Exhibition > Past > Haus Gallery

Haus Gallery 06.05.2003-30.05.2003

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Tango magic

For Kai-Mai Olbri tango is something more than a simple dance. In her photographs and watercolours she explores the magic secret of tango.

First. Different spheres of culture position into the conventional scheme of thoughts still into different columns: music here, theatre there, a little bit of art to the left and some cinema to the right. Classification seems to be simplifying moving in different cultural phenomena, their positioning into certain \"nests\". And even though during the last decade is gradually being talked more and more of the necessity to melt together different spheres, only a few risk with travelling on unknown paths and rather prefer to remain true to the already acquired skills.

 

Second. Tango is something that marks something strange for us (\"something southern\" says somebody from the back row), something that dances over our latitude. Tango has already a long time ago become so meaningful and so much exploited by art and literature that nobody takes it as a simple (a local folk) dance. Tango is being the synonym of  lust and desire - in case any synonyms can be found for such phenomena. Here we can find mystery, flirtation, sexuality, energy, aggressiveness, mysticism.But let\'s stop, because we can not talk about dance.Let\'s try to paint it.

 

Third. The history of photography will soon be calculated in centuries, but still it rather belongs to the engineer-technical column or belongs into the creational equipment of personal memory banks. Olbri\'s incision into prejudices is not forced, trying at any expense to justify the living right of a photo, but it is extremely elegant.With self-evidence she frames photos of tango, sets them into a passe-partout and flings them  into the exhibition hall.ere they are.Flirting with each other.Watch them or ask them to dance.

 

Tango is on Olbri\'s pictures of both so very still-life - style and extremely speedy. She keeps a keen, very keen eye on the dancers, but still does not try to be carried along with the swing. She catches with  film-producer\'s exactness moments that make a tango a tango - something more than just a dance.A hat on a chair. Fingers around a saxophone. A leg. A kiss. A position.Many-sided reasearch of the architectural texture of the dance is caught on photos, which because of their reflecting qualities can stop the moment better than any other sphere of art. Olbri leaves another role for the water-colours. Emotions. Desire, Flirtation. Air that is being loaded with...First. Second. Third.The dance begins.

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