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NEW!The debut by Zuzana Pustaiová titled One Day Every Day (2022) is an ironic commentary on various social norms impacting our daily lives. Commonplace routine, gender stereotypes, and role-playing (depicted in the book literally as ‚wearing masks‘) are few examples of cultural code, which, on the one hand, bind the society together, but on the other, it imposes the often unwanted social pressure affecting an individual’s freedom. In this book, the artist seeks the boundary where the (otherwise useful) behavioral patterns become pathological. Exploring the intricate relationship between these patterns and broader social phenomena, the book shows deeper layers of institutional limitations conceived by the policy-makers and relayed to the public by the media and via social networks. It brings the reader’s attention to the point that while striving for a better world, one ought not to forget how the individual feels in the realm of all those recommendations, behests and restrictions, imprinted to one’s mind since an early age and while being brought up, only to find that civilizing imperatives often lead to systematic oppression. The idea of rethinking one’s conviction, when it comes to social norms, is further supported by the ‚Leporello‘ layout, allowing for alternative page juxtapositions. Photographs: Zuzana Pustaiová (2020-2022) Text: Branislav Štěpánek Book design: Matúš Lelovský, Zuzana Pustaiová Print run: 300 + collectors edition of 11 Date of publishing: May 2022 Language: Slovak / English Number of pages: 62 Number of images: 60 Publisher: self-published with Reflektor Supported by: Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava www.vsvu.sk Photon Gallery www.photon.si Reflektor www.reflektor.org Fond výtvarných umení www.fvu.sk Zoltán Szabó www.raftys.sk Supporters of crowdfunding campaign on www.startlab.sk -
The Back to Black project is set up as an international project in which Photon joins the global trend of reviving interest in black-and-white, analog and the so-called hybrid photography, and especially in contemporary, creative use of old photographic techniques. In modern times, these are often associated with the use of contemporary technologies, which expand the creative field of application and bring original solutions even in today’s mostly digital time. This research is in terms of content focused on representing different approaches of contemporary artists to the medium which was not long ago predicted to go extinct. There has been an incredible turnaround in recent years as the popularity of analog and black-and-white photography has begun to revive. Analog photography, that was thought as obsolete, is experiencing a renaissance, especially among young people. Wide and renewed interest in analog photography can be seen especially on social media, where large communities with millions of followers have sprung up in the last few years. Also in the field of artistic photography, where the practice of hybrid photography has already prevailed in the last two decades, this trend is well adopted, especially among young photographic artists. Today, they use all the technologies and tools available, and the works are a combination of the latest technologies and the oldest photographic techniques. A part of this rich practice, which is so hearty enriched and re-thought with photographic history, can also be seen in this exhibition and catalog. Editor: Špela Pipan Author of the texts: Dejan Sluga Participating artists: Balázs Deim, Alessandra D’intino, Jošt Dolinšek, Lena Feitl, Elí Joteva, Reiner Riedler, Peter Koštrun, Roberto Kusterle, Borut Peterlin, Eva Petrič, Herman Pivk Design: Jure Legac Translators: Melita Silič, Deja Bečaj Publisher: Photon – Center za sodobno fotografijo Year: 2022 Softcover, 47 pages Edition: 200 copies Language: English, Slovene Dimensions: 18 x 18 cm -
Robert Kusterle's exhibition catalogue is actually a photographic folder published on the occasion of the Images on Paper / Cartacei, exhibition opening at the Gong Gallery in Nova Gorica. The conceptual design of the publication is a collaboration between the artist, Gong Gallery and Studio Faganel from Gorizia, where the catalogue was also designed. The photographic folder includes, in addition to the expert text, fourteen individual reproductions of photographs based on images of old papers from the Gorizia archive, with damaged and faded stamps layered on top of each other. The last layer is made up of human figures that merge and are immersed in the paper, so that the viewer can no longer distinguish between the surface of the body and the paper. In the context of the artist's concept of photographs, the cover of the folder is partly made of pieces of old paper, while the title of the exhibition and the gallery's logo are stamped onto it. Author: Roberto Kusterle Text: Nataša Kovšca Publisher: Galerija Gong Year: 2020 Photographic map: 14 prints Print run: 100 copies Language: slovene, italian Dimensions: 27 x 21 cm ISBN: 978-961-95131-0-1 -
