija – ta razdvojenost je medij kroz kojeg se prolazi. Proizvodnja medija koji zrcali sam sebe metaforički materijalizira uspostavu odnosa čovjeka i njegova doživljaja.

Složena instalacija UNDeFINeD WILDNeSS uključuje projekciju pronađenog filma, kojoj je sučeljena projekcija planine čiji se vrhovi gube u magli, zatim tri malene polaroid fotografije koje također pri-kazuju nedefinirane predjele u trenutku zore ili sumraka, te rukom po zidu ispisane citate iz knjige Walden Henryja Davida Thoreoua. A, rekao bih, gotovo središnju ulogu te instalacije predstavlja projektor naručen iz Njemačke. Od njega je sve započelo, pa je i logično da upravo on bude ključni tumačitelj temeljne zamisli – on projicira tek svoje svjetlo, odnosno zahvaljujući maski, svoje svjetlo projicira na obješeni okrugli komad papira proizvodeći žuti krug. On, dakle, manifestira medij s ciljem portretiranja sebe a ne sadržaja kojem bi po defaultu on trebao biti u službi. Obrazlažući ga, autor manifestno podcrtava svoju ideju: Svjetlo žarulje u projektoru, koje gledatelju omogućuje da vidi sadržaj filma, korespondira sunčevoj svjetlosti, koja svijetu daje da bude vidljiv oku. Napuštajući pitanje što proizlazi iz realizma bilo kojih kadrova, Sanvincenti prelazi preko divljine vremena i medija, te neprestano ispreplićući ta dva naizgled nepoveziva pojma, podastire situacije koje potiču na pitanje koje je gotovo nemoguće uobličiti. BORIS GReINeR

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Davno sam izgubio psa tragača, konja riđana i grlicu, i još tragam za njima. Mnogim sam putnicima govorio o njima, opisujući njihove putanje i zov na koji se odazivaju. Susreo sam jednog ili dvoje koji su čuli psa i toptanje konja te su čak vidjeli grlicu gdje nestaje iza oblaka; i činilo se da ih toliko čeznu naći kao da su ih sami izgubili.

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I long ago lost a hound, a bay horse, and a turtledove, and am still on their trail. Many are the travellers I have spoken concerning them, describing their tracks and what calls they answered to. I have met one or two who had heard the hound, and the tramp of the horse, and even seen the dove disappear behind a cloud, and they seemed as anxious to recover them as if they had lost them themselves.

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Preduhitriti ne samo svitanje i zoru nego, ako je moguće, i samu prirodu! Nikada, doduše, nisam fizički pripomogao Suncu da svane, ali bilo je izvanredno važno samo prisustvovati svitanju.

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To anticipate, not the sunrise and the dawn merely, but, if possible, Nature herself! It is true, I never assisted the sun materially in his rising, but, doubt not, it was of the last importance only to be present at it.

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Nakon kopanja, ili možda čitanja i pisanja, za prijepodneva, obično bih se ponovno okupao u jezeru, preplivajući jedan od njegovih zatona kao normu, i gladio i zadnju boru izazvanu umnim radom, pa sam poslijepodne bio posve slobodan.

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after hoeing, or perhaps reading and writing, in the forenoon, I usually bathed again in the pond, swimming across one of its coves for a stint, and washed the dust of labor from my person, or smoothed out the last wrinkle which study had made, and for the afternoon was absolutely free.

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U drugim bih prilikama gledao sa promatračnice na kakvoj litici ili drvetu da brzojavim neki novi dolazak, ili bih uvečer na vrhu brda isčekivao da se nebo spusti kako bih nešto uhvatio, premda nikad nisam uhvatio mnogo, a i to bi se poput mane iznova rastopilo na suncu.

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at other times watching from the observatory of some cliff or tree, to telegraph any new arrival; or waiting at evening on the hill-tops for the sky to fall, that I might catch something, though I never caught much, and that, manna-wise, would dissolve again in the sun.

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Toliko jesenjih, da, i zimskih dana, provedenih izvan grada, u nastojanju da čujem što je u vjetru, da čujem to i hitro ponesem!

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So many autumns, ay, and winter days, spent outside the town, trying to hear what was in the wind, to hear and carry it express!

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Skloni smo zaboraviti da Sunce na naša obrađena polja te na prerije i šume gleda bez razlike. Svi oni podjednako odražavaju i upijaju njegove zrake, a ona prva tvore tek sitan djelić velebne slike što je ono motri na svome dnevnom putu. U njegovim je očima sva zemlja poput vrta jednako obrađena.

