25 May 2016 Art commission: Cover for Artlocator Magazine No2, Mermaids and Color Fields Artlocator Magazine No2 Launch Party at A38, Budapest, Hungary
Peter Puklus Melinda after hairwashing (up), 2005, Paris
Die Robert Morat Galerie zeigt die Serie „One and half Meter“ des jungen ungarischen Künstlers Peter Puklus.
Peter Puklus, Jahrgang 1980, studierte an der Moholy-Nagy Universität für Kunst und Design in Budapest und an der École Supérieur de Création Industrielle in Paris. Seine Arbeit hat in den vergangenen Jahren international viel Aufmerksamkeit erhalten und C / O Berlin widmet ihm im Rahmen der Ausstellungsreihe „Thinking about Photography“ von Februar bis Mai 2016 seine erste große institutionelle Einzelausstellung in Deutschland. Während bei C / O Berlin die Konzeptarbeiten „Handbook to the Stars“ und „Epic Love Story of a Warrior“ gezeigt werden, präsentiert die Galerie die dokumentarische Serie „One and a half Meter“ aus dem Jahr 2012. Der Titel beschreibt den Radius unmittelbarer Nähe, die Intimsphäre von anderthalb Metern – denn Puklus dokumentiert seine direkte Umgebung, Freunde und Mitbewohner in seiner Budapester Wohnung, die Menschen und Orte seines Alltags. „Ich sammele Portraits der Menschen, die mich umgeben, ich sammle Erinnerungen. Ich halte einen Moment fest, dessen Magie im Vertrauen liegt; Intimität und Fotografie, mit andren Worten, die Geschichte von Liebe, Freundschaft und Identität.“
Das Buch zur Serie ist im Kehrer Verlag erschienen.
Peter Puklus Still-life with pineapple, 2005, Paris
Robert Morat Gallery presents the photographic series “One and a half Meter” by Hungarian artist Peter Puklus. Peter Puklus, born 1980, studied at Moholy-Nagy University for Arts and Design in Budapest and at the École Supérieur de Création Industrielle in Paris. His work has received wide international attention over the last couple of years and from February to May 2016 C/O Berlin now presents his first major museum show in Germany in the context of a series of exhibitions titled “Thinking about Photography”. While C/O Berlin shows the more concept driven projects “Handbook to the Stars” and “Epic Love Story of a Warrior”, the gallery presents the documentary series “One and a half Meter” from 2012. The title reflects on the immediate radius of proximity, the natural sphere of privacy, one and a half meters, as Puklus documents his immediate surroundings, his domestic environment, his friends and roommates in his Budapest appartment, the people and places of his everyday. „I collect portraits of the people that surround me, I collect memories. I try to document a magical moment of trust; intimacy and photography, in other words, the story of love, friendship and identity.“
The book to the series was publshed by Kehrer Verlag.
Peter Puklus Donát after waking up, 2005, Budapest
Peter Puklus At Akos’ place, 2004, Budapest
ROBERT MORAT | GALERIE in Berlin and Hamburg focuses on contemporary photography and photography of the 20th century, showing alternating exhibitions by German and international photographers from it’s program of artists.
ROBERT MORAT | GALERIE
Linienstraße 107
10115 Berlin
“Tools are there to serve your ideas. I want to use the most perfect tool to express what I want to say, and if it’s dancing I will dance.” Peter Puklus
Forward. Back. Stop. Remix. Focus. Change of perspective. Repeat. Understand. Peter Puklus constantly explores our visual cosmos—he charts and questions the outer galaxy and his inner universe. He playfully moves between the dimensions, in order to fathom the hidden essence and effect of the world more profoundly. He often begins with seemingly insignificant objects and everyday situations, which transcend their proper function through the process of visualization, hence taking on a new meaning. Peter Puklus constantly re-arranges objects, placing them in relationship to one another and adding his own associations. His photographic series are studies, sketchbooks and journeys of realization all at once, which explode formal boundaries and radically expand the photographic space. They follow their very own rhythm and pattern—free of any convention, chronology or logical sequence. Open end.
For the first time, C/O Berlin has brought together Puklus’ series “Handbook to the Stars” and “Epic Love Story of a Warrior” in an exhibition curated by Ann-Christin Bertrand. With around 80 works, the show provides an insight into the multifaceted working method of the Hungarian artist.
In Handbook to the Stars Peter Puklus examines and portraits the human brain and its infinite capacity and ability to perpetually create narratives and establish connections. Completely incoherent ideas are often strung together, relationships created and then dissolved again. It is a permanent attempt to reassure oneself within the constant, fluid movement of the environment. For Peter Puklus, the firmament is the membrane and visual analogy of this inner world, the transformation into the greater whole—fixed stars have been correlating with smaller planets for millions of years and each constellation seems to tell its own story.