„In today’s world, sweating is taboo. Enter “sweat” into any search engine and you’ll find a multitude of ways to remedy it. The huge array of deodorants available commercially is an indication of just how unacceptable sweating is in everyday life. Sweat is embarrassing: a sign of poor hygiene. Body odor is ‘disgusting’. Faces cringe when confronted with it. Even as far back as the Bible, sweat was equated with hardship. When Adam was expelled by God, for example, he was condemned thenceforth to earn his daily bread By the Sweat of His Brow (Genesis 3, 19). Sweat may well owe a good part of its poor reputation to its anti-social stench, but it also has negative connotations due to its association with fear. A sweaty handshake betrays nervousness. When you wake up bathed in sweat at night, it’s more likely due to nightmares or anxiety than to faulty air conditioning. Photographer Reiner Riedler has discovered sweat as an artistic form of expression.Fascinated by the image captured by the sweat on his T-shirt after jogging – like a spontaneous self-portrait – he has used the sweat produced by others to create a series of images. In order to achieve this, he approached the renowned Fraunhofer Institute in Munich which provided him with a special sensory material that could be placed above or underneath his perspiring models. In doing so, Riedler used the sweaty body as a kind of rubber stamp to create life-size negatives. He then photographed these and transformed them into monochrome paper prints.“- Vreni Hockenjos, Excerpt from the book
Photographs: Reiner Riedler Texts: Vreni Hockenjos Graphic design: Tapir Design / Ania Nalecka-Milach Publisher: Reflektor Year: 2019 Hardcover, linen, 104 pages Language: English Dimensions: 24 x 30,5 cm
ISBN: 978-3-9502450-9-7
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“When I was ten years old, I was playing with fire and I accidentally spilled gasoline on myself. My burns were severe, and I barely survived. It was extremely difficult, but when I became a father, I came to see that it must have been much harder on my parents than on myself. The fear of losing a child is so much greater then the fear of personal perish. However, losing a child is not just a physical thing. Separating from my wife after 21 years together reawakened the fear, and an avalanche of emotions buried me. These images are talking about loss and distance. These images are talking about bonds. These images are talking about photography as a bridge. These images are creating the past. These images speak of the fears and delights of being a father.” Author about photography series presented in this book. Author: Borut Peterlin Publisher: Self-published and coproduced by Photon – Centre for Contemporary Photography Year: 2017 Paperback, 120 pages, 500 copies Language: english, slovene Dimensions: 21 x 16,5 cm ISBN: 978-961-288-194-8 -
Eva Petrič’s Webbing is a »hybrid« of her visual art and creative writing with which she presents the web of her 25 art installations in the medium of lace assembage. Made in the period of 2012-2018, they were installed worldwide. Connected into one web by the artist’s perception of lace representing hematomas they seem to exist as a collective web which surpasses time and space. Hematomas occur not only when the wall of blood vessels is damaged and blood leaks into surrounding tisues where it does not belong, but also on emotional and social dimensions. We, as a society or as indiviudals, can ourselves be hematomas when emotional barriers break and emotions explode… Petrič’s hematomas, are further tied into one common web by their ephemerality: when the artist deinstalls them, they cease to exist and can never again appear in the same form – except in this monography. Author: Eva Petrič Publisher: Drava, Klagenfurt Year: 2018 Hard cover, 288 pages 500 copies Language: Angleški Dimensions: 31 x 23 cm ISBN: 9783854358947 -
