Ana Kučan: L'espace infini

ANA KUÄŒAN L'espace infini

ANA KUČAN L'espace infini 8.–29. 1. 2021

Ana Kučan je krajinska arhitektka. Njen poklic že sam po sebi implicira specifičen odnos do krajine, njenih posebnosti in razsežnosti, ki jo človekovi posegi preoblikujejo, kultivirajo in estetizirajo. Ta vidik zdaj uresničuje tudi v avtorski fotografiji, v razstavljenem ciklu konkretno z motiviko versajskega parka, ki skupaj z gradom Versailles predstavlja enega največjih dosežkov francoske umetnosti baročnega obdobja.

kar je bilo, in tistim, kar šele prihaja, položaja neskončne vmesnosti, kjer poskuša pogled zaman razvozlati uganko trajanja in minevanja. Črno-bela tehnika, ki jo je avtorica izbrala, preprečuje zdrs v ilustrativnost, kakršno bi postavila v ospredje barvna fotografija, in hkrati intenzivira gledalčevo občutenje sugeriranih pomenov. Pogled, ki drsi skozi megličasto površino podobe, postopoma prepoznava obrise posameznih rastlin in jih povezuje s krajinsko načrtnostjo v ponekod nakazanem razmerju do arhitekturnih elementov gradu, s katerim je park neločljivo povezan.

Ujeti v fotografski objektiv versajske vrtove in grajsko stavbo kot celoto je seveda nemogoče, a fotografirani fragmenti vendarle dajejo slutiti marsikaj, kar je onstran njih, namreč racionalizirano sistemsko ureditev, s katero je vsaka posamezna sestavina v dialogu, in zategadelj je tudi kontrast med naturo in kulturo v bistvu le navidezen, načelna polarizacija teh dveh entitet dejansko uveljavlja in utrjuje njuno soodvisnost. Arhitekt palače v Versaillesu Louis Le Vau in načrtovalec vrtov André Le Nôtre sta povsem enakovredna ustvarjalca prostorskega kompleksa, začetega v šestdesetih letih 17. stoletja, ki je postal nedosegljiv vzor številnim poznejšim evropskim knežjim rezidencam. Arhitekturni del, dopolnjen s kasnejšimi (po 1678) intervencijami Julesa Hardouin-Mansarta in z notranjo opremo Charlesa Le Bruna, ter parkovne površine, v katere so poleg okrasnih vaz vključene tudi posamezne skulpture in kiparske skupine (npr. Girardonova Apólonu strežejo Tétidine nimfe,1666, in Coysevoxova velika marmorna Vase de la Guerre, 1684–85), sobivajo kot vzgled harmoničnih struktur z različnim materialnim in funkcijskim statusom.

Subtilnost artikulacij množice dialoških razmerij med arhitekturnimi prvinami in parkovnimi labirinti, zavoji in presenetljivimi obrati transcendira realno, fizično podstat izkustvene zaznave tako enih kot drugih ter nas nevsiljivo prestavlja v območje irealnega, sanjskega, imaginarnega in izmuzljivega. Vse, kar je tu, je zelo konkretno, in vendar vseskozi na meji abstraktnega, arbitrarno subjektivnega, bolj čustvenega kot čutnega. Izostrenemu pogledu Ane Kučan se je široka pahljača denotacijske stvarnosti in konotacijske sublimnosti razprla v vsej svoji raznolikosti, iz katere je morala zelo skrbno izbrati poudarke, ki jih je hotela spremeniti v pomanjšane modele kot določujočo značilnost vizualne govorice. Z odličnim poznavanjem iluzionističnih učinkov fotografskega medija in zakonitosti prostorskega oblikovanja je neki časovno determiniran zgodovinski ambient prestavila v polje sodobne senzibilnosti, ga z dekonstrukcijo ponotranjila in preoblikovala v avtentične, skrajno osebne fotografske stvaritve.

V zgodovinski perspektivi je bila krajinska fotografija najprej predvsem dokumentarnega značaja, že sredi 19. stoletja pa se je instrumentalizirala in porazdelila na posamezne sklope, specializirane misije in inventarizacijo posameznih teritorijev po naročilih civilnih oblasti, velikih gospodarskih družb (na primer železnic) ali strokovnih združenj. S pojavom pikturalizma, ki je na prelomu stoletij fotografijo povzdignil na raven umetnosti, so občutja, vzdušje, atmosferski in svetlobni učinki prevladali nad dokumentarnostjo, modernizem pa je hkrati s sočasnimi slikarskimi težnjami stavil na bližnje plane, ravnovesje mas in stremljenje k abstrakciji. Avantgarde so izpostavile strukturiranost in geometrične komponente pejsaža, v desetletjih, ki so sledila, se je razprl širok spekter interpretacij osebnih doživljanj krajinske tematike, iskanja prečiščenih form in opozarjanja na uničujoče posledice nebrzdanega zlorabljanja naravnih danosti in darov.

