NYAB Event - Klaus Pichler “Narcistecture”

Klaus Pichler “Narcistecture”

WHITE BOX

[Image: Klaus Pichler. Courtesy of the artist.]

This event has ended.

Whitebox Art Center presents Narcistecture, an exhibition of new photography by Vienna based artist Klaus Pichler. Narcistecture is a collection of photographic images that capture the play of light and color on reflections of city architecture in Berlin and New York. Pichler disrupts assumptions of perspective and scale to create complex images that are both flat and richly layered. He shoots the surrounding cityscapes and distills images to produce graphic pictures, formalizing the chaos of an urban environment into compositions of geometric shapes and watery backgrounds. Using the reflective potential of modern and contemporary structures, Pichler’s work brings background into foreground and demands that the viewer look closer; not at themselves, but at their surroundings.

Narcistecture plays on architecture’s reflective qualities, drawing from the age-old Greek mythology of Narcissus. Son of river god and nymph, Narcissus was revered for his beauty. Through an act of vengeance by the gods, Narcissus fell in love with his refection in a spring and became unable to look away from himself, ultimately dying beside his own mirror image. The city buildings in Pichler’s work obsessively project themselves onto others in an endless echo. The photographs produce dual perspectives – that of the human continuously gazing at the self, and that of the architecture immersed in reflection.

The proliferation of the “Selfie” is only the newest manifestation of ego-centric tendencies that are innately human. Photographer and co-curator Carolina Sandretto elaborates, “‘Selfies’ are the most fashionable way to depict oneself. We turn our cameras against us to photograph who we are and where we are. From the Oscars’ celebrations to the common person on their social media account, everyone is taking pictures of himself or herself fearless of the possible outcome. In the society of the picture, what surrounds us might be disappearing in the background of the main subject.”

Narcistecture invites viewers to consider the contemporary conditions of a world transformed by social media, which has changed not only what we look at, but how we look. Sandretto states, “Klaus takes us back where we belong, into our context. In the streets of different cities he captures what he sees and where he is by reflecting the buildings and the shapes of architecture onto itself. We, as individuals, are present in the pictures but absent from them; present as our society builds the architecture, but absent as individuals. His photographs become mirrors of our own society viewing itself and reflecting what it is. As a monumental ‘Selfie’ Klaus’ work makes us think about what the world of today looks like.”

Narcistecture was curated by photographer Carolina Sandretto and Tony Guerrero, Artistic Director of Whitebox. This photography exhibition marks the beginning of a collaboration for an ongoing photo initiative at Whitebox, setting a path for a major event slated for 2016.

Klaus Pichler is a photographer living and working in Vienna, Austria. His work has been exhibited world-wide, including solo exhibitions in Vienna, Nairobi, and Rome. His recent work includes Just the Two of Us exploring individuals who don elaborate costumes or cosplay and One-Third, a series of photographs that visualize excess and waste through images of rotting foods. Pichler is currently represented by Anzenberger Gallery, Vienna, and Rockelmann &, Berlin.

Maria Carolina Sandretto is an Italian photographer based in New York City. She graduated from the Catholic University of Milan in Political Sciences in 2006. In 2011, she obtained at Bocconi University an MA in Management of the Non Profit. In 2013 she completed the program in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at the International Center for Photography in New York City. Maria Carolina is currently staff photographer for The Clocktower Gallery in New York City, teaching assistant to Scott Thode at the International Center for Photography and Guest Curator at Whitebox Art Center.