Tonight 4th april 2018 at 19h, opening of Lukas Birk photography exhibition “Travelogue Sammlung”, at TransformArt gallery, Svetog Save 8

In Travelogue Sammlung, storyteller, collector and conservator Lukas Birk draws photographic material out of his family albums and journeys to repurpose old books of his personal collection. On the pages of these out-dated publications, he inserts images of his family history and trajectory as an artist to generate displaced contents and readings.

Based on visual recollections of journeys that took place from Austria via the Balkans to the Middle East and back to Europe, Birk’s storyline revisits notions and cliches such as the trappings of exoticism, the “Other” as a Western construct, folklore and the status of the artist.

By throwing pictures back to the arena of history and by mixing heterogeneous materials, it reinvents the content and nature of pre-existent photographic collections, triggering personal and collective memory in manifold ways.

From vernacular to fine art photography, and from the intimacy of the family album to ruthless public exposure, the product of this operation is a novel archival palimpsest of prints, books and objects, real and imaginary at heart, that. This remix emerges as a fascinating hybrid narrative that unwraps the lifetime of three generations of men and the ultimate destiny of a collection.

In collaboration with Austrian Kulturforum Belgrad and Austrian Arts Council.