The Battle of Siracusa
The photographs of Martin Ogolter capture our world as a stage, in which traces of great events make actors superfluous. -Larissa Kikol
When the sun rises after the Carnaval parade at the Samabadromo in Rio de Janeiro the floats return to their place of conception, where they have been built for the past months and now return to be dismantled and recycled. These pictures have been taken in that time when the floats return or are about to return to the hangars, most still empty apart from remnance of the building process. Around them we find left overs from years past. The returned floats show the wear and tear of the party as well as small signs of the people who make it all happen, empty water bottles, a pair of jeans left to dry etc.
A Batalha de Siracusa
"... percebendo que a terra é uma forma de escrita, uma geografia da qual tínhamos esquecido que nós mesmos somos os autores." (Georges Perec, Species of Space).
A Batalha de Siracusa (415-413 a.C.) é um exemplo de planejamento incorreto, ambição e o que pode dar errado na guerra, os atenienses tentaram saquear Siracusa na Sicília e, apesar de um número maior, perderam o cerco e foram escravizados para trabalhar nas pedreiras da Sicília, onde a maioria deles pereceu sob as duras condições. Este projeto brinca com o homem e a história, que escreve a história, história geológica versus história escrita. As lombadas rasgadas de livros antigos incrustadas nas pedreiras da Sicília como cicatrizes. Desenhos médicos antigos de músculos masculinos sobrepostos em fotografias das cavernas nessas pedreiras. O mar Mediterrâneo tão combatido naqueles tempos históricos hoje é um corpo de água que precisa ser conquistado para chegar à promessa de uma vida melhor. O próprio Ogolter construiu uma rampa (a primeira de todas as ferramentas) de pedra no mar diante da Sicília como um símbolo da futilidade da guerra.
untitled (The Battle of Siracusa), archival pigment print, 60 x 90cm
untitled (The Battle of Siracusa), archival pigment print, 87 x 130cm
untitled (The Battle of Siracusa), archival pigment print, 87 x 130cm
untitled (The Battle of Siracusa), archival pigment print, 60 x 90cm
untitled (The Battle of Siracusa), archival pigment print, 60 x 90cm
untitled (The Battle of Siracusa), archival pigment print, 87 x 130cm
untitled (The Battle of Siracusa), archival pigment print, 87 x 130cm
untitled (The Battle of Siracusa), archival pigment print, 50 x 33cm
untitled (The Battle of Siracusa), archival pigment print, 50 x 33cm
untitled (The Battle of Siracusa), archival pigment print, 90 x 60cm
untitled (The Battle of Siracusa), 2 archival pigment prints, 50 x 50cm each
untitled (The Battle of Siracusa), 2 archival pigment prints, 50 x 50cm each
The Ramp II (The Battle of Siracusa), archival pigment print, 60 x 60cm
untitled (The Battle of Siracusa), archival pigment print, 33 x 50cm
untitled (The Battle of Siracusa), archival pigment print, 33 x 50cm
untitled (The Battle of Siracusa), archival pigment print, 33 x 50cm
untitled (The Battle of Siracusa), archival pigment print, 33 x 50cm
untitled (The Battle of Siracusa), archival pigment print, 60 x 90cm
untitled (The Battle of Siracusa), archival pigment print, 60 x 90cm
untitled (The Battle of Siracusa), archival pigment print, 60 x 90cm
untitled (The Battle of Siracusa), archival pigment print, 60 x 90cm
untitled (The Battle of Siracusa), archival pigment print, 60 x 90cm
untitled (The Battle of Siracusa), archival pigment print, 60 x 90cm
The Ramp (The Battle of Siracusa), archival pigment print, 180 x 94cm