In this book Anikó Robitz presents her photographs made between 2007 and 2020. Her works are based on modern and contemporary architecture. When taking pictures she uses only geometrical forms and elements to create her unique and minimalistic photos. While using the chosen details the composition can get far from the original and shows us something completely new. None of the photos were made in the studio but in the real world which surrounds us, in cities where titles refer to. Although Anikó Robitz is a photographer, her pictures are more appropriately approached as works of fine art. They are best understood by those who are familiar with 20th century visual art forms, primarily abstraction, Suprematism, and Minimalism – can be read in four languages in the foreword of the book. Text written by artist and art critic Bálint Szombathy.Text: Bálint Szombathy Design: Aniko Robitz Publisher: Self-published and coproduced by Photon – Centre for Photography Year: 2021 Hardback, canvas bound with dust jacket, 176 pages Edition: 200 copies Dimensions: 22,5 x 26,5 mm Language: Hungarian, English, German, French ISBN: 978-615-01-0633-5 -
Little known outside of his native Hungary, the body of work Szász created from the late 1950s through the 1970s, epitomizes the artistic vision and innovation of photographers active in Hungary during the years of communism. Featuring boldly graphic abstractions primarily drawn from Hungarian life and landscape, Szász’s images communicate through a universal vernacular. Working in the tradition of Hungarian greats such as André Kertész and László Moholy-Nagy, János Szász’s images are notable for their experimentation with radical perspectives, formalist compositions, and stark, black and white contrast printing. Szász’s photographs transform ordinary scenes from his hometown of Pécs — snow-covered vineyards, stacked firewood, and rows of seating in a darkened movie theater—into bold and graphic compositions. By manipulating darkroom exposure and processing techniques, Szász often reduced his subjects to pattern. He utilized a darkroom process for high-contrast printing, which involved chemical over-processing, then painstakingly bleaching over toned areas with a paintbrush or sponge, to arrive at his dynamically graphic images.
Photographs: Szász János Texts: Kincses Károly Graphic design: Bodó Márton Translation: Szász Balázs Publisher: Szolga Hajnal Year: 2012 Paperback, 128 pages Language: English, Hungarian Dimensions: 27 x 21 cm ISBN: 978-963-08-2959-5
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NOVO!Dimensions: 40 x 40cm + black frameAll prints are printed on fine-art 100 % cotton paper -
Which are the factors that have created one of the of the leading man of the Sicilian Mafia? How did Jakub Stanek come across this dangerous man in sunny Sicily and how did the idea of encapsulating this unusual encounter in the form of a photo publication come about? This unique experience in which Stanek built a friendly relationship with Giuseppe, made it possible to showcase and build on the image of a criminal, together with the everyday image of a hospitable, friendly, intelligent man who loves his small homeland. The photos are impressions of places, stories heard and people pointed out by »Peppe«. The Sicilian mafia today, Cosa Nostra, is a cleverly camouflaged machine blending into people's daily lives, weakening the state and controlling businesses. Proof of how organised and secretive the organisations structure is, is the fact that for these past 25 years Matteo Messina Denaro – the ringleader, so to speak - has remained a free man, while life on the streets goes on at its own pace, and the people of Sicily seem to pay no attention to the world of deals, patronage and harangues of which they are a part of. Somewhere high in this puzzle is Giuseppe Fontana - Matteo's friend, his right hand, consigliere. He deals his cards prudently and lives a seemingly ordinary life – the life of which this photo-book speaks of.Photographs: Jakub Stanek Text: Jakub Wiechowski Design: Piotr Najar Year: 2017 Hard cover, 118 pages Language: English
ISBN: 978-83-949136-0-1
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A new, beautifully printed book celebrates a 30-year retrospective of his artwork. The over-sized book includes 248 pages of essays, interviews, and an abundance of photographs in groupings that are presented in chronological order. Essays and texts appear in Czech and English. This book was chosen as the ’Best Book of Photography for Central and Eastern Europe in 2008’ by an international jury in Bratislava. Famed Czech photographer Vladimir Zidlicky began his artistic career in the 1970s as a painter, but soon established a signature style that blurred the distinction between painting and photography. Author of photographs: Vladimir Židlicky Editors: Miroslav Ambroz, David Židlicky Authors of text: Josef Moucha, Paul Bogaers, Jim Jordan, Lucia L. Fišerova Year: 2008 Hardcover, 248 pages Language: english, czech ISBN:978-80-254-2920-4 -