Inspired by private stories and historical events, in Epic Love Story of a Warrior Peter Puklus enlarges his artistic vocabulary to include complex, three-dimensional collages made up of sculpture, photography, film and installation. On a formal level, he highlights the striking references between avant-garde art and the political-social concepts of this period, which with their strong impact and tradition still have a big influence on the societies of this region today.
Photo: David von Becker
With photography Peter Puklus uses a medium that is primarily documentary. However, his method of working is not photographic but rather comparable to that of a sculptor or performer. He moves like a director through his three-dimensional installations and incorporates new shots into the existing sequence of photographs of his unfinished working process. With his experiments comprising of forms, light, shadow, time and space, Peter Puklus enables new scope and a transgression of boundaries when dealing with the photographic image—different sizes, materiality, repetition and cropping, as well as a disruption of the frame. Where necessary, he replaces static with moving images, positive with negative, analogue with digital, and alternates constantly between colour and black-and-white. In a similar way to Lászlo Moholy-Nagy or Wolfgang Tillmans, Peter Puklus also seeks to understand himself through photography but also to comprehend the medium itself, with its scope and limitations.
Peter Puklus, born 1980 in Kolozsvár, Romania, studied photography at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest and New Media Design at the École National Supérieur de Création Industrielle (ENSCI) in Paris. He has published his works in photo books and presented them in numerous solo and group exhibitions—including Foam, Amsterdam, Krokus Gallery, Bratislava, Festival International de Mode & de Photo, Hyères and the Unseen Photo Fair, Amsterdam. In 2016 he plans to complete his doctorate in Liberal Arts at the Moholy-Nagy University in Budapest. Peter Puklus lives and works in Budapest.
With the series Thinking about Photography, C/O Berlin has created an entirely new format for Berlin that places a deliberate focus on new trends in contemporary photography. Photography has always been strongly influenced by technological innovations, and in the recent history of the medium this has led to constant development and change. The advent of digital photography launched yet another transition process, whose gradually emerging effects and implications have been the subject of intense discussion in recent years among international artists and experts in photography. „Thinking about Photography“ will provide an opportunity for reflection on new trends and artistic developments in the medium of photography in up to three exhibitions per year. By exploring new modes of photographic production, perception, and presentation, the series will encourage broader consideration of the future of the medium.
Contact
C/O Berlin Foundation . Amerika Haus . Hardenbergstraße 22–24 . 10623 Berlin
Tel +49.30.284.44 16-62 . Fax +49.30.284.44 16-19 . info@co-berlin.org . www.co-berlin.org . Newsletter
Opening Hours
Exhibition space . Daily 11 am – 8 pm
Café . Daily 10 am – 8 pm
First of all I believe that here in Central Europe we are still living in the 20th century, as the 20th century itself started only in 1914 or 1918. What happened then still affects our current life, or – to be precise – our life is based on the events from the past century. Continue reading here.
#UNSEENASX – Associative Methods, Inherent Algorithms and History Through the Self-portrait: A Conversation with Peter Puklus
“It is about expressing an idea freely. As soon as you say you’re a photographer, you’re immediately blocking yourself inside a medium or a technology. “ Continue reading here.
Hot off the press: the second issue of Unseen Magazine. The cover reveals behind-the-scenes of the Unseen 2015 campaign project. The magazine also includes an interview with me by Sophie Wright. Local distributers in Amsterdam include Athenaeum Boekhandel, the American Book Center, and De Bijenkorf. Distributers in London include Foyles, Saatchi Gallery, Tate Bookshop and many more. To find out where the magazine is being sold near you, please email magazine@unseenamsterdam.com.
Peter Puklus gives an artist talk and workshop at Uglich Photofestival
Photo: Александр Тягны-Рядно
In August 2015 I was invited by Nadya Sheremetova from Fotodepartament to participate the Uglich Fotofestival. I gave an artist talk and a workshop. More soon…
From left to right: Painted plaster head (Self-portrait of a man in orange), 2015; Painted plaster head (Self-portrait of a man in blue), 2015; Painted plaster head (Self-portrait of a man in red), 2015
Having unveiled the campaign for the 2015 edition of Unseen, we are proud to reveal its expansion with two new images. These three images, selected from a larger series created by Budapest-based artist Peter Puklus, represent the complete campaign for Unseen Photo Fair & Festival.
Peter Puklus’ campaign visualises various interpretations of a sculpted self-portrait. In creating the sculpture, Puklus reinterpreted the only remaining photograph of a sculpture by Hungarian avant-garde artist Joseph Csaky (Head, 1913), which was either lost or destroyed. The artist photographed the sculpture in various contexts, superimposing different colour-palettes onto the scene, resulting in a series of photographs. These images – only three of which are pictured above – do not depict a final state; they are part of a process, a performance.
Read the interview with Peter Puklus and see the complete series of work in the Unseen Magazine. More to follow on this soon.
