The extension of an angle first approached by Vutuc in the context of the 2018 George Pomp It Up residency in Nancy, France, « SCRATCHING ON SURFACE OF BLURRY ECHOING, THE GRAIN», Performance at LE BAL Paris, then residency at Frichel a belle demai, Marseille “Fares Maatar, Mohamed Novri and Youssef Duhab” and recently work in Berlin with Labor Neunzehn/ Avarie „Kmera Series N.7“ explores the credibility of appearances even as strong as tangible, via a questioning of the physical medium as an effective format to relay data, highlighting its inherent limitations. One reoccurring theme in Vutuc’s work is the transmission of information, complete with its natural selection, alteration and deformation throughout time. Here, captured images - fragmented, curated cuts of reality - are presented to be not just explored, but challenged in their fidelity as the question of their physical density gets rivaled by the comparable weight of copies; Vutuc pairs up the seemingly static format of photocopiers, celluloid, Super 8 film and 16mm film then, projection techniques - playing with layers of surfaces and transparencies as varying vibrations also audibly resonate, life fuses with machinery through celluloid and confusion, then doubt are introduced by a duality of projectors competing for validity in their respective outputs. The raised question being, can we ever step behind the projected information and still grasp the full picture? How far can we really walk away from our stands? Vutuc sees the « scratching on the surface of blurry dream and fantasy as the only existing reality, based on self-creation », echoing his own treatment of materials, defying the familiarity of form, demonstrating how all images are products.

Text by Aymeric Nocus
https://www.sergejvutuc.com

Sergej Vutuc

Born 1979 in Doboj, Yugoslavia / Bosnia Herzegovina, Sergej Vutuc’s growth reverberates the noise of some conflicted local history which uprooted him as far as Zagreb (Croatia) and Heilbronn (Germany) in his most formative years. Spontaneously driven towards D.I.Y. ethics and punk culture at large, he went on to explore, build and exchange around the world - skateboarding in particular being the key to many locks - prior to settling in Berlin, then Paris where his most recent enterprise consists in encouraging print and physical productions with Maycec under the name A La Maison Printing. Robbed of the reassurance of environmental stability and disillusioned with official credibility at an early age, Vutuc’s work only thrashes to better question appearances, review stances and restore all the more of its intrinsic value to what we perceive - and miss - as “truth”. Documentation and reproduction techniques get flipped on their heads as no discrimination is made amidst what most would consider interferences, or medium abuse; now chaos is given fair leeway, the exploited technology rinsed, new spatial perspectives breed and the marks of time bear no taboo. It is not a subversion of the contemplative as much as it is an effort to sound check existence then track, taste and tell its feedback. The equal consideration for both the positive and the negative, as well as the constant identification and sensorial inundation of patterns, also make for an open invitation to never give up on new perspectives.

— Aymeric Nocus