Two series of works produced for an exhibition at the Ravne Gallery – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Ravne na Koroškem, Slovenia, both connected by the theme of the local steel industry.
The first series consists of silkscreen prints that were made using photographs from the photographic collection of the Carinthian Regional Museum taken by Maks Dolinšek in the 1950s and 1960s. Most of these images depict various historical working processes at the steel factory that required the presence of a worker at each step. For one of the works, 196 portraits were selected from the museum's archive and assembled into a special commemorative composition. The ink used for the prints was made from dust collected at the steel production site. These monochrome prints are very bright and the pictures barely legible, resembling faded photographs and appearing as a pale, vanishing memory of a heroic past. They show the dynamics of the relationship between the socio-historical space of Ravne and the content from the steel factory, which imbues the works with a special symbolic meaning.
The second series of works consists of photographs displayed in light boxes that show some of the production locations at SIJ Metal Ravne, which were taken during a visit to the factory. The contrast between the printed archival images and their bright, clear modern counterparts creates an implicit tension that adds drama to the whole. In comparison to the older images, which reflect the socialist glorification of labor, the new ones are limited to internal perspectives and breathtaking interiors of industrial spaces. There are no workers, only a shadow that occasionally appears at the edge, and the steps of modern-day Sisyphuses. Their indifference to the impressive process of continuous transformation of steel into familiar and technically sophisticated forms transcends the significance of the results of their work in the Carinthian environment.
The works were produced for the solo exhibition Untitled (Archive Ravne Steelworks) at the Ravne Gallery – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Koroška, Ravne na Koroškem, Slovenia in 2023.
The first series consists of silkscreen prints that were made using photographs from the photographic collection of the Carinthian Regional Museum taken by Maks Dolinšek in the 1950s and 1960s. Most of these images depict various historical working processes at the steel factory that required the presence of a worker at each step. For one of the works, 196 portraits were selected from the museum's archive and assembled into a special commemorative composition. The ink used for the prints was made from dust collected at the steel production site. These monochrome prints are very bright and the pictures barely legible, resembling faded photographs and appearing as a pale, vanishing memory of a heroic past. They show the dynamics of the relationship between the socio-historical space of Ravne and the content from the steel factory, which imbues the works with a special symbolic meaning.
The second series of works consists of photographs displayed in light boxes that show some of the production locations at SIJ Metal Ravne, which were taken during a visit to the factory. The contrast between the printed archival images and their bright, clear modern counterparts creates an implicit tension that adds drama to the whole. In comparison to the older images, which reflect the socialist glorification of labor, the new ones are limited to internal perspectives and breathtaking interiors of industrial spaces. There are no workers, only a shadow that occasionally appears at the edge, and the steps of modern-day Sisyphuses. Their indifference to the impressive process of continuous transformation of steel into familiar and technically sophisticated forms transcends the significance of the results of their work in the Carinthian environment.
The works were produced for the solo exhibition Untitled (Archive Ravne Steelworks) at the Ravne Gallery – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Koroška, Ravne na Koroškem, Slovenia in 2023.