Tradicionalni slovenski pristop k reprezentaciji krajine tako v slikarstvu kot v fotografiji je najpogosteje liričen, nemalokrat celo izrazito sentimentalen, redkeje dramatičen ali osredotočen na ekspresivne detajle. Zlasti v fotografskih posnetkih močno prevladuje neokrnjena ali idealizirana narava, tudi takrat, ko je motivno izhodišče polje ali nasad, le izjemoma naletimo na prizore in izreze iz parkov in podobnih okolij načrtnega snovanja krajinske konfiguracije.

Zato je avtorski prispevek Ane Kučan v sodobno fotografsko konstelacijo toliko pomembnejši, saj prepričljivo odstopa od ustaljene večinske paradigme ter v simbolni red branja in umevanja krajinskih artikulacij vpeljuje presenetljivo sveže, individualizirane sintagmatske rešitve. Že naslov cikla L’espace infini sugerira specifičen prostorski koncept niza fotografskih povečav v razponu od širokega do bolj ali manj bližnjih planov, segmentnih interferenc in aluzij na vizualne entitete izven kadra, v katerega so posamezne podobe ujete. Mehka, razpršena megličasta svetloba, ki opredeljuje čutno nazorno zaznavo vsake slikovne enote, intencionalno spodnaša vse poskuse ugotavljanja letnega ali dnevnega časa nastanka posnetkov in razstavljene fotografije intonira v brezčasnih (ali, če vam je ljubše, nadčasovnih) registrih, na stičiščih dneva in noči, prehajanja v jutro ali izginjanja popoldneva proti mraku, evidentiranja stanja med tistim,

Brane Kovič

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Ana Kučan is a landscape architect. Her very profession suggests a specific attitude to landscape, its particularities and dimensions – landscape transformed, cultivated, and aestheticized by human intervention. Considering this aspect, she has now applied it to photography, in the exhibited series specifically to the iconography of the Gardens of Versailles, which together with the Palace of Versailles represent one of the greatest achievements of French Baroque art.

afternoon disappearing towards dusk, recording the state between what was and what is coming, a position of infinite in-betweenness where the gaze tries in vain to solve the riddle of permanence and passing. The black-and-white technique that the artist has chosen prevents the kind of slide into illustration so often found in colour photography, while at the same time intensifying the viewer’s feelings about the possible meanings. Sliding through the foggy surface of the image, the eye gradually recognizes the outlines of each plant and connects them to the landscape planning in the here and there suggested relationship with the architectural elements of the palace, the Gardens being inseparably connected with. It is, of course, impossible to capture the Gardens and Palace of Versailles on camera as a whole, but the photographed fragments forebode many things beyond them – a rational systematic arrangement with which each single component is in dialogue, the contrast between nature and culture remaining merely ostensible: in fact, the polarization of the two entities defines and confirms their interdependence. The architect of the Palace of Versailles, Louis Le Vau, and the designer of the Gardens, André Le Nôtre, are fully equal creators of the spatial complex, whose construction began in the 1660s and would become an unattainable ideal for many subsequent residences of European princes. The architectural part, expanded with later (post-1678) interventions by Jules Hardouin-Mansart and interior design by Charles Le Brun, and the park area, featuring not just decorative vases but also individual sculptures and sculpture groups (for example Girardon’s Apollo Tended by the Nymphs, 1666, and Coysevox’s great marble Vase de la Guerre, 1684-85), coexist as a model of harmonious structures with different material statuses and functions. The subtleness of various dialogical relationships between the architectural elements and park labyrinths, curves, and surprising turns transcends the real, physical basis of the empirical perception of these elements, inconspicuously transposing us into the realm of the unreal, the dreamlike, the imaginary, and the elusive.

Everything there is very concrete yet always on the verge of the abstract, the arbitrarily subjective, more emotional than sensual. Yet to the keen eye of Ana Kučan, the wide ambit of denotational reality and connotational sublimity opens in all of its diversity, a diversity from which she has had to very carefully select the highlights that she sought to transform into diminished models as the defining feature of her visual language. Excellently knowing the illusionary effects of the medium and the rules of spatial design, she has transposed a historical ambient originating from time of its creation, into the horizon of contemporary sensibility, internalized it through deconstruction, and transformed it into authentic, extremely personal photographic achievements.

