"Dark Universe"
2004
Bojan Fajfric’s work is often associated to his personal history and
Serbian background. In previous expositions his works have had a strong
relevance to national and cultural issues which he subtly knew to translate
into a transcultural and universal idiom of audio/visual form. However,
to say that his work is just a personal interpretation of politics or merely
an illustration of his background would be too simple. His works are autonomous
entities in which the audience is invited to witness a larger vision, but
is ultimately left before an object which stands on its own. In his newest
exposition - Dark Universe – Fajfric has taken a more total approach
and presents the viewer a complete installation, where each work is intricately
connected with the others, leaving the audience to contemplate their situation
- and that of the artist - within this cosmos rather than an individual
object.
Dark Universe is the presentation of a twilight world where, due to the
dearth of light, the viewer must rely on the circumstances of the artist
by which to navigate this creation. The nine spheres - or planets - are
symbolic of this positional play: the viewer continually finds himself aware
of his location in accordance to the other works, much like the smaller
spheres inhabit their own space and sound, but always in relationship to
the larger central one. This becomes a parallel to the awareness of Fajfric’s
own position in reality and how he allows the viewer - as a central sphere
- to consider his presence in this extraordinary twilight-reality through
a lens of black. The building presented in the slide show seems mysterious
and real at the same time, as if it contains the dark universe itself, causing
the viewer again to consider his actual location. The abstract conditions
of the exposition also apply to the drawings as they translate sound into
a static image or written language leading one to wonder if they are not
being presented an indecipherable key to this universe, which may ultimately
reveal its creator. Fajfric gives every reason to consider his presence,
yet no concrete sign of its existence, which is exactly what makes being
there so fascinating.
Dark Universe is an invitation to a twilight world in which Fajfric himself
is creator, overseer and protagonist.
He presents us a prespective into his reality – which could very well
be ours as well - through a lens of fantastic decline; one that has reached
either its most degenerate condition or is about to blossom again.
by Huib Haye van der Werf
