Published by Anne-Florence Neveu at 2021-03-14 13:50

Hrvoje Hiršl presents: The Limits of Representation

Hrvoje Hiršl, artist in residence at Crossing Parallels, shows the results of his ongoing research in an exhibition called: The Limits of Representation.

The Limits of Representation

To see is to touch

This exhibition explores the formal limits of our human understanding and the interconnected ways in which our senses, prior experiences, and mental constraints shape our understanding of the world around us. For us to see an object, it needs to be bombarded with photons before we can register it as an experience. As such, perception involves a constant tempering with the world around us and the very act of seeing does not leave us or the object of our perception undisturbed. This is especially relevant on the quantum scale, where objects are so small that every measurement touches them, consequently changing their state.

As a part of his ongoing artistic research, Hrvoje Hiršl uses paintings as an effort to get a glimpse into the unseen. His paintings do not seek to represent external objects, instead, they aim to become a magnifier for processes occurring on a scale invisible to us through spontaneous repetitive motions. The repetitive movements allow for the physical properties of paint and surface to come to the fore: deliberate and unplanned actions, coincidence and errors are all crucial to the emergence of abstract patterns. The result of these experiments resembles the motion of particles, generative growth structures and the trajectories of electrons. Each interaction with the paper's surface mirrors these invisible structures, forces and particles. These results insinuate that the artist can participate in the uncovering of cognition through speculative methods.

The research process of his residency at Bildraum Studio in Vienna, where the final exhibition will open in May, was in the meantime presented as a performative Zoom lecture and physical instalment of the lecture in the space of Galerija Nova in Zagreb.

Performative lecture

youtube.com/watch?v=2Hemud4iL1U&ab_channel=What%2CHow%26forWhom%2FWHW

Profile

Hrvoje Hiršl

Hrvoje Hiršl is an artist, researcher and designer. His artistic research focuses on the intersection of contemporary art and media art discourse. The recurrent themes of his work include limitations of the medium, automation, complex systems and cybernetics. He is interested in revealing hidden structures and principles and developing strategies to make them visible. His work encompasses sound installations, video installations, interactive installations, prints, etc.

He was nominated for the Radoslav Putar Award for the best Croatian artist under 35 in 2012 and was one of the representatives for Croatia at the Design Biennale in London in 2016. He is currently working on a book for the Institute of Network Cultures in Amsterdam to be published in 2021.

Website

hrvojehirsl.com