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We are wont to forget that the sun looks on our cultivated fields and on the prairies and forests without distinction. They all reflect and absorb his rays alike, and the former make but a small part of the glorious picture which he beholds in his daily course. In his view the earth is all equally cultivated like a garden.

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TRaVeRSING The WILDeRNeSS OF TIMe aND MeDIa is a travelogue dedicated to anonymous landscapes, a quest for lost or misplaced fragments of time; it is a visual essay that celebrates imagination, tenderness and warmth as fundamentals of personal and common spaces. It aims to transform the everydayness into poetry, in spite of its gray realities. A rustle of wind in the country… glimmers of light on a lake… the melody of frost or a winter chill. Perhaps this minimum of sensation serves to soothe the ones who experience it, to calm them and make them focus only on their most delicate levels of perception. By silencing our thoughts, we can finally feel ourselves (Evelina Turković). But maybe this is what scares us most? It appears that self-deception has been missing its target lately, for the un-certainty of modern times is not in the external world, but within us. Although this may seem contradictory, it represents a possible turning point. In the manner of Thoreau, it is a conscious movement along the margins of history, where the myths of technological progress and continuous growth are increasingly dispelled. It is an acknowledgement of being lost in the mists of time, but with a sense of growing lucidity.

Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862), the writer, naturalist and critic of expansionism wrote in his journal: nothing is so much to be feared as fear. Among his best-known works are Walden, a solitary venture aimed at finding equilibrium between man and nature, and Civil Disobedience, which was recognized as guidebook for non-vio-lent rioters of the 20th century. Is Thoreau an alias of the artist – a silent rebel and wistful idealist? UNDeFINeD WILDNeSS, the central work of this exhibition, is a poetic homage to Thoreau’s Walden. Photographic, film and sound images are displayed along with messages – quotes from Walden – which are handwritten on the gallery walls. We may say these are compressed miniatures of the world around us. They help us emerge from the flood of information and step into a soothing space. Perhaps this is why the phenomena, structures and logics of nature have the central place in Davor’s

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works. In a simple way, they remind us that man is a part of the natural order, regardless of different conceptions and constructions, extensions and supplements which he constantly introduces into his relationship with nature. To anticipate, not the sunrise and the down merely, but, if possible, Nature herself! (…) It is true, I never assisted the Sun materially in his rising, but, doubt not, it was of the last importance to be present at it. This quote is almost personified in the works of the artist, as he explores the relationships between presence and absence, transience and persistence; he emphasizes patience and reticence, in contrast to the driving forces of our everydayness – speed and immediate efficiency. The exhibition also includes Polaroid images of three different landscapes that captured the passing of a day, from sunrise to sunset, deliberately making them vague and dreamlike. Finally, we see the Sun’s coun-terpart, thanks to the light beam produced by an unusual use of the projector. Projector light bulb enables the viewer to see the content of a film just as sunlight enables the eye to see the world, Sanvincenti explains. Of course, technological evolution moves much faster than biological evolution does, leaving us many discarded projects and possibilities. The journey of the sun, the metamorphosis of a but-terfly... still amaze us, while Edison’s phonograph and Technicolor film are now part of the twentieth century’s museum of “Jurassic technologies.”1

The installation UNDeFINeD WILDNeSS confirms the artist’s interest in immanent sensations of perception, expressed with old-fashioned devices and equipment. It all begins with a piece of 16 mm film dating from the 1950s, which Davor found on the bottom of a wooden box encasing an old projector ordered from Germany. Coincidence? (…) There are two videos shown facing each other. The aforementioned film, cleaned and animated, consisting of 57 frames, lasting two seconds and shown on loop, depicts a man walking with sticks in his hands, with a heavy burden on his back, protecting his head with his left hand and using his right to steer

