Fotograf Zone

MK What does the title of the exhibition Whole World Catalog conceal?

VK The title refers to an ambition inherent to photography itself, to function as a mirror of the world around us as well as the world within us. I was inspired by the techno-optimistic magazine Whole Earth Catalog, published from the late 1960s onwards. I replaced the word Earth with World because today I perceive the world in a more anthropocentric way, and the objects depicted in the photographs point to human activity and to symbolic tools that shape perception. I also openly acknowledge my ambition to show “everything, as much as possible” in the exhibition, hence Whole Catalog.

MK What techniques and processes do you use in your work and how are they reflected in the exhibition?

VK I work with photography and installation as exhibition media. I emphasize photography in its physical form as an artefact, where the image is inseparable from its support. Paper has its own specific qualities such as colour, gloss, surface, waviness, format, thickness, and more.

The exhibition presents two opposing poles. On one side are highly saturated glossy colour photographs taken with a digital camera in the studio and enlarged through digital exposure onto very glossy FujiFlex colour photographic paper. Although digitally exposed, this is still traditional photographic paper developed through a wet chemical process. On the other side are hand-printed photographs from black-and-white negatives taken outdoors as snapshots. These black-and-white photographs are individually hand-toned using a yellow toner.

The colour digital photographs are mounted on flat aluminium panels. The black-and-white toned baryta prints are left unflattened, naturally wavy, and deliberately displayed without passe-partout in cassette frames.

MK What do you enjoy about the installation at gallery?

VK I am pleased that the original idea, as I imagined it already in the spring half a year before the exhibition, was realised. Some of the studio colour photographs were completed during the summer, but the concept remained unchanged. I am also very grateful for the collaboration with the Fotograf.zone team. Preparing the installation together with the artist Ondřej Doskočil was a pleasure.

MK What would you like visitors to take away from the exhibition?

VK In addition to the exhibition text by Světlana Malina and a small postcard available on the windowsill, visitors can also purchase a limited edition produced by Fotograf Contemporary for the exhibition.

Beyond that, I would like to offer viewers an experience of photography as a unique physical artefact. In my previous body of work, I repeatedly used the title Always Now. Photography undoubtedly depicts something that happened in the past, but it is always read in the present. It is always about the moment here and now. Photography is a construct of time, and I find this a compelling way of approaching any photograph.

Although the exhibition presents clearly recognizable objects, I would be happy if visitors approached it in a more abstract way as well. I hope they will notice colour, gloss, the roughness of paper, the coloured metal mounting, the height of installation, the gaps between individual images, the construction of the exhibition panels, the sightlines, and the exhibition as a whole.

MK How do you perceive the Fotograf Contemporary platform?

VK I see it as a strong brand within an even stronger collective, Fotograf Zone. I am genuinely impressed by how Fotograf has matured into a high-quality independent art organisation, especially within the complex medium of photography. Fotograf is an important platform for contemporary photographers.

Markéta Kinterová