Tamas Waliczky: "Swivel Camera", 2017, demo

CAMERAS

9 February 2018 - 2 March 2018

CMC Gallery, L3, Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre

Tamás Waliczky | CAMERAS | Exhibition

Curator: Anna Szepesi

CMC Gallery, L3, Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre 18 Tat Hong Avenue, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong

Exhibition period: 9 February - 2 March 2018, 11:00 - 19:00

Opening: 8 February (Friday) 2018, 18:00
Opening speech by Jeffrey Shaw

Guided tours with the artist:
10 February (Saturday), 14:30
24 February (Saturday), 14:30

Artist talk:
2 March (Friday), 18:00

Excerpts from Jeffrey Shaw's opening speech:

Tamás Waliczky's latest work, “Cameras” (2017), is a series of computer-rendered 3-D graphic prints and animations, in which he has created imaginary devices based on the set-up of both the photo camera and the movie camera, following from the idea of Vilém Flusser, according to whom the camera – unlike other tools – is not necessarily a prosthetic extension of the human body, but rather a plaything, allowing the photographer to become the player.

As a new media artist, Waliczky also deals with the origins of his chosen medium. His digital print series consists of fantasy equipment invented by him. Cameras are the basis of media art and new media art: optical-media machines that for the first time, imitated the very act of seeing. They are designed by people; hence, these devices tell a lot about how humans see, and how they picture the world visually, and have indeed significantly changed how we see our world.

Waliczky’s inventions do not exist in reality. Although their structures are based on actual cameras, similar devices, inventions or long forgotten 19th-century designs, their technical aspects have all been re-engineered by the artist. Humour and irony are also part of his imaginary cameras, which are clumsy, cumbersome creations and would be rather hard to use, as well as making weird noises.

The technological developments of photography follow the ideologies of mass-production, user friendliness and compatibility. Anyone can take sharp, colour-corrected photos without any experience. The cameras of Waliczky’s series pursue an alternative route of innovation. They are unique creations and not standardised objects: using these cameras requires special skills and sensitivity. The artist inspires the audience’s imagination to look at image-making as an intimate and playful act.

Photographed by Tamas Waliczky, Anna Szepesi, Wu Jiaying