Peter Puklus is finalist of the third Leopold Bloom Art Award
Drawing of Bloom by Joyce (source: Wikipedia)
Artists in the finale of the €10 000 prize
The applications were evaluated in a two-tiered jury process.
After the semifinal the main jury – Dr. Declan Long, Susanne Altmann és Mark Rappolt – selected the finalists from fifteen artists who will have the opportunity to show their works at the New Budapest Gallery.
The selection criteria of the award were determined by the Founders and the jury evaulated the artists’ portofolios, exhibition concept and the topicality of their work in an international context.
The finalists of the third Leopold Bloom Art Award
Ádám Albert visual artist, winner of the Hungarian Essl Art Award in 2007, and got the Derkovits Gyula scholarship in 2009-2012
Gábor Arion Kudász photographer, scholar of the Capa Grand Prize in 2015, lecturer at MOME since 2003
Katarina Šević visual artist, resident artist of the Fabrikken for Kunst og Design in Copenhagen in 2012, and the Gasworks in 2009
Kokesch Ádám visual artist, winner of Strabag Art Award in 2006, member of the Studio of Young Artists’ Association since 1998
Nemere Kerezsi visual artist, winner of Junior Prima in 2008, lecturer in the Eszterházy Károly College – Department of Visual Arts
Peter Puklus visual artist, shortlisted for the Paul Huf Award and finalist at Unseen Dummy Award also in 2014
Self Publish, Be Happy: A DIY Photobook Manual and Manifesto by Bruno Ceschel
‘Handbook to the Stars’ is included in Self Publish, Be Happy: A DIY Photobook Manual and Manifesto by Bruno Ceschel.
An economic and cultural revolution has shaken the photobook world in the last five years: self-publishing. An army of photographers operating as publishers have had an instrumental role in today’s photobook renaissance. This book offers a do-it-yourself manual and a survey of key examples of self-published success stories, as well as a self-publishing manifesto and manual. The survey offers an overview of the contemporary self-publishing landscape and the case studies themselves will each illustrate a particular theme and genre of self-publishing (such as diary, documentary, or conceptual object). Each will be accompanied by personal testimonies from the artists who created them. Author Bruno Ceschel, founder of the Self Publish, Be Happy organization, provides a rallying cry for all those involved in the contemporary photobook revolution—a moment in which the photobook, in all its infinitesimal manifestations, has never before been so omnipresent in our cultural landscape, nor so critical to the photographer’s practice.
4 Jun – 26 Jul 2015, Athens Photo Festival 2015, Hellenic Centre for Photography
Reframe Memory
Double spread from Handbook to the Stars by Peter Puklus, published by Stokovec – Space for Culture, Banská Stiavnica, Slovakia, 2011
The 2015 main programme, entitled Reframe Memory, focuses on the complex interconnections between memory, time and identity, exploring and exposing the dialectical relationship between past and present. Using facts and insights from history and the current and changing socio-political context in Europe and globally, as a starting point, the act of reframing generates new perspectives that enable new combinations of imagery and meanings of the past that help us navigate the present. The main programme reflects the diversity of contemporary photographic practice, presenting recent works by 76 established and emerging artists from 37 countries, 12 multimedia projects and a wide selection of photobooks, spread across 5 exhibition halls at the Benaki Museum.
‘Constellations photographiques’ (including ‘Handbook to the Stars’) by Anne Immelé is now printed. Photo: Anne Immelé
Les constellations d’étoiles n’existent que par le regard de celui qui a choisi puis connecté des étoiles entre elles afin de créer une configuration. De même, le photographe qui constelle va pointer des fragments de visible qu’il va agencer et configurer. La constellation, c’est une métaphore de la photographie, dans une pensée de la multiplicité et du rapprochement des hétérogènes.
Cet essai analyse les pratiques de mises en espace photographiques sous forme de constellations, à partir d’un corpus d’œuvres de Wolfgang Tillmans, Raymonde April, Peter Puklus, Antoine d’Agata, Adam Broomberg & Olivier Chanarin, David Favrod, Marine Lanier, Vincent Delbrouck, Sylvain Couzinet-Jacques, Aleix Plademunt, Anouk Kruithof, Archive of Modern Conflict, Vera Schöpe, Mikhael Subotzky et Patrick Waterhouse, Ed Templeton, Anna Meschiari, Tacita Dean, Isabelle Le Minh, Carly Steinbrunn, Christophe Bourguedieu, Sophie Ristelhueber, Michael Schmidt et Christian Milovanoff.
The new »PROJEKTIL 2014 Magazin « is now available. The magazine features the guests and the results of ten colourful and experimental events that took place in the summer of 2014 at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.
PROJEKTIL is an international series of lectures and workshops that are offered by the Faculty of Art and Design at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. It was initiated in 2007 by students in order to compensate for the lack of a graphic design professorship. Due to the enormous success and continued demand for the course, it has been offered annually ever since then and the design and organisation of the series is passed down among the students. PROJEKTIL is seen as a platform for ideas, inspiration and creative exchange.
