Magdalena Jetelová
Pacific Ring of Fire (Ortung), 2017
Archival pigment print on aluminum, Lightbox
150 x 200 cm
59 1/16 x 78 11/16 ins
1AP Edtion 2/2
The work on the ‚Pacific Ring of Fire‘ can be seen as a further development of the ‚Iceland Project‘ While in Iceland the laser beam follows the shape of a...
The work on the ‚Pacific Ring of Fire‘ can be seen as a further development of the ‚Iceland Project‘ While in Iceland the laser beam follows the shape of a mountain ridge rising where the Eurasian Plate and the North American Plate meet, in Patagonia mathematical calculations mark the geological interface between the South American and Antarctic Plates, as above-ground elevations are invisible in this location. This boundary, invisible to humans, is briefly made visible through the laser drawings. The light imparts a sculptural modulation to the landscape: a place where something ends and something else has not yet begun, with a line of incompatibility in between. The artist is literally treading on „thin ice.“ Conducting the expedition with a small crew on a small ship was very daring, and the time available for the photographs was very short: before nightfall. The impressive photographs of the glacier formations and the ice shelf were taken from opposite icebergs, which had to be climbed for this purpose.
Provenance
Exhibitions
Domestication of a Pyramid, 58ARTISSIMA 2025, Turin, 52
Literature
In the work Chimera, two forms merge that are adjacent in a sequence of serial hand drawings. One form is made of solid American walnut wood; its twin form lies horizontally beneath the figure as a mirror made of stainless steel—precisely where one would normally expect the shadow to appear. At the same time, it serves as the support for the vertically upright wooden figure.
The sculpture creates an oscillating space in which the themes of shadow (that which lies in darkness), reflection, vitality, uprightness, and repose fuse into a philosophical matrix. The actual shadow further accompanies the figure. Since the two forms are adjacent in their process of creation, each can also be read as the previous or subsequent state of the other.
