Not Even Something
Photography, 2012
Downshifting as a name for the Western cultural phenomenon of slowing down the pace of living was first used terminologically in Amy Saltzman’s book ‘Downshifting: Reinventing Success on a Slower Track’, which was published in 1991 – ironically, coinciding with the collapse of the Soviet Union. The series of works titled Not Even Something is based on a visually subjective examination of the post-Soviet cityscape and its interpretation as a social construct. Although Latvia has seen many significant social/political events since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the selection of cityscape as the main point of reference reveals that the architecture and territorial division of the Soviet era still determine the pace of life, public movement routes and also the landscape aesthetic of the average post-Soviet city.
During the Soviet era, city territories were usually subdivided into areas which often differed from each other not only in name but also by their distinct function within the city environment. There were, for example, industrial factory districts, garage districts, sleeping districts, garden allotments. After the collapse of the Soviet Union many of these districts lost their function.
Factories were closed, fences were partially dismantled, everything overgrew with shrubbery and people began to use these interspaces as shortcuts to the city locations they needed to get to. There is, of course, public transportation, which connects the various city districts; but late in the evening or at night it is easier for people to pass through these interspaces on foot. This creates paths and roads that are not marked on the official city map. The city map, on the other hand, starts to show territories that are never the city inhabitants’ destinations, but are always interspaces between more meaning-invested parts of the city. The works of this series explore these ‘ghost zones’ at night, which is stereotypically the most dangerous time to be there. The paths made by people passing through on foot often also determined the basic aesthetic structural principles of the works themselves.
Before I had started to take pictures I imagined the photographs would present at least some slight visual evidence of the sinister and unwelcoming nature of the interspace. Instead, I discovered that in photographs the interspace landscapes acquire qualities that are reminiscent of the pictorial tradition of the Romantic landscape painting. These works are not a characterization of any particular geographic location or social event; they convey the imperfection of the eye and the camera as instruments for exploring reality, and describe the inseparable links of the real and the imagined in the interpretation of landscape and landscape photography. (A.S.)
Artist's Bio:
Alnis Stakle through his talented, purposeful and persistent work of the past fifteen years has succeeded in becoming one of the most influential photographers of the middle generation in Latvia. The artist lives and works in Daugavpils, which is where he developed his academic career. Daugavpils is to be perceived as a resource for self-analysis for the artist. Contemporary aspects and historical contexts of image perception and shooting technologies in the works of Alnis Stakle lead to applying old clichés of photo theory, such as the division into mirrors and windows. The photographs of Stakle are like outspoken windows, meant for seeing the artist himself through them. No mirroring of society, or of individuals and separate groups takes place here. The artist photographs everything – marginal architectonic, urban, and daytime changes. Borders and intermediate states that are even more difficult to define are photographed by the artist in order to reveal the peculiarities of his own perception, mind and feelings. To do this, photographs have been taken of students in stripped-down interiors (“Ilgas” (Longing), 2010), little houses in the dark with lit windows (“Home Sweet Home”, 2006–2009), landscapes of his native city (“L.S.D. Living Space Daugavpils”, 2001–2006) and other “things”. Stakle has received a Masters degree in Environmental Education and has defended a doctoral dissertation in Media Pedagogy (2003, 2011, Daugavpils University), yet he does not name any person or institution which has been his teacher in photography. Nevertheless the artist himself successfully performs in the fields of pedagogy linked to photography, giving lectures at the Riga Stradins University and the ISSP school. Since 1998 Alnis Stakle has taken part in group exhibitions and organized solo exhibitions both in Latvia and abroad. He has received a Latvian Photography Award in the category of Author Photography (2006) and the first prize in the Sony World Photography Awards in the category of Architecture Photography (2011). The works of Stakle have been published in “Shots” (UK/USA), “Eyemazing” (NL), “Foto Kvartāls” (LV), “Studija” (LV), “Photography Now” (DE), etc. He has held master classes in photography and visual culture in the UK, Russia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Latvia. (I.L.)