Mikhael Subotzky: Retinal Shift
Standard Bank Gallery
17 April – 15 June 2013
Retinal Shift, an exhibition of works by Mikhael Subotzky, Standard Bank Young Artist Award winner for the Visual Arts in 2012, opens to the public at Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg on 17 April 2013. First shown at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown in mid-2012, this is the final stop in the exhibition’s country-wide tour. Retinal Shift investigates the practice and mechanics of looking and draws on a diversity of sources: archival portraits, found surveillance footage, and Subotzky’s own photographs.
On show are Subotzky’s seminal work, Self-Portrait (With Assistance of Optometrist) (2012) and four recent productions: Moses and Griffiths, a four-channel projection, which shows Grahamstown through the eyes of two tour guides, juxtaposing institutional and personal histories; Who’s Who (2012) which comprises images scanned at ten-year intervals from Who’s Who of Southern Africa; Don’t Even Think of It (2012), compiled from material filmed through the window of Subotzky’s Cape Town apartment; and CCTV (2011) which draws on footage of central Johannesburg acquired from the police.
Also on exhibition is I Was Looking Back (2012) an installation of 100 photographs mined from Subotzky’s archive. Retinal Shift deals not just with looking and seeing, but with being watched; it’s the moments when the subject meets the eye of the camera, and looks back consciously, that give this exhibition its particular potency. This exhibition runs until 15 June 2013, at the Standard Bank Gallery, corner of Simmonds and Frederick Streets, Johannesburg.
The Gallery (Tel: 011 631 4467) is open Mondays to Fridays, 08:00-16:30; on Saturdays, 09:00-13:00; and is closed on Sundays and public holidays. Admission is free. For further details about the Standard Bank Young Artist Awards see the Standard Bank Arts website www.standardbankarts.co.za. For further information about Standard Bank Gallery see www.standardbanks.co.za.
For further information about Mikhael Subotzky see http://www.subotzkystudio.com/.
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