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.