In 2014 the student team consisting of Florian Bräunlich, Sascha Krischock, Philip Neues, Philotheus Nisch and Benjamin Schmidt curated international positions between drawing, video, photography and graphic design with a total of 10 international guests; Peter Puklus, Masanao Hirayama, Viktor Hachmang, Jordy van den Nieuwendijk, Tobias Zielony, I Like Birds, Mark Prendergast, The Rodina & Geoffrey Lillemon.
»PROJEKTIL 2014 Magazin« is available either directly from the publisher, Lucia Verlag, or online at slanted.de.
Basic Info:
Title: PROJEKTIL 2014 Magazin
Language: English
Author/Editor: Projektil 2014 (Florian Bräunlich, Sascha Krischock, Philip Neues, Philotheus Nisch, Benjamin Schmidt)
The rest is history: an artist meditates on the past by Anastasiia Fedorova
Peter Puklus: Lying Female Body, 2013, Budapest (from the series ‘The Epic Love Story of a Warrior’)
Hungarian artist Peter Puklus’ photo story The Epic Love Story of a Warrior is a semi-fictional exploration of history, pain, collective memory and the body, through an imagined central European family, based in part on his own kin. Read more here.
12 November 2014 – 16 January 2015, Krokus Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
Shaped Reality. Between object and image.
Shaped reality. Between Object and Image, 2014, Installation view. Photo: Adam Šakový
A group exhibition by artists from the Czech republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Germany. In the centre of their interest lies the transformation of the world of objects into the shape of a photographic record which gains an autonomous aesthetic and semantic quality. Read more here.
About the project: At the beginning there is a chapter from a book, a story that talks of an unreachable and therefore unknown territory. This territory excites imagination and encourages theories. It is rich, because one cannot examine it closely. It only reveals enough to start speculations; it cannot be defined and therefore has the capacity to be many things. It is a story of how a lack of knowledge and the absence of a means to reach a territory allows different worlds to coexist. The curve rises as long as pragmatic knowledge is absent, then falls sharply.
Katarina Hruskova and Peter Puklus / October 2014
organised by: Štokovec, Space for Culture / BANSKÁ ST A NICA Contemporary
supported by: Ministry of Culture, Slovak republic
and antikvariatik.sk
6 October 2014, Budapest, Hungary
42X60 – interview 16 – Peter Puklus
Bill posting in New York. Photo: [42×60]
[42X60] calls on an artist to create an original art work to be edited on a 42×60 format.
The artist will have to work within this imposed format and adapt to the specifics thereof. Three thousand copies, exhibited per traditional posting method, will catch the Parisian passer-by attention during two month. During this same period copies will deposited in various art centres throughout France. Possibilities of foreign distribution are studied.
This exhibit concept will confront the artists’ work against the authentic street environment.
In concert, the [42×60] internet site will welcome complementary interviews of the artist allowing for a more precise approach and decoding of the work. The internet site aims at prolonging the artists’ intention and mark in time the short-lived nature of the exhibit. In time, archives of both works and interviews will add to the website.
16 May – 2 Jul 2014, Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Reflected – works from the Foam collection
Peter Puklus, How to build a sun, Budapest, 2011 (photo: Kunstbeeld)
Foam is proud to present Reflected – Works from the Foam Collection, the first exhibition of works selected from its own collection. Foam has been collecting photography actively since 2007. The collection has been growing steadily and now, comprises more than 400 photos. Films and photography-related installations are also well represented. The collection is an active and dynamic part of Foam and a reflection of its exhibition programme, in which the emphasis is placed on the support, signalling and presentation of young talents. Foam follows the careers of these young talents, which may also result in further acquisitions.
This policy ensures that Foam’s collection provides an accurate image of the most recent developments within the expansive field of photography. The works that have been selected for this first collection exhibition clearly do justice to this policy. The exhibition will feature work by young photographers and artists as well as those whose names have now become well-known, such as Daniëlle van Ark, Linus Bill, Blommers & Schumm, Raphaël Dallaporta (Foam Paul Huf Award [FPHA] 2011), Lara D’Hondt, Fleur van Dodewaard, Constant Dullaart, Uta Eisenreich, Stephen Gill, Marnix Goossens, Pieter Hugo (FPHA 2008), Joris Jansen, Katja Mater, Taiyo Onorato & Nico Krebs (FPHA 2013), Alex Prager (FPHA 2012), Peter Puklus, Misha de Ridder, Viviane Sassen, Lieko Shiga, Taryn Simon (FPHA 2007), Lorenzo Vitturi, Anne de Vries and WassinkLundgren.
