(DIS)PLACE

The (DIS)PLACE exhibition is the culmination of a project intended for students of post-secondary art schools in the field of photography, prepared by DOX as part of the attendant programme for the THIS PLACE exhibition, which had its world premiere at DOX in 2014 and offered a view by 12 world-famous photographers of Israel and the West Bank. Frédéric Brenner initiated the THIS PLACE exhibition when he asked renowned photographers to explore this area with him. He was inspired by historical projects, such as the Mission Héliographique in France or the Farm Security Administration in the United States, which invited artists to ask themselves basic questions about the culture, society, and life of residents in a given area.

The (DIS)PLACE project is based on the basic idea of the THIS PLACE exhibition. The assignment to “search for and define the (NON)PLACE of the individual in contemporary society” is directly inspired by what according to photographer Frédéric Brenner is the specific characteristic and root of the complicated situation in the Middle East: the question of identity and its related desires, fears, claims, prejudices, and fictions. Within the scope of the (DIS)PLACE project, photography students were asked to work with three categories/terms: Nomad, Migrant, and Outcast, and to investigate what is (seemingly) known to them in the area from which they themselves are from. Their main task was to thusly verify the definition of these terms through a combination of a visual and linguistic message.

The DOX Centre prepared the (DIS)PLACE project in cooperation with Professor Miroslav Vojtěchovský, head of the Applied and Advertising Photography Studio at the Faculty of Art and Design at Jan Evangelista Purkyně University, who provided consultation regarding the project’s assignment as well as selection of student work for the exhibition.

Nineteen projects made the short list: eleven projects focused on the term Outcast, five projects investigating the term Nomad, and three projects working with the term Migrant. A special fourth category was also created for two projects whose nature melded the assignment into one whole.

The final exhibition presents a selection from these projects, with each category of Nomad, Migrant, and Outcast being represented by two projects:

The OUTCAST category:

Jana Mořkovská (J. E. Purkyně University, Faculty of Art and Design, Visual Communication) and Olga Alia Krulišová (J. E. Purkyně University, Faculty of Art and Design, Applied and Advertising Photography Studio)
Lucie Sekerková (Tomas Bata University in Zlín, Advertising Photography Studio)

The MIGRANT category:

Benjamin Peguerro (J. E. Purkyně University, Faculty of Art and Design, Applied and Advertising Photography)
Alexandra Bočková (University of Ostrava, Faculty of Art, Creative Photography)

The NOMAD category:

Michal Matoušek (Silesian University in Opava, Faculty of Philosophy and Science, Creative Photography Institute)
Alena Korchová (University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, The Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Art and Design, Applied Photography Studio)

4th CATEGORY:

Hana Connor (Silesian University in Opava, Faculty of Philosophy and Science, Creative Photography Institute)

Jana Hunterová (Silesian University in Opava, Faculty of Philosophy and Science, Creative Photography Institute)

All of the projects entered can also be viewed on the following website: displace.dox.cz