12 Feb 2010

Maja Hodoscek: LANDSCAPE at Likovni salon

Maja Hodoscek, Landscape

In her artistic production Maja Hodošček - an artist from the youngest emerging generation – mainly focuses on the processes and states within society. In the works she has presented so far (Instant happiness, Escape with a flow, Corrective) she showed a critical approach towards the values held by the contemporary consumer society, towards social control and direction (which is increasingly coming from the public sphere into the private one) as well as the role of women in contemporary social structures (Learning hours). Usually she uses video, photography and installations to express herself.

In her new multimedia project Landscape (that will be revealed for the very first time in Likovni salon Celje) the artist discusses (the predominantly negative) social perception of aging and old age in general. Old age is linked to the retreat from social life and to social redundancy and is as such understood as a passive and dependant period. With a strongly reduced right to influence social activities, which is with a part of the elder population also joined by an existential distress (due to the ever increasing economic stratification), the older generation is often pushed towards the social margins. They represent a social group which is according to many amongst the highest discriminated against (alongside racial, national and gender groups).

In the work Landscape the artist uses individual elements (photographs of spaces that grew old together with their owners, video portraits of herself and her grandfather placed into juxtaposition, slowed down close-up video shots of eyes of elderly individuals who look back at the viewer and address him directly, audio recordings of their stories) to establish a unified installation that uses a sensitive and intimate mood to establish an intense dialogue with the visitor. The artist's key element lies in the interaction with the viewer who can feel the inner world, anxiety and insecurity, deep emotional and identity crisis encountered with old age, as well as recognise his own future. Through this interaction she draws attention towards the necessity of changing the perception, experience and understanding of the aging process and the old age. She attempts to create a visible reality with minimal means and at the same time lead the viewer to decide as regards the important and complex social issue, which is (due to the noticeable changes in the age structure of the population - demographers are already speaking about a unique 'old age revolution',) increasingly in the focus of various thought and research fields ranging from medicine, psychology, sociology and economy to bioethics and philosophy.

Maja Hodoscek (1984) lives and works in Celje.