[spectre] kor::net + DECro > Nina Czegledy + Marcus Neustetter: The Visual Collider

[Darko Fritz]

+ Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art . Vela Luka
+ grey) (area - space of contemporary and media art . Korčula
+ DECro - Digital Exchange Croatia . Zagreb

 > present

The Visual Collider
by
Nina Czegledy and Marcus Neustetter

18 . 09 - 10 . 10 .  2009

Opening: Friday, September 18th, at 8 p. m.
in the Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art
in Cultural Centre of Vela Luka

Curator: Darko Fritz . grey) (area
Gallery curator: Rada Dragojevic Cosovic


Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, Vela Luka and the gray) (area   
–  space of contemporary and media art, Korčula, through an informal  
association with the cor::net (Korčula Network), and in association  
with DECro-Digital Exchange Croatia, Zagreb present a world premiere  
of the Visual Collider project. Within the Visual Collider project  
Hungro-Canadian artist Nina Czegledy and South-African artist Marcus  
Neustetter collaborate for the first time. The authors and the  
curators will attend the exhibition opening on Friday, 18th September  
at 8 p. m.

On September 10th 2008, billions of particles were smashed together in  
nano-seconds to recreate the first moments of the Big Bang, in the  
Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s most powerful particle  
accelerator. Thousands of scientists worked for decades to achieve  
this scientific spectacle “challenging those who seek confirmation of  
established knowledge, and those who dare to dream beyond the  
paradigm”.  Nina Czegledy and Marcus Neustetter were so inspired by a  
lecture on the LHC that while they had already deliberated and tested  
project ideas for several months, they immediately adopted a fresh  
approach, which led to The Visual Collider.

For the first exhibited manifestation of The Visual Collider, Nina  
Czegledy and Marcus Neustetter are presenting a small segment of their  
larger vision of an ongoing collision of images and impressions that  
take place with each experience by both artists. In some sense, the  
exhibition in Korcula becomes a sketch for a Visual Collider that,  
much like the LHC, can produce data through reaction, some of which is  
measured and some of which we are not able to comprehend or express.

Artist statement:

At the actual Collider every function including research, development  
and production, is based on principles and systems. In contrast our  
method is spontaneous, immediate and intentionally unsystematic.  
Nevertheless there are significant junctures. LHC is an immense  
scientific venture - our deep interest in the intersection of arts,  
science and technology is one of the crossover points. While in the  
sciences it is prudent to build on fundamental facts with analytical  
precision, in reality these investigations are often permeated with  
the exploration of the unknown, reaching unexpected revelations. In  
our practice working with the bizarre, traveling towards unpredictable  
destinations is a regular pursuit. In science a negative experimental  
result might become as valid as an expected outcome. These unexpected  
results including happy accidents often lead to significant alternate  
solutions or theories.  Our adjacent images presented in this  
exhibition reveal unconventional interpretations frequently through  
unforeseen collisions. By employing a personal approach to the Visual  
Collider we challenge mega-projects such as the actual LHC, asking  
atypical questions concerning the experimental smashing together of  
information whether in the form of photographic light or protons.

For several years, we have been involved in high-tech experimentation  
in the virtual and the physical world. These days however, -similarly  
to many others, - we feel that there is a certain validity in a low- 
tech approach. This project differs very much from most of our work  
where we seek to evoke the sublime.

In the “Visual Collider” we present raw, spontaneous records that  
reflect more a momentary involvement that is simply juxtaposed with  
another. With this we make use of everyday experiences, experimenting  
with commonplace objects and situations. While the scale differs, our  
act of snatching and smashing these moments together is not unlike the  
Hadron Collider colliding myriad of particles in fractions of seconds.

The Visual Collider image sets (derived from our own source material)  
traverse cultural, political and personal boundaries suggesting  
different connotations. During the journey we cross time and space,  
bracketing generations and spanning continents in a never-ending  
conceptual loop. In the process of the juxtaposition of ideas and  
images we invite the viewers to develop their own hypothesis, their  
own Collider of the project.

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Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art
in Cultural Centre of Vela Luka
Obala 3/9 . 20270 Vela Luka . Croatia
tel: + 385. 20 . 813602

open: 9-14h, 18-19h
Saturday 10- 12 h
free entrance

contact: Darko Fritz darko at darkofritz.net / tel + 385 [0] 91.5800193


grey) (area program 2009: Lemeh 42 (Italy) . Petar Grimani  
(Croatia) .  Ivan Marusic Klif  (Croatia) . Toni Mestrović   
(Croatia) . Samuel Cepeda (Mexico) .  Nina Czegledy (Canada) and  
Marcus Neustetter (South Africa)