Tote bag sporting Henri Cartier-Bresson’s words of wisdom. Released to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of Magnum. -
Coffee/Tea mug sporting Henrie Cartier-Bresson's words of wisdom. Released to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of Magnum. -
Make-up Bag with photograph by Martin Parr. -
Breakfast tray with photograph by Martin Parr. Enjoy breakfast in bed with this unique serving tray featuring a full English breakfast photographed by Martin Parr in 1995. The image was included in Parr's book 'British Food' which marked the beginning of his fascination with food as a way to explore social issues and identity. Magnum Photos is an internationally renowned photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members. This year marks Magnum Photos seventieth birthday and to celebrate they have collaborated with Plinth to create a series of homeware featuring some of their most iconic images. Released to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of Magnum. Dimensions: 24.5 x 37 cm -
The book Brotherhood and Unity presents the author's seven-year visual research about the disintegration / breakup of the former Yugoslavia. Book tells the story about identity, about the unification and divergence of nations in former Yugoslavia. Olja Triaška Stefanović is photographing the presence of the past through abandoned monuments, monuments and memorial landscapes, empty and destroyed Yugoslavia architecture and visually analyzes the terms remembrance and forgetting in the context of the disintegration of Yugoslavia and her own memory and personal history. In the photographic essay, she combined her photography essay with her short texts, family archive photos and an archival newspaper from former Yugoslavia and it that way tells the story of the leftovers of a country that no longer exists. The second part of the book presents four essays written by Slovak writers Martin M. Šimečka and Andrej Bán and art historians and professor Milena Bartlová from Prague and art historian Bohunka Koklesová from Bratislava, Slovakia. Essay are focus to issues of identity, remembrance and forgetting, brotherhood and unity and to the political situation and changes in Eastern Europe after 1989. Author/Photographs: Olja Triaška Stefanović, 2012 – 2019 Editors: Olja Triaška Stefanović, Bohunka Koklesová Published by: Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Bratislava Circulation: 350 First edition: 2020 ISBN 978-80-8189-038-3 -
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In the book Shaped by the West Dino Kužnik (1986, Slovenia) depicts some of the most famous symbols of the American West, the car, the gas station, the road and also the landscape. This body of work was created between 2016 and 2019 on various solitary road trips. Conceptually, the series stems from the artist’s experience with the Westernization of the culture in Slovenia during its transition from socialism to capitalism, after its independence. Shaped by the West is thus a personal and artistic confrontation with the symbols of Americana from his youth opposed to his adult identity. The predominant narrative revolves around the artist’s desire to move abroad and a nostalgic vision of the American dream contrasted with his reality of living in a foreign country as well as the process of applying for an artist’s visa. Dino has lived in the USA since 2013 and has travelled through Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah and Nevada in search of his artistic expression. Text : Špela Pipan Design : Emil Kozole Perfect Bound, 96 pages Edition: 300 copies Published by : Dino Kužnik & Photon Third edition: 2021 ISBN : 978-961-95107-3-5 COBISS.SI-ID: 62591747 -
In August 2015, the musical group Laibach traveled to North Korea to perform at two consecutive concerts in Pyongyang as a part of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Korean Peninsula. A Norwegian film director, activist, and artist Morten Traavik made a documentary film on the groups’ visit entitled Liberation Day, which premiered at the beginning of 2017. Both the tour and the filming process produced a large number of additional photographs, of both documentary and artistic nature, a selection of which is presented in this catalogue. Author / editor: Dejan Sluga Publisher: Photon – Centre for Contemporary Photography Year: 2018 Language: English, Slovene Dimensions: 24 x 20 cm ISBN: 978-961-92744-8-4 -
