In connection with the exhibition Staged Salvations, Galleri Image has published a catalogue with works by the participating artists André Viking (DK), Nils Stelte (DE), og Rocco Venezia (IT). The catalogue contains an introductory text by the curator of the exhibition Lovro Japundžić.
The catalogue has been printed with three different covers, one for each of the artists.
Staged Salvations explores the idea of rituals used as an attempt to overcome the reality that has suddenly become a burden. Our very fragility transforms itself in the productive force that enables separation from the previously practiced patterns. Twisting common modes of perception becomes possible thanks to newly found tactics that can easily disrupt the human mind. Elements of material culture are turned into symbols and creative tools used in performance-like actions that initiate different ways of self-reflection within various communities enabling catharsis and fulfilment. In the quest for self-actualization and self-improvement the body is a primary medium through which a new level of consciousness becomes possible. The exhibition explores themes revolving around rites, rituals and similar acts humans partake in when building up resistancy to the chaos we may experience surrounding us every day.
Lovro Japundžić (b. 1990) from Zagreb, Croatia, holds a Master’s in Art History and Sociology. He works as an associate curator at the Miroslav Kraljevic Gallery (GMK) in Zagreb – where he organized his first solo shows – and as an assistant curator at the Organ Vida Photography Festival. Apart from curating, he works as a producer for BADco. – a collaborative performance collective, and co-runs the collective Ziva Muzika, bringing boundary-pushing electronic music to his hometown of Zagreb. He regularly writes essays and art reviews for local and international magazines.
André Viking (b. 1989) is a Danish visual artist currently living and working in Copenhagen, Denmark. After graduating from Copenhagen Film & Photography School in 2012, Viking completed the General Studies Program at The International Center of Photography, where he was awarded two ICP Director’s Scholarships. With the strong belief in photography’s subjective yet universal language, André Viking draws from ancient history and myths to explore convoluted relationships between meaning, truth and fiction. Viking’s work has been exhibited internationally, including Copenhagen Photo Festival, Krakow Photomonth, and Filter Space, Chicago.
Nils Stelte (b. 1989) is a German Berlin-based photographer. He is a graduate of the Ostkreuz School of Photography where Ute Mahler mentored him and holds a BA in Social Sciences from Humboldt University Berlin. With his background in the social sciences, Stelte’s work explores changing socio-political beliefs and examines their influence on the individual. His work In Security won the Münzenberg Forum first prize and was selected and exhibited at Darmstädter Tage der Fotografie, Young PhotoBook – The PhooBook Museum by Markus Schaden, Copenhagen Photo Festival, Athens Photo Festival and Lumix Festival.
Rocco Venezia (b. 1991) is an Italian visual artist working mainly with photography. Mythology, literature and the European political and economic situation are the primary sources for his projects. He holds a first class honours degree in Documentary Photography from the Newport University of South Wales. Adding to his practice as a photographer, Rocco works as curator and producer for PHmuseum, and he is the co-founder of Photo Meliggoi, a photography residency in Greece.
Staged Salvations is a part of the project PARALLEL – European Photo Based Platform, which was established in order to strengthen cooperation in the European art world as well as an opportunity to develop and establish an effective platform for the exhibition of the work of young artist and curators. You can read more about PARALLEL here.
The exhibition is supported by the European commission through their program Creative Europe, The Danish Arts Foundation, Den Hielmstierne-Rosencroneske Stiftelse and the City of Aarhus (Kulturudviklingspuljen).
