Marc-Olivier Wahler curator, writer, Director of Chalet Society opens the Three Times Three exhibition
together with Ősz Gábor - and from 19.30, the exhibition is soundtrack-ed by a
special DJ set
.
The solo exhibition of Gábor Ősz, living and working in Amsterdam, is part of a series of exhibitions at the Ludwig Museum presenting Hungarian and foreign artists whose life and works are less known in Hungary. Looking at the oeuvre of the artist, awarded the Paris Photo BMW Prize in 2010, one''s attention is may as well caught by its consistency.





He deals with certain topics for months, even years, during which he investigates the
relationship of light and architecture
, or analyzes questions of the border of p
hotographic representation
, its relation to reality, or the definition of the ''real''. The
experimental, conceptual tinge
accompanies his activity, the basis of which is the undisturbed attention towards reality and the relationship between man and the space surrounding him. By the use of
analogue photographic devices
, such as the camera obscura or pinhole technique, he has created a photographic oeuvre with moderate visuality and a strong character.






"What is an image suitable for? What is the image composed of?"
These two questions are just as important as the one that is most often asked:
what is an image?
Through years of meticulous research, Gábor Ősz has treated these three problems as parallels and as equally important: in his series, he produces tightly interconnected
experimental situations
, in which he studies the properties of the image. His experiments basically fall into three larger groups.





In his first approach, he builds on both the phenomenon of light and the experience of its perception, for the purpose of examining the concept of the image made of light. The image in this instance is at the same time
a sensual impression and a theoretical construction
, which can be analysed through philosophical terms, such as ontology and phenomenology.





The second experimental approach is linked to the first one by perception and sensual experience. Ősz disassembles the visual phenomenon to find the element most fundamental to his investigations; then he applies changes to this element, just as in
a real physical experiment
, so that through his interventions, he might reach an ever more precise understanding of the image. He
dismantles the concepts of the photograph
, in order to get from light to surface-forming pigment, from space to the position of the camera (and back again).





In his third approach, he examines first and foremost what portion of reality the photograph might be able to capture, to what extent the image may be used as a narrative tool;
what power a picture has to evoke, to cover up
, or rewrite a chosen historical context. His visual experiments can just as well be located in a neutral and empty room, as in one of the bunkers of the Atlantic Wall, or in the abandoned site that once had been Hitler’s study. Through Gábor Ősz’s photographic experiments, all the scenes burdened with historical events become bared spaces to be used in his analysis of the image.