(SPANISH)
El teórico chileno de la fotografía Ronald Kay ve la fotografía como un acontecimiento geológico, una ruptura en el flujo del tiempo que se inscribe físicamente en la superficie fotográfica. La piedra flotante de Tino Kukulies parece confirmarlo: La solidificación de la lava solidifica la apariencia de la roca volcánica, que el artista reproduce como un modelo sobredimensionado mediante un escaneo en 3D. Este se crea a partir de una superposición de datos fotográficos, con los que la fotografía se extiende desde la superficie hasta el cuerpo en un primer paso significativo. Sin embargo, este cuerpo no permanece inmóvil, sino que gira alrededor de su propio eje bajo la luz rasante. En el segundo paso, este cuerpo se convierte en una fotografía performativa que refleja y modela la luz en lugar de capturarla. Esta continua transformación de su apariencia desplaza nuestra percepción, en la que el volcanito elude cualquier instantánea. En este momento, la metáfora de Kay se invierte. El tiempo se pone de nuevo en movimiento, creando un número infinito de imágenes nuevas y efímeras..
Text by Matthias Pfaller
Translated by Daniela Dominguez
Tino Kukulies’s work deals with tectonic forces, the climate emergency, informational flows and algorithmic alchemy. He moves within a thermodynamic environment, corporeally in his heat protection suit and materially in the creation of image-objects. For Lava Landscapes, Kukulies recycles computer-generated formations that emerge in 3D printing. They are system-bound addenda to photographic sculptures, a virtual expansion of the photographic source material and temporary noise. By melting these formations on aluminum plates, Kukulies references photographic history, but his photography is no longer indexical nor mimetic, but elementary: both information/noise and its material/plastic are the image. The raw information of the auxiliary shapes resembles coordinates that produce abstract landscapes. However, these landscapes are not formed by glaciers, water and wind, but by heat, similar to the earth’s burning core on which the continental plates swim and which reveals itself on the earth’s surface in volcanic activity. The same forces and elements that shape our planet also generate our images, from nineteenth century metals to contemporary algorithms, screens and printers. Kukulies’ practice revolves around the ecology of photography, its primary elements, driving forces, and potential new forms. He pushes its logic to its limits and transfers it to environmental sculptures. The Lava Landscapes are the products of small eruptions in this artistic laboratory, experiments to bring shape to the thermodynamic paradigm of our climate and image reality.
Text by Matthias Pfaller
Tino Kukulies’s work deals with tectonic forces, the climate emergency, informational flows and algorithmic alchemy. He moves within a thermodynamic environment, corporeally in his heat protection suit and materially in the creation of image-objects. For Lava Landscapes, Kukulies recycles computer-generated formations that emerge in 3D printing. They are system-bound addenda to photographic sculptures, a virtual expansion of the photographic source material and temporary noise. By melting these formations on aluminum plates, Kukulies references photographic history, but his photography is no longer indexical nor mimetic, but elementary: both information/noise and its material/plastic are the image. The raw information of the auxiliary shapes resembles coordinates that produce abstract landscapes. However, these landscapes are not formed by glaciers, water and wind, but by heat, similar to the earth’s burning core on which the continental plates swim and which reveals itself on the earth’s surface in volcanic activity. The same forces and elements that shape our planet also generate our images, from nineteenth century metals to contemporary algorithms, screens and printers. Kukulies’ practice revolves around the ecology of photography, its primary elements, driving forces, and potential new forms. He pushes its logic to its limits and transfers it to environmental sculptures. The Lava Landscapes are the products of small eruptions in this artistic laboratory, experiments to bring shape to the thermodynamic paradigm of our climate and image reality.
Text by Matthias Pfaller
(TÜRKÇE)
Şilili fotoğraf teorisyeni Ronald Kay, fotoğrafı jeolojik bir olay, zamanın akışında kendini fotoğrafik yüzeye fiziksel olarak kazıyan bir kırılma olarak görür. Tino Kukulies'in yüzen taşı bunu doğruluyor gibi görünüyor: Lavın katılaşması, sanatçının 3D tarama yardımıyla büyük boyutlu bir model olarak yeniden ürettiği volkanik kayanın görünümünü katılaştırıyor. Bu, fotoğrafın yüzeyden kütleye doğru ilk önemli adımda genişletildiği fotoğrafik verilerin katmanlanmasından oluşturulmuştur. Ancak bu kütle hareketsiz değildir, üzerine düşen ışıkla kendi ekseni etrafında döner. Böylece ikinci adımda kütle, ışığı yakalamak yerine onu yansıtan ve modelleyen performatif bir fotoğraf haline gelir. Görünüşünün bu sürekli dönüşümü, vulkanitin herhangi bir anlık görüntüden kaçtığı algımızı değiştirir. Böylece Kay'in metaforu tersine döner. Zaman bir kez daha harekete geçerek sonsuz sayıda yeni, geçici görüntü yaratır.
Text by Matthias Pfaller
Translated by Dilara Mataracı
The chilean photo theorist Ronald Kay sees photography as a geological event, a rupture in the flow of time that physically inscribes itself on the photographic surface. Tino Kukulies‘ floating stone seems to confirm this: The solidification of the lava solidifies the appearance of the volcanic rock, which the artist reproduces as an oversized model with the help of a 3D scan. This is created from a layering of photographic data, with which the photograph is expanded in a first significant step from the surface to the body. However, this body does not stand still, but rotates around its own axis in the grazing light. Thus, in the second step, this body becomes a performative photograph that reflects and models the light instead of capturing it. This continuous transformation of its appearance shifts our perception, in which the vulcanite eludes any snapshot. At this moment, Kay‘s metaphor turns around. Time is once again set in motion, creating an infinite number of new, ephemeral images.
Text by Matthias Pfaller