Igor & Svetlana Kopystiansky
Artist Cv
Igor and Svetlana Kopystiansky have collaborated and co-authored many important and widely exhibited works, such as their major video installations Incidents (1996/7) and Fog (1999/2000). At the same time they have their own independent practices, and have developed distinctive languages and bodies of works. Their work is rooted in a deep knowledge and understanding of historical practices, such as constructivism and avant-garde theatre, but is also highly poetical and playful. Many of their recent collaborative works, realised as video, photography or slide projection, deal with the issue of time, and often present a powerful tension between two visions and trajectories, which can hardly be unified in an individual object or view. Drama and play are set up with the simplest devises, while conceptual strategies are perfectly harmonised with a strong fascination for the visual and tactile qualities of everyday objects and encounters.
Igor & Svetlana Kopystiansky live and work in New York.
Artist Contact
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Artist News
Mind at Play
The Art Institute of Chicago
14 June – 7 September 2008
Works from the permanent collection
The Art Institute of Chicago
Brassaï once told an interviewer that were he to record their conversation he would get nothing but a voice on tape; otherwise he could enjoy a mind at play. This situation is similar to the way many people think about photography, that is, the resulting picture is merely an optical copy of what was in front of the camera. Yet, because each of us may perceive the same scene or object differently, the mind of the observer can be at play creating a personal experience of the work through mystery, humor, sentiment, drama, illusion, or emotional empathy.
This exhibition features the work of artists who embraced this notion of the viewer's subjective experience and explored how such perceptions can be manipulated through photography. Works from the Art Institute's collection, including those by Kenneth Josephson, Robert Cumming, and Andre Kertesz, provide unexpected and often humorous approaches to this theme. Boundaries of traditional photography will also be explored from an unconventional, though more somber perspective with the work of Duane Michals. The images presented in this exhibition examine the realm of photography beyond its basic function of strict recording and challenge the ways in which this medium can illuminate how one perceives reality.
Artist Press
A PARALLAX VIEW: SVETLANA, IGOR, AND VICE-VERSAText by Barry Schwabsky, excerpt from "Next to Nothing", Espoon Modernin Taiteen Museo, 2007
View PDF (102 K)
Making the Stone Stony: From Alienation to Collaboration in the Work of Igor & Svetlana Kopystiansky
Text by Anthony Spira, excerpt from "Next to Nothing", Espoon Modernin Taiteen Museo, 2007
View PDF (156 K)
Artist Exhibitions
Igor and Svetlana Kopystiansky July 4 - August 19, 2006View Exhibition
"The distance between me and you." July 9 - September 6, 2003
View Exhibition
Igor and Svetlana Kopystiansky September 19 - December 6, 2002
View Exhibition
A Shot in the Head July 14 - September 9, 2000
View Exhibition
Artist Images
The Day Before Tomorrow , 1999 Two screen slide projection with 216 slides Dimesions variable Installation view Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel
Incidents, 1996-1997 Single screen or monitor presentation Dimensions variable Installation view Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel
526, 2005 6 Projector slide piece (six 35mm slides) Dimensions variable Installation view Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel
The Crash 1, 2006 Black and white photographs 71 x 46 x 3 cm
Untitled, 2002 Diptych of C-Type Print on aluminium hung 10cm apart 89 x 89 cm each Installation view Espo Museum of Modern Art (EMMA), Finland 8 February - 29 April 2007
Yellow Sound, 2005 Single channel dvd projection (silent) Installation view Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel
Still, 2006 16 mm film transferred to video Installation view Espo Museum of Modern Art (EMMA), Finland 8 February - 29 April 2007
Cold / Warm Shapes, 1979 Black and white photographs 29 x 30 cm each Installation view ESPOO Museum, Finland, 2007
Pictorial Study, 1975 Framed black and white photographs 54 x 43 x 4 cm each Installation view Espo Museum of Modern Art (EMMA), Finland 8 February - 29 April 2007
Pink & White - A Play in Two Time Directions, 2006 8 single channel dvd installation with two channel audio track Installation view Espo Museum of Modern Art (EMMA), Finland 8 February - 29 April 2007
Pink & White - A Play in Two Time Directions, 2006 8 single channel dvd installation with two channel audio track Installation view Espo Museum of Modern Art (EMMA), Finland 8 February - 29 April 2007
Portrait, 2006 6 Black and white photographs 69.5 x 68.5 x 2.5 cm
Portrait, 2006 6 Black and white photographs 69.5 x 68.5 x 2.5 cm
Sandglass - Establishing Shot I, 2005 Two channel projection (silent) Dimensions variable Installation view Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel
Sandglass - Establishing Shot II, 2005 Two channel projection (silent) Dimensions variable Espo Museum of Modern Art (EMMA), Finland 8 February - 29 April 2007
Sandglass - Establishing Shot II, 2005 Two channel projection (silent) Dimensions variable Espo Museum of Modern Art (EMMA), Finland 8 February - 29 April 2007
The Road, 2005 Two channel dvd on LCD screens Installation view Igor & Svetlana Kopystiansky, 29 & 52-54 Bell Street, 7th July 2006 - 19th August 2006
Seascape, 1984 Oil on canvas with a handwritten text 70 x 90 cm