Češka umjetnica, Elis Kondelíková, rezidencijalni boravak u galeriji Flora zaključuje izložbom koja je svojevrsno preplitanje globalne teme sveprisutnijeg ratnog sukoba koji se nezaustavljivo širi, arheologije ratnih trauma općenito, te vizualnih bljeskova, asocijativnih fotografija i video radova, koji su nastali za vrijeme njenih svakodnevnih dubrovačkih ophoda gradom.

Hell is empty, naslov je koji umjetnica preuzima od Netflixove mračne horor serije, zapravo citata iz Shakespeareove drame Oluja: Hell is empty and all the devils are here.

Pakao je prazan, ali ta praznina se prelila i na ovostrano.

Elis na svojim fotografijama bilježi tu prazninu. Fotografira napuštene prostore, detalje… asocijacije na gubitak doma. Fotografira zaboravljene lutke bez ekstremiteta promišljajući tijelo i tjelesnost. Zaokupljena je i šablonama, ponavljajućim motivima, istim uzorcima koji se iščitavaju na različitim objektima, kao što se, uostalom, obrazac rata preslikava u prostoru i vremenu ne mijenjajući se u svojoj strahoti. Ako nam je bliži, pogađa nas direktno, a ako je udaljen, postaje zanemariva vijest. Međutim, u vremenu smo intenziviranih ratnih sukoba koji prijete da postanu globalni i ništa više nije sigurno.

Prema fotografijama Elis se odnosi kao prema vizualiziranim riječima. Slaže ih u povezane grupe tvoreći različite kontekste. Te rečenično-slikovne nizove učvršćuje pjesmama koje je sama pretipkala na pisaćoj mašini. Ponegdje se, sasvim slučajno, crvena vrpca za pisaću mašinu presložila preko standardne crne i dobio se dojam krvarećih slova. A poezija koju nam Kondeliková prenosi je poezija poljske pjesnikinje Anne Świrszczyńske, poznate i kao Anna Swir, koja je i sama prošla ratnu traumu, citirajući zbirku Building the Barricade. Poeziju Swirove isprepleće s poezijom Semezdina Mehmedinovića iz zbirke Sarajevo blues, napisane i objavljene tijekom opsade Sarajeva.

Ono što vidimo zrcali spokoj i nemir istovremeno. Fragmente možemo iščitavati kako god želimo, interpretacija je slobodna. Upravo iz tog razloga u prostoru će se naći i ogledalo, a odraz nas samih u navedenom kontekstu označava nas, ne samo kao promatrače, već i kao agente nadolazeće promjene.

Helena Puhara

Czech photographer Elis Kondelíková concludes her stay as an artist-in-residence at the Flora Gallery with an exhibition that entwines the global theme of an increasingly present war conflict with visual flashes, associative photographs, and video works created during her daily walks through Dubrovnik.

The title Hell is empty, taken from the Netflix horror series, is actually a quote from Shakespeare’s play The Tempest: Hell is empty and all the devils are here. Hell may be empty, but that emptiness has spilled over into this world, too.

In her work, Elis captures this emptiness. She photographs abandoned spaces and details… things that remind of losing home. She photographs forgotten dolls with missing arms and legs, thus contemplating the body and corporeality. She is also interested in repetitive motifs and patterns that keep emerging on various objects, much like the pattern of war keeps reflecting in space and time, unchanged in its horror. If war is somewhere close to us, it affects us directly; if it’s far away, it becomes just a minor piece of news. However, we have found ourselves in the times of intensified conflicts that threaten to become global, and nothing is certain anymore.

Elis approaches her photographs as if they were visualized words. She arranged them into connected groups forming different contexts. She reinforces these sequences of pictures and sentences with poems she has typed herself on a typewriter. In some places, entirely by chance, the red typewriter ribbon overlapped with the standard black one, creating the impression of bleeding letters. The poetry Kondeliková shares with us is from the Polish poet Anna Świrszczyńska, also known as Anna Swir, who herself experienced war trauma, quoting from her collection Building the Barricade. She combines Swir’s poetry with that of Semezdin Mehmedinović from his collection Sarajevo Blues, written and published during the siege of Sarajevo.

What we see reflects both peace and turmoil simultaneously. We can make of these fragments whatever we wish: their interpretation is free. For this reason, a mirror will be put in the exhibition space, and our reflection in them marks us not only as observers but also as agents of the coming change.

Helena Puhara

Elis Kondelíková ( born 27. 6. 2001.) is a photographer and visual artist, based and studying in Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic. In her work, most often through photography, she reflects on themes such as Home, Identity, and the Crisis of the Individual and Society. She works with physical space as her mirror, using digital photography (and sometimes video) to search for still lifes and moments as metaphors for her inner world or the theme she is currently processing. She often reflects the mood of texts or poems, as seen in her latest two books, Home is Where and Plíšková Sobě. The photographs serve as visual poems, connected into a whole by visual and other cues, creating a dynamic and rhythmic continuity between them.

Contact: eliska.kondelikova@seznam.cz

@tadyelis