Foam exhibited a part of its collection in 2011, during the annual international photography festival Rencontres d’Arles. The work was also seen in the Still//Life – Dutch Contemporary Photographyexhibition, which travelled to Moscow, among other places. In addition, Foam has loaned works to the Jan Cunen Museum in Oss, Netherlands, the Daegu Photo Biennale in South Korea, the Lewis Gluckman Gallery in Cork and the Art Museum of Northern Norway in Tromsø.
In October 2013 the Hungarian artist Peter Puklus realized an interactive performance regarding his book project „The Epic Love Story of a Warrior”. It is inspired by the classical art of the ancient world he re-enacts sculptures and poses, styles and situations of the cultural history of Europe. For each photo Peter Puklus makes sketches, trying out new content and ideas, mixes different genres and techniques and then relates these associatively to each other. At the same time Self Publish Be Happy Director Bruno Ceschel and Art Director Antonio de Luca hosted a two-day intensive workshop conceived for people interested in publishing their own photography book.
The performance and workshop are part of the program “In Transition” by C/O Berlin www.co-berlin.org
Reflexion – Ästhetische Referenzen 8. Darmstädter Tage der Fotografie
Peter Puklus: A dual polyhedron with cube, 2011, Budapest
Das Thema der Darmstädter der Fotografie machte es den Besuchern nicht auf Anhieb leicht. Dennoch kamen mehr als 3000 Menschen, um die Ausstellungen von 51 Künstlern aus 8 Ländern anzusehen. Die Besucher erlebten die Vielfalt aktueller Fotokunst in einer beeindruckenden Dichte.
Peter Puklus: 2813 (Elevated Pots), 2011, B.St. from the series ‘Handbook to the Stars’
Regarding the current state of image production a paradox suggests itself: if the notion of ‘photography about photography’ has increasingly begun to appear played out critically and was, in fact, a more or less redundant position to begin with, it is also the case that we are in need of an approach to the medium that is precisely about photography – given the extent to which existing (implicitly modernist) definitions fail to account for the new energies that it is invested with. Having reached this moment of self-consciousness with regard to its own history, it seems as though photography can no longer be satisfied to accept wholly conventional strategies of image-making as embodying the fundamental qualities of the medium – or indeed, as even being what photography is in itself. Continue Reading here.
22 Dec 2013 – 23 Feb 2014
ROSPHOTO. State Museum and Exhibition Centre for Photography
Foam Magazine Talents
State Museum and Exhibition Centre for Photography ROSPHOTO
Ministry for Culture of the Russian Federation
within the Year of Netherlands in Russia and Russia in Netherlands 2013
Foam Magazine Talents
22.12.2013 — 23.02.2014
Opening: 21 December 2013 at 18.00
Front Building exhibition hall, 2 floor
Foam Magazine Talents 2013 is a travelling exhibition that will be presented at ROSPHOTO in St. Petersburg, displaying the works of 13 from all over the world selected from submissions made in response to the magazine’s annual Talent Call. The results are published in the Talent Issue of Foam Magazine. The international premiere of this exhibition project will take place at ROSPHOTO.
The following photographers are presented at ROSPHOTO’s exhibition halls: Jinkyun Ahn (KR), Thibault Brunet (FR), Salvi Danés (ES), Daniel Gordon (USA), Eeva Hannula (FI), Sohei Nishino (JP), Peter Puklus (HU), Augustin Rebetez (CH), Thomas Rousset (FR), Charlie Rubin (USA), Ross Sawyers (USA), Linda Voorwinde (NL) en Daisuke Yokota (JP).
ROSPHOTO. State Museum and Exhibition Centre for Photography
The photobook dummy entitled Maquette of a Monument Symbolizing the Liberation No 2. is shortlisted at Unseen Dummy Award 2014. The dummy was created during my 3 months long residency in Vienna, Austria, supported by KulturKontakt Austria.
7 – 13 July 2014, Les Rencontres d’Arles, Crédit Agricole, Rue Parmentier, Arles, France
Foam: Spotlight – 5 Years of Talent
Images: Mayumi Hosokura, Taisuke Koyama, Alex Prager, Peter Puklus, Marleen Sleeuwits
Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam proudly presents a special showcase during the opening week of Les Rencontres d’Arles. Spotlight – Five Years of Talent is a unique overview of the extraordinary work by photographers that have been selected over the course of five years from the annual ‘Talent Call’. Each year, Foam Magazine organizes this Talent Call to recognize, support and give a platform to young and talented photographers under 35 years of age from all over the world. With works that were selected from more than 7,000 portfolios, this presentation highlights the most recent developments and trends within the extensive field of international photography.
All the work that was included in the past five Talent Issues is projected on a monumental, open book. The space features a reading table where the publications are available to the public. Additionally, the exhibition includes exclusive interviews with photographers from the various Talent Issues that have been recorded over the course of the past years.