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him through the snow… (Iva Prosoli). The opposite screen shows a video of a mountain enshrouded in clouds, accompanied with the sound of wind and human steps. The end of the man’s journey is uncertain. He might give in. Or, the unpredictable energy of the natural order might push him forward, to break from the constraints of his own possibilities and change his status quo. This half a century old piece of film is played on loop, raising questions about today’s notions of progress, burnout and chances for new beginnings. The uncertainty of progress is also addressed in the artist’s installation titled LOOkING OVeR SePaRaTe DISTaNceS, which is based on a ste-reoscopic image that Sanvincenti found and digitally altered. The original image shows a military camp and a human figure observing the soldiers from a hill. In the artist’s version, this reconnaissance position is given to the visitor: a look through the stereoscope offers completely different vision of the photograph. The military camp is now covered with water. In place of soldiers, there is only the ocean. Looking over separate distances becomes a journey through time that surpasses the optics of the 21st century – by using the optics of the traditional photography of more than hundred years ago. In this process, the obsolete and neglected medium of stereoscopic photography becomes the reminder of forgotten experiences and suppressed utopias. It suggests the possibility of reversing the hierarchical structure, with technocracy sitting on the throne, and creating a horizontal model of cooperation between man and nature.

TRaVeRSING The WILDeRNeSS OF TIMe aND MeDIa invites on an expedition through spaces of perception and imagination, where cognitive and technological processes are not in contradiction, but in harmony. By exploring the space between static and moveable image, this work of shifts the focus onto moveable image with regard to past forms of representation and visuality. Reflection on (im)movability is in line with Barthes’ suggestion that …the essence of the filmic lies not in movement, but in the still... By releasing or dissociating the image from the technical constraints of both the

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narrative flow and the flow of cinematic movement, Barthes believes he can create a freer reading time which can linger at and reflect on each image.2 This is confirmed in the artist’s Le LeVeR DU JOUR SUR

L’OcéaN, a film composed of a single shot, which Davor calls a liquid photograph. In this daybreak on the ocean, the gaze drifts through the silent moments when the Sun smoothes the surface, rather than illuminates it. The sensation offered by contemplation is supported by the fluidity of the image and its simultaneous slowness, almost idleness, which opens up the liminal zone in space and time.

By calling attention to neglected sensory signals and abandoned technological devices, Sanvincenti reverses the usual, progressive engineering and moves it backwards. Instead of letting the new media outweigh the old, he chooses to fine-tune them. For example, in ScORe FOR The FOUND ORcheSTRa, Sanvincenti uses a daguerreotype dating from the 1920s in combination with a sound to move the static photographic format, to ignite the distant eye of the camera. The unknown orchestra receives a contemporary echo, leaving an impression of playing one more time, for today’s visitor. By merging the real and the imaginary, this sound seems to surpass spatial barriers and boundaries between the visible and tangible. In an allusive way, it points to the author’s interest in media archeology, in cultural practices that view technology outside the scope of market interests and the related scenarios, i.e., beyond the desire of owning something new, something better, even before it becomes necessary.3 The found material loses its primary function; it is mod-ified and converted, with the help of new sensory and aesthetical features. By playing with the relationship between past and present, between the attainable and the unattainable, Sanvincenti extends the boundaries of the found materials, suggesting that the cultural, technological and natural are merely different forms of same con-tent, which depend on specific historical trends. Penetrating the junction between new and old technologies, digital and analogous media, he seems to scoff at the modern man’s need to record and

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store the trails of his presence. On the one hand, there is a growing stock of documenting material, but on the other hand, the capacities of their processing are questionable. Storage memory and working memory appear to be stuck in an inversely proportional relationship, surrounded by inevitable noise and delay that usually come with negative connotations. Nevertheless, this defect may be taken as a benign necessity, since it encourages us to realize how short-sighted and hasty we are, and how easily we can be swayed by the new.

TRaVeRSING The WILDeRNeSS OF TIMe aND MeDIa is an intermis-sion in the ceaseless flow of information; it replaces data and image congestion with a prolonged process of looking and listening. The black and white photo and film records of this exhibition are primarily unobtrusive; they are allusive and reduced in their presence. The elliptic small “scenes”of the undepictable, of the inexpressible, lead us through the visible, as the ultimate, discreet and refined allusions, into the contemplation of the imperceptible…4 and give the visitor the key role in deciphering the possible scenarios. In view of the avant-garde faith in utopian ideas and technological progress, as well as warnings of the Anthropocene against the overwhelming crisis of the ecological system and social structures, these works advocate a non-standard perception of time. Aiming to challenge the dominant norms and search for abandoned or suppressed routes, they support the state of amazement instead of pragmatics. Finally, they propose poeticism vs. “normalcy” of technological and bureaucratic apparatus, to which we may otherwise become overly adjusted.5 kSeNIJa OReLJ

http://www.e-flux.com/journal/the-off-modern-mirror/

Comp., https://www.academia.edu/3219198/The_Still_Moving_Image_Cinema_and_the_Arts

https://www.academia.edu/1182981/Zombie_Media_Circuit_Bending_Media_Archaeology_

into_an_Art_Method

Branko Cerovac: Ljudski lik i sublimno, in: Slava Raškaj i estetika šutnje, MGR, Rijeka, 1993, p. 5

