Through the exhibition “Mrgari / Geo-Digital Stone Flowers,” German multimedia artist Alexis Dworski constructs an intriguing narrative centred around his experience of staying on the island of Krk, where he encountered one of the most significant examples of vernacular architecture in Baška. Dry-stone buildings intended for the occasional collection and sorting of sheep, consisting of a shared central space and smaller mrgar (complex multicellular dry-stone sheepfold) with flower-shaped ground plans, each owned by a shepherd, are specific to the southern part of the island of Krk. Fascinated by the appearance of dry-stone walls, the artist captures thousands of photographs, both from the ground and from the air, and begins an investigation into their purpose, historical context, and current condition. In line with his interdisciplinary artistic practice, he constructs a layered exhibition narrative that takes the mrgari as a starting point for playful visual exploration, both of the motif itself and the diverse technologies he employs.
By presenting the specific landscape of Krk on large wall photographs, the artist lays the groundwork for an installation that, in its segments, delves into the historical recreation of this construction, as well as the potential and limitations of its future iterations and applications. Through digital manipulation and with the aid of artificial intelligence, he produces deceptively real photographs that the audience may perceive as false only upon becoming acquainted with the entire story that the artist constructs through various segments of the exhibition. This approach fosters a multi-layered communication in geographical terms – from the distinct position of the Bavarian artist who is just beginning to acquaint himself with Croatian heritage, to the reading and overlapping of different temporal codes woven into that region, beyond merely acknowledging the lost purpose and present condition, but projecting them through the use of modern technologies into a possible future.
ALEXIS DWORSKI (1976, Freising, Germany) is a conceptual artist, scientist, and professor at the University of Arts in Linz. He engages in artistic research that combines practical and theoretical approaches. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich under Res Ingold and completed his doctorate in aesthetics in 2011 under Prof. Bazon Brock at the University of Wuppertal. From 2001 to 2017, he worked as a curator at the Lothringer13 gallery in Munich, and from 2012 to 2018 as a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. Since 2021, he has been teaching media art at the University of Arts in Linz, Austria (Kunstuniversität Linz). He has staged numerous exhibitions and performances and intervened in urban spaces in Germany and around the world. He has received several awards and scholarships for his work.
