A4 02nd edition – Martina Ištvan and Leopold Rupnik / Vertigo
Solo exhibition
FROM THE PREFACE OF THE EXHIBITION
The process of questioning identity also signifies the process of distancing oneself from the problems that are part of what makes up the being of each person. With analytical instruments such as introspection or retrospection, it is possible to dive into the waters of the subconscious and learn about the causes of one's own destructive mechanisms. The process of cognition of subconscious mechanisms is inherent in every human being, and Martina Ištvan presents her version of immersion in the subconscious in the multimedia exhibition Vertigo. The exhibition consists of two sculptural installations, a kinetic sculpture and a separate video work through which the artist captures moments of personal fragmentation in different periods of life, as well as methods by which she self-critically tackles the surfaced fragments of the subconscious.
In the work Jump into Self , the artist is symbolized by her legs separated from her torso and placed on top of a ladder in the position of jumping into the abyss of her own subconscious, represented by a pool with floating wigs. The disintegration of wigs reflects the internal processes of the artist's disintegration. The jump should be seen as a self-analytical act of transition from the conscious state to the unconscious, in order to understand the causes of various internal conditionings. The mirror placed over the pool enhances the impression of the deterioration of consciousness, and at the same time the mirroring in the pool symbolizes the artist's self-reflection on her inner life.
In the kinesthetic sculpture Spinning, the artist places herself in the frame of the installation through crunched hands holding on to a rotating handle. Turning the arms around the handle symbolizes spinning in a circle around existing problems. Continuously strong turns of the hands suggest the dizziness of entering the subconscious and the healing of repressed traumas that can lead to the establishment of a stable rhythm of life or, on the other hand, the meaningless dynamics of spinning around the problem that leads to (self)destruction.
Distancing oneself from the problem is also a process that involves one's own defragmentation. In essence, it is an ambivalent process that the artist deals with in the work Sinking. The duality in the work is based on the outcome of self-reflexive procedures – on the one hand, the artist shows the confrontation with the subconscious in the form of lying legs on a pedestal, and on the other hand, the suppression of anxiety materializes in stuffed puppies that, separated by nylon from the outstretched legs, squeal and collide with each other. The result of looking into the subconscious and moving away from internalized mechanisms of confrontation with problems in the artist's work is doubled by presenting the repetition of the artist's developed and adopted rehabilitation methods, depending on the perspective of viewing, as a successful or unsuccessful self-therapy project. The artist also touches on the theme of perspective and observation when designing the pedestal by changing it in the lower part with a straight cut, emphasizing the perspective of the pedestal.
The short experimental video work Vertigo brings together the presented installations. With the recorded shots, the artist's turmoil is placed in an autobiographical context, staging personal fragmentation in a locus close to the artist. By editing shots of performances of movements and one-minute sculptures against noisy shots of barking dogs, the artist brings a sense of nervousness and impatience into the narrative, emphasizing the anxious feeling that permeates the entire exhibition through video.
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE AUTHOR
Martina Ištvan holds a master's degree in art education, majoring in sculpture, at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, where she obtained her title under the mentorship of Vlasta Žanić. She complements her formal art education with studies of art pedagogy at the Academy of Applied Arts in Rijeka and the Academy of Fine Arts in Osijek. She participates in a number of group exhibitions, among which the most important is the international exhibition program Trans-Form 2019 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Ljubljana. She is the winner of the Academy's Academic Council Award for the most successful graduates of akad. year. 2018./2019. She has had solo exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts Split, the Kortil Gallery, Rijeka and the Student Center in Zagreb. She has been a member of the Croatian Association of Artists since 2019.
Leopold Rupnik is a student of art history and German studies. He graduated from the Women's Studies educational program at the Center for Women's Studies in 2016. He received the Rector's Award for the scientific and artistic project Deutsch-römisches Brevier: 500 years – 400 copies – 1 anniversary in 2019. He is an associate of the CEKAO Gallery at the Public Open University in Zagreb and the f8 Gallery at the Academy of Dramatic Arts, where he works as the author of the texts of the catalogue. In 2018, he collaborated as an author of the text at the International Student Biennial at the Academia Moderna Gallery. He is the editor of the cultural and artistic portal Kulturflux. She publishes a number of scientific and essay papers, articles and reviews in magazines and portals, among which the magazines Third and Folk Art stand out. She exhibits and participates in the realization of a number of scientific and artistic conferences, among which the participation in the Days of Marija Jurić Zagorka in 2017 and the realization of the round table Practices and Tactics of Encouraging Young Artists and Curators at the Institute for Contemporary Art in 2018 stand out.
The exhibition is financed by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia and the City Office for Culture of the City of Zagreb.
The exhibition at the Šira Gallery can be viewed during the Gallery's working hours (Mon-Fri: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., 6 p.m. – 8 p.m., Saturdays: 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.) until October 20, 2020.