Comp., http://www.e-flux.com/journal/the-off-modern-mirror/

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Davor Sanvincenti has ordered a 16 mm film projector from Germany. In the box with the projector, there is also a 30 cm long piece of film, consisting of 57 frames and lasting two seconds. The film shows a brief portrait of a man with a sizeable bundle of firewood on his back, walking in almost polar weather conditions. Sanvincenti decides to investigate the origin of the film, to find out the name of its author, time and location, driven by the idea of ex-panding the work with the obtained information, or at least with the attempts of obtaining the information or the experience gained in the process. As a grain of theory on the bed of infinity, or a bubble of a substance on the horizon of spiritual expanses, this piece of accidentally found film becomes the foothold of imagination, for only imagination has the ability to penetrate the authentic nature of things, to uncover the utmost truth. Sanvincenti sits at his desk and studies the film shot. He abandons his original thought of taking over the perspective of the person in the film, of trying to figure out the aim of this person’s journey and turn it into a metaphor of a road that brings a traveler to his final destination (north or south), where an ultimate question awaits its response. Inspired by the idea of an ultimate question, Sanvincenti spreads the context of reflection onto a wider plane, where the focus on the film is just one of dimen-sions. The question does not need to be posed; it is only necessary to present the situations to which it may refer.

The formal motif is the piece of film. By multiplying the frames and forming a video loop, Sanvincenti made a film that slightly reminds of a visual skipping of a record. The content is actu-ally scarce; we only see a fragment of a movement. All the elements of the content could just as easily have been supplied by a photo-graph. However, this exhibition is only a stage in the investigation encouraged by this short piece of film; the rules of consistency re-quire that this “trigger” be reproduced in the same medium. Film as a medium has the capacity to represent the world beyond the bor-ders of the projection screen. Such world exists in this exhibition,

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too, but it is conceptually used as the starting point, as the material or platform of creative process. This world pushes its own edges; it raises a question that transforms it to object in the concrete world, in the world on this side of the screen. Accordingly, Sanvincenti’s investigation becomes an object in the world, erasing the boundary that separates investigation process from investigation results, for anything can be a result revealing a particular truth, in any of the realisms. This realism, though, begins with what is found on the other side of the projection screen, and continues with a journey through other realisms, accompanied by a thought about truth that cannot be grasped by these, or any other, realisms, although the truth is within them. It is the truth which is not exact, but it rests on a philo-sophical and poetic interpretation of the elementary, on the experi-ence of communication between nature, the skies and the universe. This communication never ceases to flow. Man is its medium; only through him can it truly take place. And even though this conversa-tion does not determine any concrete reality, its supports the effort to understand it better and to gain a more personal experience.

He was writing the poem ‘Pitija’ in a village near Avranches, rising at dawn, as always, and walking barefoot through the grass, to evoke in himself painful lucidity of a fully awakened man: I felt the vitality of the spirit; it came to me today as the most valuable treasure. (Bonifačić about Valéry) Wilderness denotes something untamed, untouched, something unconquered. It can be a mountain peak coated in fog or a rocky edge of the sea. It can be a barely visi-ble human figure on a desert’s slope. These images are timeless; their inability to be defined by time or to belong to a time is associatively linked to, or even derived from, the tamelessness of nature as the expression of the skies and the universe. Still, there is time some-where in the background of the skies and the universe, too; time is in the background of anything we can imagine. The point here is not in solving the enigma placed before man, but in traversing its wilderness. Man moves through it by using “self” as the medium;

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it is his tool for passing through any context. This tool, however, is made of the same material as the context itself. In other words, the uncatchable, the untamable in a man, the thing that is and isn’t at his disposal, is the same as the thing for which he needs the tool in the first place. If there was no man, there would be no dawn either, but we can hardly say that dawn exists only for the sake of humans. Nevertheless, there is a medium connecting dawn and man.

