Fotograf Gallery

Dana Machajová
— Equilibrium (Start of the Axis)


Curator: Edith Jeřábková

Where there is an axis, there are two sides. Without them the axis cannot exist. Actually it physically does not exist and is just a boundary line between spaces – a non-space. It is impossible to remain on an axis. Nevertheless, most of us, in our own way, try to do so; we perform a balancing act in a futile effort to achieve calm through equilibrium. It actually involves staying within the realm of possibilities, right before we decide which side to choose. It is a moment of uncertainty and an illusion of complexity. Thus the balancing occurs in a sort of non-time and non-space, which gives each such tightrope walker a feeling of experiencing eternity.

The start of an axis can most likely be found somewhere in infinity, where all parallel lines converge. Infinity is an all-encompassing organism, riddled through and through with axes. The same may be said of our bodies and our entire beings. A mirror is one such axis and one of the simplest ways in which one can meet oneself. There are also many internal mirrors, which radiate back our self-reflected selves at different angles. However, it is impossible to decide on only one which we will believe forever. This would lead to the disappearance of the tension that exists between our personal selves, that quivering movement when our pupils stop working and everything loses its sharpness and gradually merges into one hazy shadow.

In the installation the spaces between the figures (the images themselves) contain a visualisation of that non-space – that place where one cannot remain in equilibrium – given also by the impossibility of seeing the figures all at once. Their eyes meet at the moment of equilibrium, which cannot be seen as a whole, but which allows us to enter into the non-space for a single moment. And who knows, we may ultimately find infinity and the start of the axis.

Edith Jeřábková

Support

Fotograf Gallery is supported by the Czech Ministry of Culture and during the year 2021 by a grant from the City of Prague amounting to 630 000 CZK.