11 March 2014 − 04 April 2014, Trapéz, Budapest, Hungary
Texts and Signs (The Epic Love Story of a Warrior)
The most recent series of Peter Puklus, entitled The Epic Love Story of a Warrior, deals with the history of an imaginary family from Central Europe in the 20th century. Out of the hundreds of pictures in the series the ones exhibited use commonly known linguistic signs and symbols that we might find familiar from our personal life or even from our collective history.
With this exhibition Puklus further experiments with the medium of photography to widen the possibilities by redefining them. He even leaves the dimensions of photography behind by using the context of space and time as well to experiment with blurring the borderlines between sculpture, photography, film and installation. The pieces exhibited work well on their own in the space, but they also have a strong, inseparable bond together as a three-dimensional collage. The artworks are not only connected by the multiplied shadows appearing behind them due to the reflectors spotted at them from several different directions, but also by the key pieces, the models’ (Maquette of a Monument Symbolizing the Liberation 1 and 3) multiple transformation throughout the exhibition. The photos made of these were shot from 24 angles and presented in a 72 pages long checkered notebook like an animated GIF, and the two traditional photographs commemorate them with a sculpture portrait.
The phenomenon demonstrating the interaction between light and shadow not only moves the static objects, but the shadows of the visitors passing in front of the reflectors also become part of the exhibition. The artist encourages the visitors to redefine their former perceptions of light, shadow and space. The multiplication of light is a playful reinterpretation of the everyday shadow. The visitors reconstruct the space and their role in it by experiencing their multiplied shadows and the miracle of science as well. The exhibition not only manipulates the visitors’ perception of reality with different light effects and the space altered by that, but also with working beyond the boundaries of photography with indirect and direct signs, texts to give a complex image of a new direction that is about experimenting and constantly redefining the borderlines between different artistic mediums.
The graffiti entitled Life is techno on the central wall of the exhibition space refers not only to the repetitive, simple electronic music which only uses a few easy to understand elements, but also to the central motif of the exhibition, the always changing, evolving and recurring models. It can also refer to the repetitions in the subject and in function, to the pattern of the checkered paper, but also to the female figure that appears repeatedly in a montage and also to the grids of a tablecloth symbolizing the European mountain range.
7 December 2013 − 16 February 2014, Graz, Austria
Skulptur
Opening
6.12.2013, 8 pm
in the scope of CMRK
Exhibition talk
with the artists present
7.12.2013, 1 pm
With Laurie Kang (CA), Kasia Klimpel (PL/CH), Lotte Lyon (AT), Christian Mayer (AT), Peter Puklus (HU), Carly Steward (US), Michael Strasser (AT), Anita Witek (AT)
Intro
Cutting, stacking, furling, folding fragile materials and arranging them in precarious and transitory states of equilibrium that the camera translates into sculptural phenomena or into simulacra of spaces or of architectural or natural structures on the one side; on the other, pictures, models, dummies, still-life-like constellations that have become installations, sculptural arrangements that have been translated into pictures: these are different approaches to the issue of photography as material and embodiment and its entanglement with the world of things, of reality that completely disregards the question of referents. What is at issue is not the connection between image and reality. The confrontation of material and image takes the form of collision rather than that of representation: a collision of materials, bodies, surfaces with the visual (or the gaze) rather than that of different types of visuality; a mutual translation, a deception, a sleight-of-hand, a series of revelations and concealments, of making one thing pass for another, of oscillations between picture and object, whose purpose is to put a distance between the act of making things visible and their visibility.
The exhibition project focuses on photography as an ongoing material practice rather than on the question of the production of meaning. The resurgence of interest in the analogue might be seen as a kind of desire for the image as object, for objects as images, a desire for images as raw sensual data, images that do not refer to anything but represent a kind of performance in and of themselves, a discrepancy between what can be said and what can be seen. This discrepancy may go so far that literally next to nothing remains visible in the images. However – and this is truly remarkable – this does not affect their ability to present a visual event, a space for articulation, in which an essential part of the visual is represented by a gap.
13 September − 13 November 2013, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Handbook to the Stars at FOAM 3h
Handbook to the Stars, FOAM 3h, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Photo: Cristian van der Kooy / Foam
With his publication Handbook to the Stars (2012) as starting point for the eponymous Foam 3h exhibition, the Hungarian artist Peter Puklus (1980) attempts to portray his own universe and to provide insight into how his photographic works relate to each other: like galaxies in relative proximity to one another that are bound together by their own gravitational force. The images function alongside each another and through one another, have no sequence or chronology, but exist individually even as they form interconnections and follow their own patterns.
Freed from any photographical conventions, Puklus works according to his own logic and interests, shifting naturally between genres, themes and media. In his studies of shapes we encounter fragile constructions, as well as objects to which he has made sometimes simple, sometimes radical alterations with an eye for the interplay of lines and geometric shapes. Like in the studio, his search for formal and three-dimensional aspects is also evident when he takes photographs in natural and urban environments. Where necessary, he exchanges the static for the moving image, combines positive and negative images, and alternates black and white with colour. This exhibition is a representation of how all these aspects coexist in Puklus’ universe of images.