This exhibition offers a two-fold vision of the medium: the medium reveals itself in ways of creation (form is the medium) and the medium lies in the essence it seeks to express (man as the expe-riencer is the medium). Hence, in the context of this exhibition, the “medium” is the carrier of the message, a symbolic signifier of the space where elementary scenes acquire metaphorical dimensions. A classic TV set shows ten minutes of a 420-ft film reel, containing a black and white film titled Le LeVeR DU JOUR SUR L’OcéaN. The only content of the film is the one stated in the title. It is very unlikely that anyone would see it from the beginning to the end, since it depicts a situation that is almost unchangeable. However, the duration of the scene corresponds to the duration of sunrise: this scene does not aspire to produce any other content but to present the most elementary possible situation that began and finished within the scope of the scene’s duration. In a metaphysical transition from the point of man to the point of dawn arises the point of this film and becomes independent, as a symbolic materialization of the medium connecting with dawn. The sublimation of this indescribable gran-diosity, captured in this tiny little box, is still there, and it seems to epitomize the relationship of our beings with the elementary. In other words, it outlines the possibilities of how we can experience it.

LOOkING OVeR SePaRaTe DISTaNceS is also a medium. This multimedia installation uses a 3D slideviewer and a light bulb to render new content to an old stereoscopic image of a human figure sitting on a desert’s slope. Thanks to the binocular-resembling device, we

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see magnified details of the photograph on the wall. We observe the seemingly same motif from different distances. Along with the human figure, the original photograph depicts a military camp at the bottom of a hill. However, when we look through the slide-viewer, in place of the camp we see water. Separate distances have of-fered different contents; civilization has gone and now the scene fully corresponds to the notion of wilderness. Simultaneously, the installation structure emphasizes the space between motif and per-spective: there is content and there is treatment of the content by means of title and display. These two aspects hold a dialogue that assumes shape in the gallery space and becomes an object in the world – it creates meaning through the self and through the possi-bility of experiencing the self. By emphasizing the separateness, we become aware of the medium – the separateness is the medium. Creation of the self-mirroring medium symbolizes the relationship between man and his experience.

The multi-layered installation UNDeFINeD WILDNeSS includes the projection of the aforementioned film, projection of mountain peaks covered in fog on the opposite screen, three small Polaroidphotos of an unknown area taken at sunrise and sunset, and, finally, handwritten citations from Walden by Henry David Thoreau. However, I would say that the key role is given to the projector. It all began with this projector, it is logical to display it as the main interpreter of the original thought. The projector, therefore, is the embodiment of the medium, aiming to potray itself, instead of the content it is expected to serve. In explaining his use of the projector, the author illustrates his idea: The projector light bulb enables the viewer to see the content of a film just as sunlight enables the eye to see the world. Moving away from questions arising from any of these scenes, Sanvincenti traverses the wilderness of time and media, constantly interweaving the two seemingly disparate notions, creating a setting that evokes other questions, those which almost cannot be expressed.  BORIS GReINeR

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DaVOR SaNVINceNTI 1979. multimedijalni je umjetnik. Intenzivno se bavi područjem audiovizualne fenomenologije i antropologijom vizualne kulture, fokusirajući se na istraživanja različitih stanja i oblika ljudskih osjeta i percepcija. Njegovo se umjetničko djelovanje grana u razne medije: film i video, fotografija, svjetlosne i zvučne instalacije te audiovizualni performansi. U radovima se bavi konceptom iluzije, istražujući moguće granice percepcije te konstrukcije iskustva. Dobitnik je više nagrada među kojima Radoslav Putar (2010.) za najboljeg umjetnika do 35 godina te T-HT Nagrade pri Muzeju suvremene umjetnosti Zagreb (2008.). Izlagao je na brojnim međunarodnim izložbama i festivalima poput 28. Muzički biennale, Zagreb; Rencontres Internationales, Paris/Berlin/Madrid; LOOP, Barcelona; 25FPS, Zagreb; World Film Festival, Bangkok; VideoEX, Zürich; CineMed, Montpellier te lokacijama poput Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; ZKM, Karlsruhe; Lincoln Center, New York; UniversalMuseum Joanneum, Graz; Museo de Arte Contemporanea, Oaxaca; FRAC Pays de la Loire, Carquefou; Camera Austria, Graz; MSU, Zagreb; Glassbox, Paris; NIU, Barcelona; La Triennale, Milano; Filmoteca Española, Madrid; Umjetnički paviljon, Zagreb; Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin.

