The exhibition “Past is Now” is going to be held at the Münchner Stadtmuseum (from 13 October 2015 to 10 January 2016), as a part of Fotodoks – the Festival for Contemporary Documentary Photography. The regional partner is the area of the former Yugoslavia, which has beenin the focus of attention of the cultural and artist publicduring the last couple of years.
We find traces of the past in our everyday lives; depending on how one perceives it, some use the past as a template or a formative influence, while others see the past as a distant memory, as a repetition or as an opportunity to redefine what has already been seen. In collaboration with the partners from the former Yugoslav countries, Fotodoks strives to untangle the complex relations starting from the status quo, up to the potentials which the present assumes from the past.
Among other authors whose names you can find on the website of the Festival, Hrvoje Slovenc is also taking part in the deliberations on the topic the “Past is Now” by presenting his new work titled “Croatian Rhapsody”. His peculiar series of photographs is an expression of the author’s reflection on the status of the country which he left thirteen years ago. The context of his origin, culture, language, customs, family and friends – all these elements constituted an important part of his personality, especially when he was getting acquainted with the American way of life to which he slowly adjusted. But time did its part. He came to understand American customs, and started tosystematically explore and critically observe the customs of his origin.
He became particularly interested in the politics of fear which he identified as the foundation for the behaviour of the Croatian silent majority – the majority who is against everything it considers to be different – minorities, women, homosexuals, immigrants, and even animals.
Croatian Rhapsody functions like an unconventional album; it consists of seemingly unrelated scenes, directed, enlarged or found photographs, portraits, landscapes and photographs of various objects.It is impossible to give an all-encompassing description because this work functions outside of standard definitions of truth and lies, of real and imaginary. The photographic sequence evokes the strategies which the artist Hrvoje Slovenc holds important; it is simultaneously as equential portrait whose subjects are the author himself and the country of his origin.
All photographs were taken with a large format camera (4 x 5); the films were scanned and inkjet-printed.
Croatian Rhapsody was included in the 2016 programme of the Spot Gallery.