Peter Puklus (1980, Kolozsvár, Romania) is a Hungarian artist and photographer. He is currently finishing his DLA (Doctor of Liberal Arts) in photography at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Budapest. Last year he published two books: Handbook to the Stars (Stokovec, Space for Culture) and One and a half meter (Kehrer Verlag).
The exhibition Handbook to the Stars by Peter Puklus can be seen 13 September – 13 November 2013 in Foam. Open daily 10am – 6pm, Thurs/Fri 10am – 9pm. Tickets: € 8,75.
Note to editors: For information and visual material please contact the communications department, e-mail foam[at]foam.org or phone +31 (0)20 5516500.
Foam is sponsored by the BankGiro Loterij, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, Delta Lloyd and the VandenEnde Foundation. This exhibition has been made possible by Van Bijlevelt Stichting and the Gieskes-Strijbis Fund.
26 October 2013, Berlin, Germany C/O Berlin and Self Publish, Be Happy cordially invites you …
to the photo shooting and performance
The Epic Love Story of a Warrior
of the Hungarian photographer Peter Puklus
on Saturday, 26 October 2013
at 2 pm, 4 pm, 6 pm and 8 pm
at the Studio Antonio de Luca
Immanuelkirchstraße 28
„The Epic Love Story of a Warrior“ is the current, unfinished book project by Peter Puklus. Inspired by the classical art of the ancient world he re-enacts sculptures and poses, styles and situations of the cultural history of Europe. For each photo Peter Puklus makes sketches, trying out new content and ideas, mixes different genres and techniques and then relates these associatively to each other – live in Berlin for the first time as an interactive performance.
Come by and join in! Everybody who is interested gets the chance to be a part of the process of creation. So this open performance is a mixture of a casting and a photo-shooting. Like a director Peter Puklus includes the results of the performance into the already existing image sequence. The whole event will be documented, published online in a series of images and parts of it will be incorporated in the book „The Epic Love Story of a Warrior“.
Peter Puklus, born 1980 Kolozsvár, Romania, is a fine art/editorial photographer living and working in Budapest, Hungary. He is about to finish his DLA (Doctor of Liberal Arts) studies in photography at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Budapest. Last year he published two photo-books: ‘One and a half meter’ at Kehrer Verlag, Germany and ‘Handbook to the Stars’ at Stokovec, Slovakia. This year he participates different group and solo shows through Europe including FOAM, Amsterdam; Krokus Gallery, Bratislava; Festival International de Mode & de Photo, Hyères; Unseen Photo Fair, Amsterdam.
Die Performance is in English an part of the event series In Transition. Twitter-User are able to document the event with the hash-tag #spbhlive and can follow us live through our Twitter profile @coberlin.
Peter Puklus . The Epic Love Story of a Warrior
Photo shooting and performance
Date 26 October 2013 Time 2 pm, 4 pm, 6 pm and 8 pm Admission free
Location Studio Antonio de Luca
Immanuelkirchstraße 28 . 10405 Berlin
Organizer C/O Berlin Foundation
Self Publish, Be Happy
Contact C/O Berlin Foundation
Phone 030.28 44 41 60 . info@co-berlin.org
Amerika Haus . Hardenbergstraße 22-24 . 10623 Berlin www.co-berlin.org
Messe Wien, Hall A, Entrance A, Messeplatz 1, 1020 Vienna, Austria.
Presentation of Parabol Magazine the Casual Issue, curated by Elfie Semotan.
11 October 2013 at 8 PM, Lehargasse 7, 1060, Vienna, Austria.
2 August − 29 September 2013, Westergasfabriek, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Foam Magazine #36 Talent Issue publication and exhibition
The Foam annual Talent Call is designed to showcase exceptional young photographers from all over the world. The selected photographers, from ten countries, this year are: Jinkyun Ahn (KR), Jonathas De Andrade (BR), Thibault Brunet (FR), Joshua Citarella (USA), Salvi Danes (ES), Daniel Gordon (USA), Eeva Hannula (FI), Sohei Nishino (JP), Peter Puklus (HU), Augustin Rebetez (CH), Thomas Rousset (CH), Charlie Rubin (USA), Ross Sawyers (USA), David Benjamin Sherry (USA), Linda Voorwinde (NL) and Daisuke Yokota (JP). A selection of their works will be shown in a large outdoor exhibition at Mercatorplein and Keizersgracht in Amsterdam in August and September. The exhibition will then travel to the Westergasfabriek for Unseen Photo Fair, where it will be on display until September 29th. The official launch of the Foam Magazine Talent Issue will take place at Unseen Photo Fair on Thursday September 26th, where Jörg Colberg will lead a round table discussion with the photographers.
