petra feriancova

From The Series Taken By My dad in 1969
(2009 - photograph - 110x165cm)

From The Series Taken By My dad in 1969
(2009 - b/w photograph - 21x30cm)

From The Series Taken By My dad in 1969
(2009 - b/w photograph - 50x100cm)

creator
(2008 - b/w original photograph from o. ferianc’s archive, (new breeds 1948–1962) - variable dimensions)

petra feriancova creator is a subtle work about generation and appropriation, about the human need to manipulate nature, beauty and life. this archive belonged to the artist s ornithologist grandfather who, between 1948 and 1962 worked with other breeders on the creation of new species of pigeons. this collection of 85 original images is the result of their experiments and outcomes. each image is the evidence of an improvement or a mistake, each one with annotated measurements, dates and comments on the developments of the tests. what fascinated feriancova is the breeders utopian desire to deceive natural evolution, having the illusion of being in charge of someone else s life themselves. as she says “ creator is about a human intervention into natural selection, questioning the inherent features of the evolution - gradual changes of hereditary characteristics within generations. it is about an effort to create new species in a short time span (during one human life) thus being in contradiction with the evolution itself. despite many possibilities of real time, the creator can manifest a human desire to survive or to live forever”.

creator 2008 (detail)
(2008 - (photo from o. ferianc’s archive, new breeds 1949–1956) bw original photograph - variable dimensions)

creator 2008 (detail)
(2008 - (photo from o. ferianc’s archive, new breeds 1949–1956) bw original photograph - variable dimensions)

creator 2008 (detail)
(2008 - (photo from o. ferianc’s archive, new breeds 1949–1956) bw original photograph - variable dimensions)

a4 the possibilities of use
(2008 - different media - variable dimensions)

small-format slide-projections (a4 format) insomnia, amnesia and endless, (all from 2008) have a common integrating subheading the possibilities of use – with regard to the aim of the author, the possibility of choice and the possibility of narration with limited time. all artworks are limited by an a4 output in 2d. l. gavulová

i asked my friends to describe an artwork to me
(2007/2008 - black and white catalogue containing artist´s contributions - 20 x 15 cm)

the work is a collection of texts provided by artists i know. artists describe artworks made by other artists they chose. the description should be informal, informative, written in any person, number or time. the text has also involved the information about where the participating artists have seen an artwork and its author`s name. the reason why i have collected and why i have kept asking the artists to report me about a piece of art was based on my personal decision not visiting the art exhibitions and galleries anymore. the aim was simply to get a response to my call, through which, i could be able to prove the experience of the described piece.

f.ck the guilt, (a thing of mine that may not be mine series)
(2007-2009 - scanned and enlarged national geografic image - variable dimensions)

the year when weather went wild, (a thing of mine that may not be mine series)
(2007-2009 - scanned and enlarged national geografic image - variable dimensions)

william smith college, (a thing of mine that may not be mine series)
(2007-2009 - scanned and enlarged national geografic image - variable dimensions)

exit ghost, play 2009
(2009 - A4 sheets - variable dimensions)

The Play is a download of an original text of Hamlet in the Times new Roman font, size 12. I have blanched all the dialogues in direct speech from the text. i printed out the text again on white bond paper, size A4 and adjust it upright into gallery space. The rest of the text remains black and it is a describtion about author's instructions for protagonists (entering and leaving the stage). The white text creates room or volume, content of which is more visible not only on this particular page, but also in the following line of pages. The whole installation can be considered as a tool, capable instrument to measure. The original work expands into a linear mapping in one space. Now it is motionless, creating certain time ax. Spectator is able to perceive it all at once or from the end or from any other part. The continuance of the plot stops to be relevant in order to create time through action. In a way, the installation is a static monument of fluency, because its participants are silent. Now it is a sculpture and the process itself has been created by the viewer him/herself. The choice of the model is secondary, but important towards its notoriously known status and also towards its formal essence of the story of a theatre play.

Play, detail 2009
(2009 - a4 sheets)

ad vocem ad spectatores
(2009 - a4 sheets mounted on wooden board - 115x70 cm)

Two blank A4 formats attached to board, horizontally and vertically, function as a substitution of text and image at its most radical formal reduction. Feriancova generally works with text and photography. Relating this piece to her other works, we can perceive vertical format as an essence of text and horizontal as an essence of image (her photographs are all oriented horizontally). l. gavulová

2/3
(2009 - carousel projection - A4)

The projection work 2/3 is based on a dialogue, consisting of two parts A ( diapositive ) and B ( negative ). The missing one third is again the attendant viewer. Part A ( black text on white paper ) alters the optically contrast part B ( white text on black background ) in a short time sequence. There is a reference to the form of antique dialogue, which is simple, modest, and even harsh in character. The language is appropriately still and monothematic and could both treat of matters supposing an emotional collapse or of absolutely banal things. The author also abolished exclamation marks in order to confront the viewer with " voiceless " scream, free from everything.
l. gavulová

seclusion
(2009 - colour photograph - 80x120 cm)

an instance of the fingerpost
(2010 - c-print - ed of 3 - different dimensions)

taken by my aunt, samburu, 1972 - taken by my aunt, nairobi, 1972
(2010 - book sheet and c-print - variable dimensions)

antiperspective - from almost blow up series, 2002
(2010 - c-print mounted on d-bond, architectural ruler - variable dimensions)

with my mom, with my dad, with my granpa, the supper by us , with my nephew, with my sisters (whom i don´t have), with my husband
(2010 - national geographic archive ( magazine and images ) - glass - variable dimensions)

from the series "playgrounds"
(2010 - b/w prints from diapositive - 42x59,4 cm)

from the series "playgrounds"
(2010 - b/w prints from diapositive - 42x59,4 cm)

from the series "playgrounds"
(2010 - b/w prints from diapositive - 42x59,4 cm)

from the series "playgrounds"
(2010 - b/w prints from diapositive - 42x59,4 cm)

from the series "playgrounds"
(2010 - b/w prints from diapositive - 42x59,4 cm)

from the series "playgrounds"
(2010 - b/w prints from diapositive - 42x59,4 cm)

Postscriptum To Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

installaton view
Postscriptum To Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
petra feriancova
SNG . slovak national gallery

Theory of a City or the Possibilities of an A4

installation view
Theory of a City or the Possibilities of an A4
petra feriancova
iscp ny

Theory of a City or the Possibilities of an A4

installation view
Theory of a City or the Possibilities of an A4
petra feriancova
iscp ny

from the series "exeunt"
(vintage book sheet)

GERALD. Mother, I have just written to him. MRS. ARBUTHNOT. To whom? GERALD. To my father. I have written to tell him to come here at four o'clock this afternoon. MRS. ARBUTHNOT. He shall not come here. He shall not cross the threshold of my house.

from the series "exeunt"
(vintage book sheet)

ANTIGONE Take me and kill me—what more do you want? CREON Me? Nothing. With that I have everything.

taken by my dad
(2011 - print from diapositive - 95x135 cm)

taken by my dad
(2011 - print from diapositive - 95x135 cm)

taken by my dad
(2011 - print from diapositive - 95x135 cm)

she has the sense of limited time
(2011 - scanned and enlarged national geografic image - variable dimensions)