Studio Photography, Reality, Construct

Currently under the pressure of the dominant activist art an attenuation of these aspects can be perceived. Rendition executed by the means of constructing reality is considered to be one of the possibilities of discovering new strategies of visuality.

Even though there will not be a comeback to stage photography of 1980s-90s, there will be a search for new forms of stage which will be in symbiosis with the set themes. The focus of the studio is broad enough to make the studio updated with new incentives and challenges without crossing the borders of reality and construction. Sociology, natural sciences and history in connection with photography create a space for interdisciplinary discussions in the studio. However, the main focus is not on producing experts in individual scientific  disciplines but these sciences are to create a background for students’ contemplation over their photography projects. 

Teaching Method:

• Individual consultations
• Lectures of external and internal guests 
• Reviews and discussions
• Presentation of the degree of completion 
• Workshops focused on intermedia cooperation  
• Presentations of the latest exhibitions, festivals and works of authors
• Requirements:
• Interest, activity and passion for art 

Concept references of the Studio:

The photographic medium has a particularly strong presence in today's visual and post-media age. It determines not only the shape of our world, but in many ways it is becoming a full-fledged partner for more scientific disciplines.  Vice versa is also true, individual contents of the photographs absorb incentives from human or social sciences. Therefore, the concept of the studio is primarily focused on the analysis of social, welfare or other circumstances. The Studio studies will not only abide with the ordinary reflection of the world, but they will have to be actively interconnected with the knowledge of sociology, psychology, and other types of studies clarifying the character of today's world. One of the basic questions that students should raise when taking photos of a certain content is ‘Why?, Why is today's society the way it is ?, And what impact does it have on the character of people's lives?, How is the nature of the traditional structures of society, family, individual changing?’ The burden of having this knowledge can be more challenging for students, yet it is necessary for them to be more and more thorough in their visual points of view and to bring certain experience and thus the knowledge of the state and the condition of our time. The studies are based on three basic fields of knowledge, from which topics, problems, and thematic areas are generated and assigned in the studio what also results into visual strategies.

SOCIOLOGY – a science exploring social processes and mutual relationships. In the studio we consider sociology to be an important knowledge base explaining the nature of life. Photography and sociology are closely interconnected in the so called visual sociology, where photography helps analyse human behaviour in the society. Simultaneously it can work vice verse. This means that sociology and its conclusions can be a starting point for interesting students’ concepts.

A part of the teaching process is reading and discussing sociological texts which form public opinion and are based on observing the same socio-cultural processes. For example, texts by Zygmunt Bauman, Anthony Giddens, Ulrich Beck, Gilles Lipovetsky, Michel Maffesoli, as well as texts by Slovak and Czech sociologists.

NATURAL SCIENCES - sciences exploring transformation of nature. In this context, natural sciences are understood in terms of image depiction and construction. Individual sciences can contribute to new insights into the reality, depiction and perception of the reality and a perspective shift towards fiction. Referring to the 19th-century photography, it was the technical parameters which were thoroughly tacked at the beginning of its development. Many of these problems seem to be topical again. This is confirmed by the opinion of the philosopher Monique Sicaed, who deals with the analysis of the terms:” light, angle of view, image, technique, and the determining line of her research is the issue of constructing the scientific view, photographic fact and understanding the effects of the invention of photography, radiography, film and digital image”. Her philosophical studies enable us to be experimental in creating visual strategies of various image constructions, which could bring about a shift in the visuality of the current technical medium. It is very likely that this could balance more between materiality and dematerialization of the image itself. Nowadays, when a lot of contemporary art projects are dealing with self-reflection and self-analysis, even in the case of photographic media, I can imagine that every field of natural sciences could serve as a good source of inspiration for students’ creativity in both areas, contentual as well as visual.

HISTORY - science of historical events. History is understood in the broadest possible sense. On one hand, specific historical events might be the subject of current updated concepts, but at the same time the history of one’s own art field might be in focus as well. So, the history of fine arts, or better to say history of photography is being updated in the contemporary art. Whether it is the content or form - in both cases, historical photographs can become a subject for new renditions yet anchored in present.

Creation of the artist's book

Current Student Books presented at the OFF festival 2017 in Bratislava, created within the course "Creation of the artist's book" under the tutorship of  Mgr.art. Olja Triaska Stefanovic, ArtD. And Mgr.art. Juraj Blaško, ArtD.