Miroslav Tichy's work is shown at Wilkinson Gallery at the moment. (Press release here)
1. Being John Malkovich. It is disturbing, how close one gets to "being Miroslav Tichy" when walking the show. Apparently, Tichy photographed those images for himself. Thus the honesty of voyeuristic experience in them. The images look like stolen moments, quick ones, where there is no time to set up the camera. Just the moment. A glimpse of nudity. A glimpse of smile. A glimpse of a shoe.
The photos do not look precious - one could find them on the basement floor, gnawed by mice, flooded, marked with age and surroundings. A discarded collection. One of those albums or photo boxes I get from house clearances.
2. Would one photo be enough? No. This show is a book - one page does not make a book ( I do know somebody who would most certainly ague otherwise :-) The images flow from one into another and build up a the whole. Page by page, photo by photo, around the perimeter of the gallery.
3. The Lives of Others is a wonderful German film about surveillance in East Germany.
