Prima Center Berlin

Pre/packet/ing Vx thru V1 - (...)

The research done on the relation between the space and the sculpture, as inseparable entities, (the space is by definition made part of the sculpture definition), continuously characterize Slavcho Spirovski’s current work. In regard to the research done on the space meaning a place, an environment, means of determining the position of the artifacts, the abstract mathematical notion…, the artist changes the situations, the functions and the significances of the objects. Analytical by its nature, Slavcho Spirovski’s interest is being directed towards the conceptual acceptance of the very idea of the sculpture. He is consistent with his experiences and affinities towards the dualism art/science in regard to analytical division of the subject matter and technical elements that make constituent part of the whole sculpture (drawings, models, pedestal, material, space, volume…), whereas the formal plastic form and the usage of specific material reaches the border of losing its sense and meaning. More specifically, he is intrigued by the sense and the meaning of the content of what is being defined under the classic idea of the sculpture, as well as by the different levels in which this idea is being formed, presented and interpreted.
Slavcho Spirovski’s latest exhibition, titled Pre/packet/ing Vx thru V1 – (…), consists of three different spacious situations originating not only from the “treatment” of the specific material, but from the very challenge to overcome all the imperfections and restrictions of the space itself. Thus, he always leaves room for quite a few possible clearings of the mentioned states, no matter if it is about ruining/destroying the form (yet, its presence remains), or about the relation between the light and the shadow, adumbration, gravity towards the ground… The title of the exhibition suggests symbolical description of the “product/sculptures” and determines the states of unspecified and unidentified volume (inner space, volume of the existing object, etc.). The very process of creating the work, determines the process of repacking the boxes, which have already been packed by themselves and lead us directly to the works (reshaped carton boxes).
Regardless of the mathematical logic, according to which the equation is to be solution/sum of the volume of the packed object and the rest of the volume, the artist leaves it incomplete so as to suggest additional puzzle. The uncompleted equation leaves room for researches to be done on what precedes the sculpture itself, more precisely on what is inside of it, researches on its content, being named by the author as “interior”. As a matter of fact, the volume that the box occupies is equal to the sum of the other two volumes of the interior, being simple carton partitions, well calculated and with interesting ways in which the carton is being folded, thus enabling immobility of the packed object (in this specific case it is crucial to draw attention to the absence of the packed object inside the boxes).
Trying to master the separate entireties of the exhibition area, with all its negative and positive aspects, the exhibition Pre/packet/ing Vx thru V1 – (…) presents three states of the space. The first state deals with the different form of the reshaped boxes. The form and the shape obtained as a result of the different treatment of each individual box separately is achieved by cutting, folding, attaching, disassembling, segmenting, extracting, etc., the purpose of which is looking for a structural solution. The quantity of carton that each box holds in itself has not changed, i.e. the material that each box is made of, still represents a constituent part of the individual spacious/sculptural solution. According to the author, such a “work with specified material”, explores the possibility, with only a few “strokes” to change the shape and the form of the previously set (fixed) form, thus, altering its essence as well… Should we desire to additionally and more profoundly look into the whole conception (of this spacious sensation), we bring the same to the level of “adumbration”…i.e. a transient form towards possible sculpture, followed by “denial” of the form and achieving eventually a visual effect of a spacious relief.
The second situation takes place in the central part of the second area – it is a round, conical form composed of numerous “interiors” and represents the existence of a certain quantity of object vastness in a given space. On the other hand, the third situation is being purified and represents a unique, carefully selected and spaciously isolated “interior”, set on a pedestal, emphasizing the emptiness, and at the same time its active relation towards the entire space. Such an adjustment represents a distinctive sublimate of the previous game of confronted relations: full-empty-active-passive-order-chaos-presence-non-presence…
Slavcho Spirovski insists on analytical and interpretative solutions or concepts of visual presentations that are based on the tautological moment of experiencing the sculpture. Being very close to the analytical aesthetics, which by means of conceptual and semiotic models describes, explains and interprets the aesthetics, the theory of art and the artistic practice, the author reflects his ideas of an open concept and targets that define the artifact as a work of art, rearranging the constituent parts and the relations between the elements of the artistic structure. We can say that it is about conceptual structures created by means of mathematical analysis of the art as well as the rules and procedures applicable for the process of generating and transforming the visual and conceptual structures; which, finally, possess a hidden social context, i.e. refer to a model and a process that in a very rational way expresses particular aspects of the consumers’ society, the relation illusion-reality, and even the visual allegory of the deconstruction of the exterior.

Maja Cankulovska - Mihajlovska