»Mapping«

Alen Ožbolt: »Mapping«

Alen Ožbolt

»Mapping«

8. June 1997 – 27. July 1997

Studentski centar Gallery, Zagreb, Croatia

A fragment. It is human to speak about the earth. It is also human to be sorry for the loss (of the earth). The earth stili means dependence, it is stili a home for some of us. We are not nomads; the loss of the earth is a metaphor for the loss of fertility, and also a metaphor for the loss of life. To push out of space means to push out of life, it is a kind of dissection. Without space there is no (physical) existence. What remains is mere imagination. Old cultivation cultures. The earth is historical; territories are past and present. Once and again, an axe has been hanging over cultures. They speak big words: the great Past, the great Future, the great Present. Cartography. Once again, today we live in the time of great measurements that bring no peace. Day by day, one day after another we look for territories. To-see-the-earth. Cartographers have the daily light to observe and measure: the chart is a visual medium. A free gesture, or blind appropriation? The frame is determined in advanced, and it is closed. The perspective is bloodstained. Maps look nice, they are different from the earth, and more evident: they are neat and can be read quickly, exactly, and thoroughly. Screens. Haven't people always wanted to know where they are, or even where they are going? According to the plan: every day they are here. Measures, measurements of the earth from a technical distance, views from afar, views from above. This is not the earth; it is a territory. A property. Maps are spaces, large blank spaces on the paper vvhere the territory – “the earth” – is seen as something political, or national. The outline of the immense reality on a small surface measured in millimetres. How else to read these contents? The colours are regions and territories; the lines are borders and rivers; the dots are tovvns and villages ... We read the map; it is a medium where we only see what has been marked. What is missing? A map is made of numerous lines and numerous dots in a certain arrangement and a certain scale. It is something that makes us understand these lines and these dots as a (metric) description of the earth, the description of the earth in a very small scale. The expansion of territory is a big explosion that could bring about a great void. A wipeout. Maps in the history represent the pulsation of human history; they are pulsating points, lines, borders and demarcations. Often they are bloody movements. Maps contain blood; they are alive, just like bodies they breathe, expand and contract. Cardiograph. It is not possible to draw an ultimate or definitive map. (1995)

Text for the work Mapping, 1995.

Spodaj pogledi na postavitev na Gospodarski zbornici, Ljubljana in na razstavi U3, Moderna galerija, Ljubljana.

Installation Views

»Mapping«

»Mapping«

Alen Ožbolt