www.messmatik.net

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DaVOR SaNVINceNTI 1979 is an international multimedia artist from Croatia. He is specifically interested in a field of audiovisual phenomenology and anthropology of visual culture, particularly focused on the conditions and forms of human senses and perceptions. His artistic practice takes shape in the variety of media – film and video, photography, physical light and sound installations and live media performances. His work plays with the concept of illusion, exploring the possible boundaries of perception and the construction of experience. In 2010, he was recipient of the Radoslav Putar Award for the best Croatian artist under 35. His work has been exhibited and presented internationally, including festivals 28th Music Biennale, Zagreb; Rencontres Internationales, Paris/Berlin/Madrid; LOOP, Barcelona; 25FPS, Zagreb; World Film Festival, Bangkok; VideoEX, Zürich; CineMed, Montpellier and venues including Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; ZKM, Karlsruhe; Lincoln Center, New York; UniversalMuseum Joanneum, Graz; Museo de Arte Contemporanea, Oaxaca; FRAC Pays de la Loire, Carquefou; Camera Austria, Graz; MoCA, Zagreb; Glassbox, Paris; NIU, Barcelona; La Triennale, Milano; Filmoteca Española, Madrid; Art Pavilion, Zagreb; Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin.

www.messmatik.net

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Le LeVeR DU JOUR SUR L’OcéaN

16mm film, prebačen na SD digitaltrajanje – 122m filmskog koluta (loop), 2012.

16mm film, transfered to digitalduration – 420ft film reel (loop), 2012

UNDeFINeD WILDNeSS

multimedijalna instalacija – 16mm projektor, 2 HD video projekcije, polaroidi, tekst na zidu, 2014.

mixed media installation – 16mm projector, 2 HD video channels, polaroids, handwritten text, 2014

ScORe FOR The FOUND ORcheSTRa

fotografija, zvučna instalacija trajanje – 22’32” – u nastajanju, 2013.

ambiental photo, sound installation duration – 22’32” – in progress, 2013

LOOkING OVeR SePaRaTe DISTaNceS

multimedijalna instalacija – 3D slideviewer, žarulja, arhivska stereoskopska slika, 2014.

mixed media installation – 3D slideviewer, light bulb, archive stereoscopic image, 2014

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IzDaVač – PUBLISheRMuzej moderne i suvremene umjetnosti Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art

za IzDaVača – FOR The PUBLISheR Slaven Tolj

TekSTOVI – TexTSBoris Greiner, Ksenija Orelj

PRIJeVOD, kORekTURa – TRaNSLaTION, PROOFReaDING Lidija Toman

FOTOGRaFIJe – PhOTO cReDITSBoris Cvjetanović, Petra Mrša, Davor Sanvincenti, Helena Wikström

cITaTI – QUOTeSIva Prosoli 12 – 13

Henry David Thoreau 28 – 29, 32 – 33, 36 – 37, 40 – 41, 44 – 45, 48 – 49

GRaFIčkO OBLIkOVaNJe – GRaPhIc DeSIGN Marino Krstačić-Furić & Ana Tomić

TISak – PRINTING Kerschoffset, Zagreb

NakLaDa – PRINT RUN 300

BROJ kaTaLOGa – caTaLOGUe NO. 347

© MMSU, Rijeka, 2015.

CIP zapis dostupan u računalnom katalogu Sveučilišne knjižnice Rijeka pod brojem 130814020

ISBN 978-953-8107-01-6

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UNDeFINeD WILDNeSS

multimedijalna instalacija16mm projektor, 2HD video projekcije, polaroidi, tekst na zidu 2014.mixed media installation16mm projector, 2HD video channels, polaroids, handwritten text2014

ScORe FOR The FOUND ORcheSTRa

fotografija, zvučna instalacija trajanje – 22’32”  2013. ambiental photo and sound installation duration – 22’32” - in progress 2013

Le LeVeR DU JOUR SUR L’OcéaN

16mm film, prebačen na SD digital trajanje – 120m filmskog koluta (loop)2012.16mm film, transfered to digital duration – 420ft film reel (loop)2012

LOOkING OVeR SePaRaTe DISTaNceS

multimedijalna instalacija3D slideviewer, žarulja, arhivska stereoskopska slika 2014. mixed media installation3D slideviewer, light bulb, archive stereoscopic image 2014

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Traversing the Wilderness of Time and MediaDAVOR SANVINCENTI