Stand by (Ab2), 2002
C-print, dibond aluminium
30 x 25 cm
(c) Alicja Kwade; courtesy of Galerie Johann König, Berlin
Alicja Kwade (*1979, Katowice, PL) reveals an almost abstract image depicting clusters of light spots that are denser in some
places than in others. Occasionally, we can divine objects; here, we can make out a digital time reading. The photograph belongs
to a series of images that Kwade shot in her darkened flat. The images depict the light signals emitted by electrical appliances
in standby mode. Kwade thus turns the spotlight on the mundane objects that accompany us through our daily lives without our
noticing. Despite their technical content, the photographic compositions capturing this prosaic subject-matter have a pictorial
and poetic, sometimes even dramatic resonance: deprived of their actual function, the lowly appliances appear to embark on
a self-determined dialogue with each other beyond the realms of their functionality. The works are therefore representative
of the themes that interest Alicja Kwade, who, using media as disparate as photography and installation, frequently asks subtle
questions about visibility and invisibility and socially agreed valuations and valuation conventions.
Stand by (220 GB), 2005,
C-print, dibond aluminium
90 x 126 cm
Stand by (Schreibtisch 1), 2003,
C-print, dibond aluminium
88 x 111 cm
