Slobodan Pajic
Encyclopedia
Slobodan Pajic is a visual artist who uses a variety of media (primarily video, laser light, photography, film, sound) in his plastic research. He began very early to work with new technologies to create unique abstract and graphic forms, employing a series of chance techniques at the limits of technology, which he transforms into video films, graphics, installations and sculptures.
Pajic follows progress in the sciences and adopts the latest concepts and technology in a quest for new forms, new materials and new artistic possibilities.
, Slobodan Pajic arrived in Paris
in 1966 to study art history at the Sorbonne
, but was soon prompted to reorient himself to his own painting. He lives and works in Paris and has become a French citizen.
At the beginning of the 70s, his abstract, geometrical art brought him success, but his passion for new media, as “new supports” for creation, soon won out. One of his early solo shows was the organization of space with laser
light (Square root in a square) at the American Center in Paris in 1972. As soon as 1/2 inch video equipment was available, Pajic began to work on a series of short videos
unlike anything which has ever been done: Exploiting the incapacity of the video scanning pattern to register isolated instants in their entirety, Pajic introduced abrupt changes by breaking reflective surfaces before the camera.
The new Centre Georges Pompidou
, in Paris lent their post-production facilities for a compilation of these short films, Untitled 76: Destruction of Sound and Image, and provided some of the first showings. The enthusiastic reaction of the art world prompted the Musée national d’Art moderne to commission Pajic to produce the first artist’s video in their new, two-inch video studios. Untitled 77 : Passage From Closed To Open Space, an abstract film in saturated color, continues to occupy a unique position in the history of video art.
In 1980, after a stay in New York
, and a year of travel throughout Europe, Pajic settled into a new studio in Paris and began a series of installation art
, pieces employing video screens and projections.
An Image Reflector installation
consists of a mirrored video screen on the wall, before which is placed a video monitor with an abstract, repetitive film, accompanied by an electronic signal. As the spectator approaches the screen to see the film, his or her own reflection becomes part of the experience.
The Image Captors installations
are typically composed of a large video screen on a wall, before which is placed a projector on a Plexiglas pedestal. The screen has been prepared with materials that capture the projection and restitute it in the dark. The image fades slowly, in the same way as an impression in short-term memory, and is replaced by another.
In 1996, the French National Museum of Modern Art commissioned an installation from this series. The result, a large multi-screen installation Mémoires was presented in the anniversary exhibition Made In France. To the sound of a rocket-launcher called Stalin’s Organ, images of war on 16 mm film decomposed motion and imprinted a prepared video screen, then abruptly disappeared, leaving the after-image to slowly fade in silence. On the other side of the room, 4 projections of fixed images of combats and refugees appeared in violent bursts and disappeared into darkness. The piece is an altogether moving indictment of war and aggression.
In the early 80s Pajic began a series of pictorial works exploiting the inability of laser light to pass through certain distortions of materials, by which he produced abstract, chance patterns and transformed them into arresting pictorial works (Graphismes). A series of installations followed, in which laser beams confront transparent and reflective forms to create abstract figures in space.
At the beginning of the 90s, he constructed a high-frequency device and started work on a series of Electrophotograms. Based on the Tesla effect
, the images are composed of minute points of light emanating from the material itself. The use of computer technology restores to the image all its brilliance and complexity.
Since then, Pajic has continued to develop a body of work composed of installations, videos, films, graphic and photographic images. He has participated in numerous personal and collective exhibitions:
Maastricht Museum, Evénement 03.23,03 in Montréal, the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Musée national d'art moderne in Paris, Biennale de Sao Paolo, Video 79 in Rome, Biennale de Paris, Serpentine Gallery in London, Vor-Film Video in Munich.The Kitchen in New York, The Bay Area Video Coalition in San Francisco, the first video retrospective at the Long Beach Muséum of Art, Moderna Museet in Stockholm....
Pajic follows progress in the sciences and adopts the latest concepts and technology in a quest for new forms, new materials and new artistic possibilities.
Biography
Born August 16, 1943 in the ex-YugoslaviaYugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, Slobodan Pajic arrived in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1966 to study art history at the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
, but was soon prompted to reorient himself to his own painting. He lives and works in Paris and has become a French citizen.
At the beginning of the 70s, his abstract, geometrical art brought him success, but his passion for new media, as “new supports” for creation, soon won out. One of his early solo shows was the organization of space with laser
Laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...
light (Square root in a square) at the American Center in Paris in 1972. As soon as 1/2 inch video equipment was available, Pajic began to work on a series of short videos
Video art
Video art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and comprises video and/or audio data. . Video art came into existence during the 1960s and 1970s, is still widely practiced and has given rise to the widespread use of video installations...
unlike anything which has ever been done: Exploiting the incapacity of the video scanning pattern to register isolated instants in their entirety, Pajic introduced abrupt changes by breaking reflective surfaces before the camera.
The new Centre Georges Pompidou
Centre Georges Pompidou
Centre Georges Pompidou is a complex in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles, rue Montorgueil and the Marais...
, in Paris lent their post-production facilities for a compilation of these short films, Untitled 76: Destruction of Sound and Image, and provided some of the first showings. The enthusiastic reaction of the art world prompted the Musée national d’Art moderne to commission Pajic to produce the first artist’s video in their new, two-inch video studios. Untitled 77 : Passage From Closed To Open Space, an abstract film in saturated color, continues to occupy a unique position in the history of video art.
