Installation No. 4 (Towers), 2008
Digital video projection (9') and two 250 g paper objects (100 x 260 x 200 cm). Courtesy of the artist and Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago
Somewhere between the visible and the invisible, between darkness and light, the works of Jan Tichy (Prague, 1974) demand the spectator’s full and focused attention, making him/her feel like a visitor to another planet. More emotional than scientific, the results transport us into the remote future, into a landscape where we feel at peace, in silence, far away from the problems of the earth.
Installation No. 4 (Towers) is set up in a dark room that contains two scale models of a structure that seems to rest on the surface of the moon. These models, placed in the centre of the room, are bathed in light that comes from an unidentified source and changes over time.
Tichy subtly draws attention to issues like architecture and its political impact, using light (seeingnot seeing) as a symbol of this power. In the light, everything is clear. In the darkness, things that we cannot quite make out take place. And as Tichy shows, light can easily be programmed and manipulated. And things are not what they appear to be.
Jan Tichy’s experiments come about through a mix of sculpture, video, architecture and installation. Their influences are vaguely familiar but remain hidden, so we can’t quite put our finger on them.
On entering Tichy’s installation, the visitor finds himself/herself in a mysterious world. He/she is drawn to the paper models and forced to watch the changing light that they are subject to, becoming part of this experimental and poetic transformation. From impenetrable darkness to a light reminiscent of a full moon, the structures in the middle of the room – which are also vague and seem to suggest a manmade scientific station on another planet – gradually become visible. And there is another surprise, that we won’t go into here.
Although subtlety reigns for Tichy, his work also contains political references, even if more emotional than ideological. Among the light and shadows, what we can and can’t see, there is an ellipse in which we as observers play a fundamental role. We can imagine, but we cannot control anything. The potential of the light is charged with a beauty that conceals something hidden.
