13 November – 20 December 2013

The aim of the Tension Field project is to provide information about the current condition and status of the photo art scenes in the region after the developments in the 1980’s and 90’s, which have led to the present state. The majority of the photo artist here emerged from club scenes in early 1980’s. Their roots spring from local photographic traditions and the shaping sensibility for local socio-political circumstances during the transitional period; however, at the same time, they remain open (and informed) to actual trends in photography and to the broader art scene. They reflect both the traditional and the more conceptual approaches, which means that especially the younger photographers have recently started to perceive themselves as „artists using photography“. Tension Field focuses on some of these particular aspects, such as the local and regional photo traditions and their implementations, working conditions affected by the cultural politics, cultural key aspects and prominent development tendencies or influences caused by international developments, trans-regional trends and mutual effects.

The Tension Field project strongly accentuates the comprehensible dialectic process of research, which presents the identification of contemporary photography developments and trends. Guest curators from partner cities have nominated 3-4 photo artists, each representing their respective local photo art scene. Besides the aspects mentioned above, this nomination focuses on artistic quality and expressiveness. Based on these proposals, the main curator has developed the exhibition by considering all relevant tendencies and key themes. Furthermore, aspects of international cross-linkage and trans-border cooperation have been observed and illustrated. Local and supra-regional aspects have been combined to provide an insight into contemporary photo art of the South/Eastern/Central-European region.

Tension Field project has joined curators from six different countries (Austria, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia) into a partnership, functioning as an initial step towards continuous “mapping” and networking throughout this region.

Participating artists: Ivan Blažev, G.R.A.M., Christoph Grill, Daniel Kariko, Damjan Kocjančič, SofijaSilvia, Goran Škofić.