Historically speaking, in its early stages landscape photography was primarily documentary, but as early as the mid 19th century it became instrumentalized and split into multiple varieties as it started to be used in specialized missions and for recording specific territories on commission from civil authorities, big companies (for example railways), or professional associations. With the advent of pictorialism, which elevated photography to an art form at the turn of the century, feelings, moods, atmospheric and light effects prevailed over landscape photography’s documentary nature, whereas modernism, much like in painting, relied on close-ups, balancing proportions, and striving for abstraction. The avant-garde highlighted the structure and geometric components of landscape, and the decades that followed saw the rise of a broad spectrum of interpretations of the personal experience of landscape themes, the quest for purified forms, and warnings about the devastating consequences of the unbridled abuse of natural resources and riches.

The traditional Slovenian approach to the representation of landscape, both in painting and photography, is typically lyrical, often even openly sentimental, and less frequently dramatic or focused on expressive details. In particular, in photographic shots there is a strong emphasis on unspoilt or idealized nature, even when the main motif is a field or plantation; one can rarely see scenes or details from parks and similar environments with a designed landscape. Ana Kučan’s contribution to the contemporary photographic constellation is therefore all the more important because it clearly deviates from the dominant paradigm and introduces surprisingly fresh, personalized syntagmatic solutions to the symbolic order in which the articulation of landscape is read and interpreted. The very title of the series, L’espace infini, suggests a specific spatial concept of blow-ups that range from wide-angle shots to more or less evident closeups, interferences of segments, and allusions to visual entities hors-cadre in which single images are captured.

Soft, dispersed foggy light, defining the sensory evident perception of each pictorial unit, intentionally undermines all attempts at determining the season or time of day when the image was taken, positioning the photographs in timeless domains (or, if you prefer, out of time), at the junction of day and night, in transition to morning, or

Brane Kovič

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Ana Kučan

Ana Kučan

je krajinska arhitektka, profesorica na Oddelku za krajinsko arhitekturo Biotehniške fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani, kjer poučuje teorijo in oblikovanje krajine, ter vodja Studia AKKA za krajinsko arhitekturo in urbanistično načrtovanje. Diplomirala in doktorirala je na Univerzi v Ljubljani, magistrirala pa na Visoki šoli za oblikovanje Harvardove univerze. Na profesionalni poti je ustvarila vrsto del, razstavljenih doma in v tujini ter nagrajenih z več priznanji, med njimi z nagrado Piranesi (1998 in 2002), Plečnikovo nagrado (2003 in 2016), platinastim svinčnikom (2017), mednarodno nagrado IAKS (2019) in drugimi. Pogosto predava v tujini, deluje kot urednica in publicistka, od leta 2015 do 2020 je pisala tudi kolumne za Dnevnik. Je vodilna avtorica projekta Vsi odtenki zelene/ All Shades of Green, razstavljenega na 12. Arhitekturnem bienalu v Benetkah.

teaches landscape architecture at the Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, and runs Studio AKKA, a landscape architecture and urban design studio. She graduated and obtained a PhD from University of Ljubljana and earned her master’s degree from Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Throughout her professional career, Ana Kučan has designed a number of award-winning,internationally showcased projects. She is recipient of several awards and distinctions, most notably Piranesi Award (1998 and 2002), Plečnik Award (2003 and 2016), Platinum Pencil (2017) and IAKS Award (2019), among many others. Kučan has asserted herself as an editor and author, writing columns for the Dnevnik daily from 2015 to 2020. She was the leading artist of the creative team responsible for All Shades of Green, an exhibition for the Slovenian Pavilion at the 12th Venice Biennale of Architecture.

Svoje fotografije je predstavila na samostojnih razstavah v Lamutovem salonu Galerije Božidar Jakac v Kostanjevici na Krki (2017), v Galeriji AQ v Celju (2018), na Festivalu fotografije Maribor (2019) in v Mali galeriji Cankarjevega doma v Ljubljani (2020).

Ana Kučan’s solo photography exhibitions have been shown in venues that include Lamut’s Art Salon, Božidar Jakac Art Museum in Kostanjevica na Krki (2017), AQ Gallery in Celje (2018), Festival of Photography Maribor (2019) and Small Gallery, Cankarjev dom in Ljubljana (2020).

Razstavo in izid kataloga je finančno omogočila/The exhibition and catalogue have been financially supported by: MESTNA OBČINA NOVA GORICA

Katalog izdal/Catalogue issued by: Kulturni dom Nova Gorica (Zanj/Represented by: Pavla Jarc) - Urednica/Editor: Mateja Poljšak Furlan - Avtor teksta/Texts written by: Brane Kovič - Prevod/Translation: Sebastijan Razboršek Maček - Fotografije/Photographs: Ana Kučan - Oblikovanje in prelom/Catalogue design & DTP: Vid Simoniti - Tisk/Print: Tiskarna Present d.o.o. - Kraj izida/Place of publication: Nova Gorica - Leto izida/Publication year: 2021 - Naklada/Nr. of copies: 200

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