2011
As Opposed to the Front, Back, Top and Bottom, 2011.
Solo exhibition at Bergen Kunsthall NO.5, Bergen
Curated by Solveig Øvstebø
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From the press release:
Vlatka Horvat’s exhibition at Bergen Kunsthall continues her long-term iterative investigations of spatial qualities and relations. With a well established artistic strategy, where the method involves picking the existing apart, cutting out, folding/bending or weaving together photographic, textual or physical elements, she creates new, fictive potential for the relationships between space, body and object.
For the exhibition in NO.5 Horvat will be showing a major installation, as well as several new series of works on paper. Thematically, she has focused her exploration around the concepts of ‘the edge’ and ‘the centre’ as both spatial/physical and conceptual phenomena. Inherent in this is the idea that edges connote boundaries and limitations, whether in physical conditions like place and space, or in social relations in the form of normative expectations of interpersonal behaviour. Not least, the edge constitutes a concrete, defining entity when it comes to image production, since the framing does a great deal to determine the reading and the status of the picture. What is inside and what is outside? Where is the beginning and where is the end of an object, an image, or space? The notion of the centre meanwhile brings about a range of related concerns, as physical and spatial centrality tends to evoke questions about power and agency. Working through ideas related to the middle and the margins, the center and the periphery in this exhibition allows Horvat to explore both the visual economy of images, as well as the broader political and social implications of reconfiguration of images and space.
Horvat’s work has its roots in the performing arts, and in her expression she may refer to both early performance art and Arte Povera from the 1960s and 1970s. As regards the former genre, this means that she makes use of dramaturgical resources, such that the works – or the scenarios – may appear to be plausible narratives, until one realizes that everything is built up from an internally flawed logic. As regards the latter genres, it means that she uses prosaic existing objects and commonplace materials to create new aesthetic configurations and spaces of understanding.
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Works in the show:
Half a Goal, 2011
Cut aluminum football goal, foam strips
Reversed Targets (I,II,III), 2011
Used archery targets
Doubles Stitched, 2011
Folded inkjet prints sewn or stapled, mounted on archival bookbinding board
To Put a Stop, 2011
Found doorstops
Hammered Out, 2011
Broken double-pane window, chair, tape, elastic
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Press, texts and media:
Flash Art (pdf) – July Aug Sept 2012: Short conversation with Agnieszka Gratza for Flash Art’s “Brand New” feature.
A talk I gave about my work at Bergen Kunsthall (vimeo) – Feb 2011.
Kunstkritikk (link) – Jan 2011. “Space Invader.” Review by Arne Skaug Olsen of Vlatka Horvat: As Opposed to the Front, Back, Top and Bottom at Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen (in Norwegian).
Bergen Kunsthall catalogue (pdf / link) – Jan 2011: 13 essays from Vlatka Horvat: In Other Words In Other’s Words And Other Words. Essays by: Nuit Banai, Emma Cocker, Tim Etchells, Naomi Fry, Hugo Glendinning, Matt Keegan, Tevž Logar, Matthew Lyons, Graham Parker, November Paynter, Christian Rattemeyer, Jovana Stokić, WHW.
