2018
Hologram
“
Do we prefer the old parallel universe real? The old dual existence of what is given to us today? There is no more elegant parallel universe than this - re-created from a detail or fragment. [1]
Analyzing the archive of my family, I paid attention to the black-and-white photographs taken by my grandfather and decorated by them manually. Why paint photos of close people, is it a way to bring their images closer to reality? And though the photos were painted with great precision and love, I noticed that with every stroke the reality seemed to go farther and farther. But how is it? Black-and-white photography is inherently a distortion of reality, which of us sees the world in black and white !?
In order to save the archive, I scanned photos, translated them into digital form, retouched - removed the effects of time - scratches, fading elements. Cataloging, date stamping, description of people who are pictured in the photo are necessary to me in order to understand who I am and where from, self-identify. But this goal with every new photo is getting further. More and more questions and doubts.
In an attempt to appeal to the perfect image, to put an end to imaginary and doubts, I turned to the hologram (of course, the presented holograms are not technically holograms - the recording of an interference pattern, but in essence it is a hologram - a projected three-dimensional image). A hologram is a way to hit the real, immobilizing it, grabbing the real, killing it in a copy. But holographic reproduction, "as well as any hint of synthesis or exact reproduction of the real, is no longer real, it is hyperreal. It is never a reproduction (truth), but it is always a simulation. Not exact, but with excessive truthfulness, that is, one that is already on the other side of the truth. "[2]
These numerous actions: coloring, digitizing, retouching, text description, turning into a hologram - each iteration tried to bring the image closer to reality and representation - and this, as Jean Baudrillard wrote, "was nothing but violence that destroys the image. Anything that added an extra dimension canceled the previous one. The third dimension kills the second. As for the fourth, that is, Virtual and digital, or Integral Reality, then it destroys all the others - because it is spatial hyperspace. This is the hyperspace of our screens, in which, strictly speaking, the image no longer exists (but there is also no universe of reality and representation). "[2]
What is left? Take a step back, turn to reduction, reconstruction, return to the archaic, transcendental, to oscillate between the real and the hyperreal, like a pendulum !?
In order to save the archive, I scanned photos, translated them into digital form, retouched - removed the effects of time - scratches, fading elements. Cataloging, date stamping, description of people who are pictured in the photo are necessary to me in order to understand who I am and where from, self-identify. But this goal with every new photo is getting further. More and more questions and doubts.
In an attempt to appeal to the perfect image, to put an end to imaginary and doubts, I turned to the hologram (of course, the presented holograms are not technically holograms - the recording of an interference pattern, but in essence it is a hologram - a projected three-dimensional image). A hologram is a way to hit the real, immobilizing it, grabbing the real, killing it in a copy. But holographic reproduction, "as well as any hint of synthesis or exact reproduction of the real, is no longer real, it is hyperreal. It is never a reproduction (truth), but it is always a simulation. Not exact, but with excessive truthfulness, that is, one that is already on the other side of the truth. "[2]
These numerous actions: coloring, digitizing, retouching, text description, turning into a hologram - each iteration tried to bring the image closer to reality and representation - and this, as Jean Baudrillard wrote, "was nothing but violence that destroys the image. Anything that added an extra dimension canceled the previous one. The third dimension kills the second. As for the fourth, that is, Virtual and digital, or Integral Reality, then it destroys all the others - because it is spatial hyperspace. This is the hyperspace of our screens, in which, strictly speaking, the image no longer exists (but there is also no universe of reality and representation). "[2]
What is left? Take a step back, turn to reduction, reconstruction, return to the archaic, transcendental, to oscillate between the real and the hyperreal, like a pendulum !?
[1] Jean Baudrillard. «Violence Done to the Image» from book: «The Intelligence of Evil».
[2] Jean Baudrillard.«Simulacres et simulation. Hologram».
[2] Jean Baudrillard.«Simulacres et simulation. Hologram».
Exhibition - presentation of the laboratory Laboratory "Culture of the future". The Museum of St. Petersburg Art (20th–21st centuries). Saint Petersburg. 24.05.2018.