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Karel Miler, from the Grating series, 1974. Courtesy of SVIT Prague and Tenderpixel.

Of Parameters. Measurable Truths, Definitive Outcome

– curated by Borbála Soós

Tomas Chaffe, Cevdet Erek, Marcell 
Esterházy, Dóra Maurer, Karel Miler

22 February until 23 March 2013

PV: 21 February, 7 – 9pm

‘Everywhere where there is interaction between a place, a time and an expenditure of energy, there is rhythm.Therefore: a) repetition (of movements, gestures, action, situations, differences);b) interferences of linear processes and cyclical processes;c) birth, growth, peak then decline and end.’
– Henri Lefebvre, Rhythmanalysis: Space, Time and Everyday Life

In the latter part of the nineteenth century, Georg Cantor revolutionised mathematics with the concept of a set. Not only a collection of objects, a set includes the rules we apply to them. By multiplying the reservoir of parameters conveyed through situations, objects and scores, the works in this exhibition plead for the rediscovery and conscious reflection on the construction of reality.

Of Parameters is a group show of historic and contemporary pieces, documentations of actions (Karel Miler), simple experiments with perception of space, rhythms, colour and sound (Dóra Maurer) and measurements of space and time (Tomas Chaffe, Cevdet Erek and Marcell Esterházy).

Subjective and objective, universal and the trivial, the absurdity of attempts to pronounce universal rules about one’s existence is underlined by the subtitle Measurable Truths, Definitive Outcome. The featured artists reveal structures through a visual manifestation of logical formulas by observing their immediate surroundings, creating systems through which the world is apprehended and their lives are organised.

These works are not merely remarks on living conditions, but also draw attention to the uncomfortable limitations that politics, economics or other circumstances also force upon us. With simple experiments and mathematical applications, artists are not only able to analyse situations, but also begin to take control over their everyday surroundings.

Karel Miler, Touch, Grating, Measuring, and Watching, 1972-75. Courtesy of SVIT Prague and Tenderpixel.

Of Parameters. Installation view, Tenderpixel.

Of Parameters.Installation view, Tenderpixel.

Karel Miler, Grating, 1974. Courtesy of SVIT Prague and Tenderpixel.

Karel Miler, Grating, 1974. Courtesy of SVIT Prague and Tenderpixel.

Karel Miler, Grating, 1974. Courtesy of SVIT Prague and Tenderpixel.

Karel Miler, Grating, 1974. Courtesy of SVIT Prague and Tenderpixel.

Karel Miler, Watching, 1972. Courtesy of SVIT Prague and Tenderpixel.

Karel Miler, Watching, 1972. Courtesy of SVIT Prague and Tenderpixel.

Marcell Esterházy. Domiciles Fixes/Állandó Lakhelyek, 2012. Tenderpixel.

Cevdet Erek, Ruler 0-Now, 2008; Ruler 1 (Cairo), 2007; Circular Week Ruler, 2011. Courtesy of AkinciI Amsterdam and Tenderpixel.

Cevdet Erek, Ruler 0-Now, 2008. Courtesy of Akinci, Amsterdam and Tenderpixel.

Dóra Maurer, Relative Swingings, 1973; Kalah, 1980; Triolets, 1980. Courtesy of C³ Center for Culture & Communication Foundation, Budapest and Tenderpixel.

Dóra Maurer, Kalah, 1980. Courtesy of Tenderpixel.

Dóra Maurer. Timing, 1973-80, film still. Courtesy of Tenderpixel.

Tomas Chaffe. Approximately 2220 x 810 x 625 mm (The Largest Possible Plinth to Enter the Gallery Space, without Altering the Fabric of the Building, 2013.)

Thomas Chaffe, Only You Know, 2013. Telephone and GSM bug. CourtesyTenderpixel.