In 1980, after a stay in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, and a year of travel throughout Europe, Pajic settled into a new studio in Paris and began a series of installation art
Installation art
Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
, pieces employing video screens and projections.
An Image Reflector installation
Video installation
Video installation is a contemporary art form that combines video technology with installation art, making use of all aspects of the surrounding environment to affect the audience. Tracing its origins to the birth of video art in the 1970s, it has increased in popularity as digital video production...
consists of a mirrored video screen on the wall, before which is placed a video monitor with an abstract, repetitive film, accompanied by an electronic signal. As the spectator approaches the screen to see the film, his or her own reflection becomes part of the experience.
The Image Captors installations
Installation art
Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
are typically composed of a large video screen on a wall, before which is placed a projector on a Plexiglas pedestal. The screen has been prepared with materials that capture the projection and restitute it in the dark. The image fades slowly, in the same way as an impression in short-term memory, and is replaced by another.
In 1996, the French National Museum of Modern Art commissioned an installation from this series. The result, a large multi-screen installation Mémoires was presented in the anniversary exhibition Made In France. To the sound of a rocket-launcher called Stalin’s Organ, images of war on 16 mm film decomposed motion and imprinted a prepared video screen, then abruptly disappeared, leaving the after-image to slowly fade in silence. On the other side of the room, 4 projections of fixed images of combats and refugees appeared in violent bursts and disappeared into darkness. The piece is an altogether moving indictment of war and aggression.
In the early 80s Pajic began a series of pictorial works exploiting the inability of laser light to pass through certain distortions of materials, by which he produced abstract, chance patterns and transformed them into arresting pictorial works (Graphismes). A series of installations followed, in which laser beams confront transparent and reflective forms to create abstract figures in space.
At the beginning of the 90s, he constructed a high-frequency device and started work on a series of Electrophotograms. Based on the Tesla effect
Tesla coil
A Tesla coil is a type of resonant transformer circuit invented by Nikola Tesla around 1891. It is used to produce high voltage, low current, high frequency alternating current electricity. Tesla coils produce higher current than the other source of high voltage discharges, electrostatic machines...
, the images are composed of minute points of light emanating from the material itself. The use of computer technology restores to the image all its brilliance and complexity.
Since then, Pajic has continued to develop a body of work composed of installations, videos, films, graphic and photographic images. He has participated in numerous personal and collective exhibitions:
Maastricht Museum, Evénement 03.23,03 in Montréal, the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Musée national d'art moderne in Paris, Biennale de Sao Paolo, Video 79 in Rome, Biennale de Paris, Serpentine Gallery in London, Vor-Film Video in Munich.The Kitchen in New York, The Bay Area Video Coalition in San Francisco, the first video retrospective at the Long Beach Muséum of Art, Moderna Museet in Stockholm....
Selected bibliography
- French Art Vidéo, Pierre EmmanuelPierre EmmanuelNoël Mathieu better known under his pseudonym Pierre Emmanuel, was a French poet of Christian inspiration...
, et al. (Paris, Center for Media Art, 1980) - L’Art Vidéo 1960/80-82, Dany Bloch (Locarno, Flaviana, 1983).
- Vidéo: A Rétrospective 1974-1984, Kathy Rae Huffman, et al.(Long Beach Museum of Art, 1984),
- Slobodan Pajic, Jose Coira-Nieto and Nancy Wilson-Pajic (La Coruna, CGAI, 1994)
- Slobodan Pajic, Stéphanie MoisdonStéphanie MoisdonStéphanie Moisdon is a French curator and art critic. She was co-curator of the exhibition Présumés Innocents in Bordeaux, 2000; Manifesta 4 in Frankfurt, 2001; and Before the End at Consortium, Dijon, 2004. She is co-founder of the BDV , chief editor of Frog magazine...
, in Germain Viatte, et al. Vidéo et après : La collection vidéo du Musée national d'Art moderne (Paris, Centre Georges PompidouCentre Georges PompidouCentre Georges Pompidou is a complex in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles, rue Montorgueil and the Marais...
/ Carré, 1994). - Vidéo : un Art contemporain, Françoise Parfait, (Paris, éd. du Regard, 2001), pp.& nbsp, 86–88.
External links
- Biography: http://pajic-wilson-pajic.pagesperso-orange.fr/pajic-wilson-pajic/Biographie.html
- Réunion des Musées nationaux: http://www.photo.rmn.fr (search Slobodan Pajic)
- Collection Centre Georges Pompidou : http://www.centrepompidou.fr/pdf/collectionNM.pdf
- Collection Centre Georges Pompidou (text, in French, by Sandra Adam-Couralet): http://collection.centrepompidou.fr/mediaNavigart/oeudoc/fra/GE/NE/GENERATIONAUTO-15000000003696600353.htm
- Personal site: http://pajic-wilson-pajic.pagesperso-orange.fr
- Forum itinerant: http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-fr-0304/msg00015.html
- Arte television: Die Nacht : http://www.arte.tv/fr/art-musique/die-nacht-la-nuit/Die-Nacht-_2F-La-Nuit-_2316/368932,CmC=368936.html
- Arte Televisioin: http://www.arte.tv/fr/Echappees-culturelles/die-nacht-la-nuit/nav/1188728,CmC=1188724.html
- Chronology: repères historiques : http://www.newmedia-art.org/francais/reperes-h/80.htme-media *New Media: http://www.newmedia-art.org/sommaire/english/Partenaires/cgp/collection/index.htm
- E-Media: http://emedia.free.fr/101/raa.htm