Jaka Vatovec: False Magic 9
19
January
2024
>
07
February
2024
You are kindly invited to the opening of the exhibition "False Magic 9" on Friday, 19 February, at 6 pm at Alkatraz Gallery. Kindly invited also to the opening of "False Magic 3" exhibition by the artist on Friday, 19 February, at 8 pm at Škuc Gallery, Stari trg 21, Ljubljana. Exhibitions are a part of the "False Magic" project, which is co-produced by ŠKUC Association, KUD Mreža and SCCA-Ljubljana.
False Magic 9
Alkatraz Gallery
19. 1.–7. 2. 2024
Artist:
Jaka Vatovec
Curators:
Vesna Bukovec, Anabel Černohorski, Ana Grobler, Sebastian Krawczyk
False Magic 3
Škuc Gallery
19. 1.–15. 2. 2024
Artist:
Jaka Vatovec
Curators:
Tia Čiček, Lara Plavčak
Editor:
Olga Michalik
Exhibition events:
Viewing of the exhibition with the artist and curators
False Magic 9 | Friday 2 February 6 pm at Alkatraz Gallery
False Magic 3 | Friday 2 February at 7 pm at Škuc Gallery
Slovene proofreading: Neja Berlič, Inge Pangos
English translation: Ana Makuc, Arven Šakti Kralj
Co-production:
Škuc Gallery, KUD Mreža, SCCA-Ljubljana
Alkatraz Gallery programme is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and the Municipality of Ljubljana.
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The solo exhibitions by artist Jaka Vatovec
False Magic 3 at Škuc Gallery (19. 1.–15. 2. 2024) and
False Magic 9 at Alkatraz Gallery (19. 1.–7. 2. 2024) are a part of the
False Magic project, which is co-produced by ŠKUC Association, KUD Mreža and SCCA-Ljubljana. Vatovec's latest art production uses metaphor to explore life with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Our attention is directed towards the connection we establish with both the artistic material and the personal confessions that we intentionally keep hidden. The collaboration between local NGOs is a considerate effort that removes the transient shock of challenging narratives, allowing us to approach with discernment. Teaching, raising awareness and advocating with understanding and compassion are increasingly becoming key aspects of curatorship and art-making, all the more important within the precarious frameworks of contemporary art production in which we are entangled as cultural producers (cultural workers, artists, writers, curators, etc.).
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False Magic connects the exhibitions at Škuc Gallery (
False Magic 3, 19. 1.–15. 2. 2024) and Alkatraz Gallery (
False Magic 9, 19. 1.–7. 2. 2024). Key concerns about the project were founded on how to address the new production, which presents insights into life with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The artists' personal stories remain an essential source for the interpretation of the artworks, while the voyeuristic insight can archetypalise their lives as either romanticised or undesirable (e.g. the tortured artist genius). The project and the two exhibitions do not aim to educate the public and/or present life with OCD, but rather to confront the artistic material, which stands as a metaphor for the first-person narrative of the experience of the disorder.
The two exhibitions belong to the common universe of the artist's creativity, but at the same time they work completely independently as rounded wholes. What both exhibitions have in common is a set of the artist's recent works, which in their layout follow the rules of each individual space. It was on this occasion of the hybrid collaboration of three producers that the two video works were created under the auspices of SCCA-Ljubljana (Centre for Contemporary Arts), one of which occupies the central role in the Alkatraz Gallery, AKC Metelkova mesto.
The titles of the exhibitions refer to the rituals in the context of OCD. Complete ritualisation of everyday life helps only temporarily, but in the long run it only reinforces fears and worsens the disorder in a vicious circle. The numbers refer to the 'mandatory' number of repetitions of compulsive acts. The visitor of the exhibition at the Alkatraz Gallery enters a dark space illuminated by a large-format projection. The newly created work consists primarily of the author's black and white photographs and an acoustic composition in which the artist's voice plays the role of the main instrument. The
Cerberus video alludes to Cerberus, a mythological creature that resides in the intermediate space between life and death, where it prevents the unwanted from passing between the world of the living and the world of the dead. In Jaka Vatovec's work, it represents a person with OCD. A collaged photocopy of a three-headed dog on a purple paper appears several times in the video, and among the images stand out mainly the phonographic portrayals of spiders and spider webs, which belong to Vatovec's darker aesthetic, although they do not necessarily represent a bad omen. In the artist's interpretation, the dog's heads, which are in constant conflict, represent the battle between rational or real and irrational, that is, intrusive thoughts and obsessions, which are accompanied by the feelings of guilt and self-loathing. Cerberus' task is to make sure that intense compulsive thoughts do not come to the surface of consciousness and affect the individual's functioning. They are a kind of
dead thoughts: traces of cognitive activity, a source of emotions that are difficult of manage, accompanied by strong anxiety and psychological distress.
Intrusive (repetitive) thoughts in OCD co-occur with the development of certain compulsive rituals as a control tool for them. Compulsions or rituals only alleviate distress for a short time. A large amount of time is devoted to dealing with repetitive thoughts, intense emotions and the need to reduce distress, whereas the disorder goes hand in hand with the attention to the structure or rules, fusion with one's own, subjective perception of the world and the need to control oneself and the outside world, which significantly affect the quality of life.
