The exhibition at the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art will present the work of composer, programmer and designer Milan Guštar for the first time to the general public. The artist (re)built most of the exhibited works, which had long existed as algorithms or processes in the form of notes and sketches, for his first solo and at the same time retrospective show at the DOX Centre.
Since the 1980s, Guštar’s name has been appearing repeatedly within the context of independent film, theatre, the alternative music scene and later also the audio-visual art scene. His work on the one hand contains elements of strict logical thinking and a certain trace of mathematical dryness, but on the other hand it reveals a preoccupation with the world of the sensual, magical and eccentric.
The exhibited works are primarily intellectual constructs, personal patents as it were, whose physical form is not their main essence. If the artist reveals the basic principle, he considers the work to be complete and its materialization is only verification of the expected. For this reason, the exhibition does not contain Guštar’s numerous electromechanical and electronic instruments, which he considers to be a mere prerequisite for the creative work itself and a means to this end.
The exhibition presents Guštar’s research on a foundation of logical, physical and metaphysical principles that is expressed using sounds and often also visual ideas. Sometimes he succeeds in capturing an audio idea on a photograph, other times he reconstructs and creates his own versions. The exhibition thus presents the visitor with a mosaic of principles expressed via multiple media that together create a hidden order.
Photos from the exhibition opening, 17 July.