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Mirror as instrument of illusion
The exhibition Mirror as Instrument of Illusion is the first part of the long-term exhibition project under the umbrella term Illusion in Fine Art of the Second Half of the 20th Century. The aim of the project, which will take place in The Nitra Gallery in the years 2007 – 2009, is to analyse various aspects of the phenomenon illusion. The term, deriving from a Latin word ludere means in the translation to play, to fiddle, to cheat and to lie, while the basic definition of the illusion relates to the notion or percept that does not match with reality. The intention of the displayed project is to document, that the aspect of illusion, traditionally connected with the historic art, is topical even in the artworks of the second half of the 20th century as well as in the contemporary ones. Individual exposed projects will be aimed at presentation of the art works, in which various visual tricks (trompe I ‘oeil, hyperrealism), optical effects (mirror or some other reflective surface, camera obscura), virtual environment (simulacrum), arranged environment (shadow theatre) or physiological given of sight (op-art) are used to bring the illusion. The initial exhibition Mirror as Instrument of Illusion is oriented at the presentation of works of Slovak and Czech authors, whose outputs are closely connected with mirror phenomenon. I did not structure the exhibitions-as linear history of transformations of illusion, but I concentrated on the categorisation of the chosen problems, in order for the exhibition to offer a broad variety of pieces by artists working with the motif of mirror and reflection. It regards mostly the authors, who have been engaged with this theme for a long time or with those, who shifted the theme into a new context.
Author: Barbora Geržová
Publisher: Nitra Gallery
Year: 2007
ISBN 978-80-587 46-37-2