Through this prism, we can also interpret the work that occupies the space around four white pillars. It represents the artist's
ready-made, which refers to obsessions about contamination. Piles of green nitrile gloves hug the pillars as an unnecessary support, symbolising excessive protection. The aspect of being overly burdened with asepsis or sterility is also emphasised by the fact that gloves gently intervene in the carefree passage of the visitor.
On a symbolic level, the author made it difficult to access also the galley niche, behind which only purple light emerges. In line with the central theme of the exhibition, it could represent intrusive thoughts that push to the surface, into the space, and indicate cognitive activities of an individual, invisible to the outside world. Moreover, short video content of smaller formats, accompanied by sound, could also be understood as a kind of
ready-made. These are everyday scenes caught by the artist by chance and recorded with his mobile phone and then transferred to the gallery. In the videos, we can see a static frame that records repetitive movements in nature or the city (for instance, falling snowflakes that evaporate when they come into contact with external lighting, or the flapping of a kite stuck in a tree in the wind). The repetitive movement acts as a kind of disturbance –
glitch, but within reality, rather than as a part of a programmed (virtual) environment. Due to the static, repetition and looping, the videos appear as small moving pictures or GIFs, evoking feelings of an infinity of repetitive stuckness, entrapment. At the exhibition, we can see a very diverse media production. In addition to the above, Jaka Vatovec also presents himself with several paintings. Among them, there is a series of paintings entitled
Statements, which contain black writing on a yellow background. The text consists of deliberately incomplete statements and the viewer's task is to intuitively fill in the blanks while looking. The colour combination yellow-black frequently appears on warning signs or tapes, whereas in the natural world it is associated with poisonous animal species. A specifically exposed work titled
A Small Disaster is located on the wall opposite to the entrance and is almost entirely black. The only point that catches our eye is a smaller spongy cloud of nuclear explosion in white, formed by unpainted paper, only the black is painted with ink. The visually simple, but powerful work, which is in dialogue with black and white video projection, extends beyond its frames and occupies a large part of the gallery due to the illusion of the fusion of the floor and the black-coloured wall.
While conceptualising the exhibition, Jaka Vatovec did not focus solely on individual works of art, but rather also to the whole, the dialogue between individual artworks, the viewer's path obstructed by obstacles and atmospheric disorientation with the help of sound. The fact that we are in the same landscape as in Vatovec's exhibition in the ŠKUC Gallery is evidenced by numerous clues: black and white emphases; short video content on tablets; one main video work, the fusion of work and specifics of a gallery space ... and still it is a different microlocation, since each exhibition and, alongside it, each work of art also stands for itself, telling its own story within a wider narrative. By acting on the individual's senses, the exhibition aims to bring the experience of OCD closer to them in a non-didactic, artistic way that allows for several levels of interpretation, wherein the curators' texts represent only one of the aspects.
Familiarising oneself with the subjective experience of living with OCD is an opportunity for the viewers to gain insight into a complex story shaped by the specific conditions of the illness. Revealing a rich fantasy world and narrative complexity, the artist's exhibition contributes to the detabooisation of the discourse on mental health and, more broadly, the vulnerabilities that are part of the (marginalised) human experience. The exhibitions in question present new opportunities to talk about these topics at a time when most people need additional support in dealing with mental health challenges. Jaka Vatovec's project enables the expansion of the discourse by means of a creative approach, which, in addition to original storytelling about the painful truth of living with a mental disturbance, includes an imaginative, playful and simultaneously compassionate exploration of this difficult experience. That is to say, his works are open and suggestive enough to prepare the viewer for an experience that does not try to put them in an unbearable anguish, but rather encourages and indicates the direction of further reflection.
Anabel Černohorski, Sebastian Krawczyk, Ana Grobler
If you recognise yourself in the descriptions of OCD, you can contact your GP, who can also refer you to a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist for professional help.
Jaka Vatovec (1989, Postojna) graduated in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana in 2016. He is mainly active in the fields of painting and drawing and has published several artist books and fanzines. His work is influenced by the visual content of fringe subcultures and B-grade films, especially horror films produced in Europe in the 1970s. Thematically, he explores the notion of mental health and the way it is understood, as well as death and our relationship to it – both in physical and symbolic form. The latter is often interwoven with themes of religion and obscure spiritual and magical and/or occult ideas. He has shown work in many solo and group exhibitions at home and abroad, including:
inhale exhale, Kulturni dom Nova Gorica, Nova Gorica (2023);
Army and the City, Hiša Kulture Pivka, Pivka (2020);
Weeds, Hiša Kulture Pivka, Pivka (2020);
Baby Shower, Stiege 13, Vienna, Austria (2019);
Post-Christmas Depression, P74 Gallery, Ljubljana (2017); SAMO group exhibition of prints, KAPSULA, Ljubljana (2019);
Off the Hook, Neurotitan Gallery, Berlin, Germany (2017);
Off the Hook, UGM, Maribor (2016),
Motivi di famiglia / Family reasons, Villa di Toppo Florio, Udine, Italy (2014);
EXHIBITION Nr. 23, CAC Landskrona, Sweden (2014). He has participated in the artist book fairs and art editions Blind Date Convention (P74 Gallery) and Caffeine Hours (Indigo Festival).
Photographed by: Nada Žgank.
