Untitled 1965

Curator: Marko Pogacnik created this compelling “Untitled” work in 1965. It’s crafted on paper, a fascinating dance of geometric forms flirting with Abstract Expressionism. What grabs you first about it? Editor: The sheer quietness. All those perfectly placed voids; it's like gazing up at the night sky, but instead of stars, there are absences, holes puncturing a sterile plane. Almost clinical. Curator: Interesting! Clinical, maybe because of the precision. For me, though, it hums with a playful spirit, those polka dots like musical notes scattered on a page. It hints at the ephemeral, doesn't it? Editor: I see it as a critique. Think of the '60s—a time of social upheaval, feminist art movements, challenging established norms. Could these perforations represent societal cracks, the systemic holes within power structures, especially when considering a relatively unknown Central-Eastern European artist? Curator: That is a compelling perspective. The systematic puncturing as an act of rebellion against the surface…it is potent. However, perhaps there is a simplicity here, where less can be just that–simply, less. There doesn’t necessarily have to be some encoded messaging when there is an allowance for free-form art? Editor: True, intention can be a slippery fish, especially retroactively assigned. Still, I can't shake the feeling that there's a subversive undertone to this ordered chaos, a visual echo of the quiet rebellions brewing at the time. Curator: Well, whether it whispers of social upheaval or sings a simpler, more innocent tune, Pogacnik’s “Untitled” work invites us to see absences as presences, and perhaps, vice versa. Editor: Yes, that invitation to renegotiate absence…I’ll carry that one with me. Thanks.