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Disappearance is a trick begins with a classic discussion of image-object relationships. How does one become the other? What is the liminal space between the image and object? And to what means do artists use both - either in the process or realization of their work?

It's a topic that needs continuous revision, as medium boundaries have become permeable. The photograph is no longer simply a flattened surface of image. Nor should the image only be considered photographic. Most often, artists playfully work between different mediums depending on what is the most suitable form to express with. From laser-cut steel (Jack West), to printed stickers and Joke Sticky Hands (Liga Spunde). It may be a floating video portal to alternative worlds (Oliver Hickmet), a cabinet of fragments of an object existing elsewhere (noot.club), or misplaced faux-leather handbags (Juan de Porras Isla). But these artworks do not present themselves as such to insinuate the overtaking, or disappearance of the image. Images and objects work in symbiosis... tag-teaming, chasing, overtaking each other throughout the span of an artists' practice.

This exhibition for Fotopub 2016 seeks to address and situate traditional photographic concerns in a contemporary art context, through yet another exercise of image-objects. What may have started as my approaching artists via e-mail invitation to participate in the show, had then lead to an exchange of images and ideas, which only truly came to fruition in the process of installation abroad. What to think then of the art object - whose participation and existence relied predominantly on imagery? This is an invitation to think beyond the static art objects that reveal themselves in the exhibition, and understand these also as fluid processes and collaborations.

There is so much to say - yet so little that can be said - about such a complex topic that is steeped in histories preceding the camera. At the same time, the advent of new imaging and communication technologies is allowing for an entirely different way of work in a digital sphere. I reflect on how this has affected outsourced artwork fabrication, planning exhibitions abroad and the great potential of inviting artists (some who I have never met, whose works I have only engaged with through online documentations).

Already I have said too much! I leave you with the exhibition text for 'Disappearance is a trick'. It loosely suggests the various forms images can take. But in the magic of the midday sun the desert shadow shortens to recede into the object of the shadow - until they become almost one.

Exhibition text