15 August 2013, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Unseen Interview
When did you start to pursue your artistic career? Was there a trigger?
I guess I was about 7. I went hiking up the Schneeberg in Austria with my family and before leaving I’d found my father’s Exa 2B with some film rolls. I pulled some out to see what they were, my father showed me how it worked and I shot the clouds, people and, of course, cows. Later I got good feedback from my drawing teacher at school. Read the whole article here.
Still – the word may stand for deep silence, a static photograph, a picture frame, or may refer to the time up to and including the present moment. This word of rich significance stands as the title of an exhibition of internationally recognized, mostly European photographers and video artists in the second floor exhibition hall of MODEM, Debrecen. In addition to Hungarian institutions and private collections, several international galleries and museums – including the MUMOK of Vienna and the Folkwang Museum of Essen – have offered works for this large-scale thematic exhibition. Continue reading here.
6 − 29 September 2013, Ludwig Museum, Budapest, Hungary
Nomination for Leopold Bloom Art Award
The international presence of Hungarian visual art to strengthen
The Leopold Bloom Art Award is aimed at supporting progressive contemporary visual artists in Hungary and their presence in the international art scene. The Award was established in 2011 as a result of the co-operation between the Ludwig Museum, ACAX | Agency for Contemporary Art Exchange and the Irish Maurice Ward Group. The Leopold Bloom Art Award’s primary goal is to support the collaboration of Hungarian artists and prestigious international exhibition spaces, the international introduction of Hungarian artists and their career development, as well as the more intensive involvement of the Hungarian art scene in the international art world. As such, the Award endowed with 10.000 Euro is aimed at recognizing the work of a contemporary Hungarian visual artist and supporting the realization of his/her international exhibition.
Visual artists based in Hungary without age limit can apply for the award with the proposal of an international exhibition of their artworks (without any resriction regarding medium) taking place in a renowned European art institution (museum, commercial or non-profit gallery) or prestigious international event (biennial, festival) of their choice. This means that the preparation for the competition has already resulted in new professional contacts.
The name of the Award is taken from one of the most influential figures in modern literature – the main character of James Joyce’s Ulysses, who is of Hungarian descent. In line with the primary values of the Award and its Irish founder, Leopold Bloom is the symbol of paradigm-shifting art, travel, cosmopolitanism and not least of all the Irish-Hungarian connections. Continue reading here. Find Puklus’ profile page here.
1 July 2013, Budapest Art Factory, Budapest, Hungary
ILOV − EYOU Pineapple on the cover of Flash Art Hungary
On page 36 there is an artice by Gergely Ligetfalvi: Cosmos in the Kitchen, here’s a short extract: “So what was your first camera?” – was the first – not very original – question I put to Puklus. Not surprisingly, we both started laughing, but let’s face it, how else does a photographer’s career begin? “I must have been about 12 years old we were taking a trip to Austria, to the Schneeberg. Of course the trip was more like a gentle hike than actual mountain-climbing. Before we left I opened a cupboard at home and found a Exa 2B, and so I took my first photographs, which were images of my family, the sunset and naturally the cows.” Photography became a constant activity for Puklus, although he also meandered into the realms of painting and the graphic arts.
His first book, entitled One and a half meters, was based on his diploma work, which in turn was the conclusion of a period filled with photography that he spent at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest. The book, while it reflects a documentary approach, also bears the marks of the extensive work he did in the area of painting. The images show the artist’s close friends as they appear in their own living spaces. The interior scenes provide a glimpse into the everyday environment of a generation that was entering their twenties around the millennium. The distinctive micro-still-lifes were done in bathrooms or living rooms of upper-middle class apartments that gradually have become the sites of new habits and customs. These still-lifes are constructed out of elements that, due to their omnipresence, are barely noticeable, although they play important roles in our daily lives – notepads, books, cell phone chargers or containers for food. In addition to the hasty, seemingly random constellations, we also come across compositions that have a more enigmatic character and overwrite practical references. For example, a bouquet of flowers has been placed on top of a washing machine positioned in a corner with tiled walls. Alongside the micro-still-lifes, photographs mostly taken in natural surroundings showing either plants or paths leading into a forest provide a counterpoint to the portraits, which tend to recall classical pictorial topoi. This latter group signifies the core of the material. The often scanty garments worn by the figures are by no means the source of the impression of intimacy. There is no question whatsoever of pornography or voyeurism; instead one discerns the intimate bond of genuine friendship. The distance of a meter-and-a-half (which figures in the title of the series) signifies the sphere inside which an individual only lets in his or her personal acquaintances, delineating a border with the faceless, outside world. Yet the distance, which even Puklus’ lens is unable to cross, remains. This is the collectivity that includes distance and closeness, the dissolution of which – the loss of an artwork’s “aura” – was attributed by Walter Benjamin to photography itself. The personality, inseparable from the body, unfolds, but its secret nevertheless remains inexplicable.