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In recent years Roman Bezjak has been intensively studying the theme of Socialist Modernism. He took the last series of photographs in Tashkent, in a "city as a symbol of Soviet modernity and an open-air museum of socialist architecture". In this experimental laboratory of modern architecture, only the countless prefabricated buildings remain in their original condition today. The devastating earthquake of 1966 enabled the emergence of an open-air museum of socialist architecture in Tashkent. Urban planners were able to realize their vision of a new city as a symbol of Soviet modernity in Asia. In this experimental laboratory of modern architecture, only the countless prefabricated buildings remain in their original condition today. The architects and building artists virtuously combined constructional requirements with local traditions. Oriental mosaic ornaments decorate the windowless gable facades of the prefabricated buildings. The facade designs of the long sides take into account the hot climatic conditions of the region with their concrete ornaments that serve as sunshades. Author / Photographs: Roman Bezjak, 2005 - 2013 Senior Curator:: MiJung LEE Book Design: JiYoung KIM Published by: GoEun Museum of Photography, Busan. South-Korea First edition: 2019 Pages: 174 40 images Socialist Modernism 43 images Pyongyang ISBN 978-89-6956-036-0 -
Nč se ne premakne je publikacija istoimenske fotografske retrospektive prvega pank benda v Jugoslaviji, ki je najavil novo ero lokalne kulturne zgodovine. Razstava, ki je počastila 30. obletnico prvega nastopa skupine v gimnaziji Moste leta 1977, predstavlja dela številnih fotografov s področja Slovenije in bivše Jugoslavije kot so Vojko Flegar, Janez Bogataj, Tone Stojko, Božidar Dolenc, Slobodan Milojković, itd. Avtorji: Igor Bašin, Branko Kostelnik, Gregor Tomc Založnik: Photon – Center za sodobno fotografijo Leto izida: 2007 Mehka vezava, 22 strani Jezik: slovenski, angleški Dimenzije: 30 x 22 cm -
The publication Aftermath. Changing Cultural Landscape contains essays and presentation of 37 contemporary photographers from the territory of former Yugoslavia who have been active after its break-up (1991-2011). Blog of the project: aftermathsee.wordpress.com Authors: Milan Aleksić, Maurizio Bait, Miha Colner, Svetlana Slapšak, Dejan Sluga... Publisher: Photon – Centre for Contemporary Photography Year: 2013 Paperback, 130 pages Dimensions: 25 x 20 cm Language: English -
The book Trees ('Drevesa in Slovene) is entirely dedicated to the visual and poetical presentation of the trees and forests. Photographs of Gregor Radonjič are combined with the poetry of Ivo Svetina. The book also includes an introductory essay on the significance of trees for human civilization throughout history and their depiction and symbolism in the art of photography written by the author Gregor Radonjič (all texts in Slovene language). Author: Gregor Radonjič Poetry: Ivo Svetina Publisher: Umco d..d, Ljubljana Year: 2020 Hard cover, 150 pages Edition: 500 Language: Slovene Dimensions: 30 x 20 cm ISBN: 978-961-7050-70-7 -
Živkovič grew up in the industrial town of Trbovlje, the centre of the mining industry in Slovenia, which significantly influenced his artistic endeavours. In his work h focuses on capturing places, stories, and motifs related to industrial towns. His oeuvre is characterised by poetic documentation of abandoned industrial landscapes. Author: Antonio Živkovič Publisher: Mestna galerija Ljubljana Year: 2009 Softcover, 104 pages 500 copies Language: english, slovene Dimensions: 24 x 24 cm ISBN: 978-961-6587-61-7 -
…The images of neglect and the attributes of industrial civilisation, the pictures of the core of the first five-year plan reveal to me something else, a time which has entered the memory. And which can only be reached through dreams or art. I can see Trbovlje as the destination of all expeditions, as the constant flow of light, a Trbovlje which to us seemed endlessly vast and limitless. A Trbovlje without the feeling of claustrophobia, a Trbovlje existing in the sky of our childhood. A Trbovlje one cannot imagine featuring in the title of a novel – A Black Valley – but rather in another title – How Green Was My Valley. And this strong and clear vision is ensured by Živkovič’s photographs, with great persuasion reminding me of the verse I recently came across. I do not remember the name of the poet. The verse goes something like this: “Whoever has not smeared himself with mud / Cannot hope to reach the sky.” (Uroš Zupan)
Author: Antonio Živkovič Publisher: Self-published Year: 1999 Softcover, 30 pages 800 copies Language: english, slovene Dimensions: 30 x 24 cm ISBN: 961-6302-41-8
