Vason’s obsession for ‘the photograph as an object of contact with memory' is reflected upon within this new series of images, specifically created for the exhibition at the Solyanka Museum as part of the 6th Moscow Biennial of Contemporary Art in 2015.
Vason titled this project Replay, Rethink, Reframe in response to the various phases of its process of creation. Vason decision to suspend the artwork with a red rope highlighted the tension between photography and performance and at the same time the ‘red line’ (the red rope use to hang the artwork) represented the will to fight the homophobic attitude of Russian politics at the time of this exhibition.
On the press release of the exhibition Lina Krasnyanskaya curator of Solyanka State Gallery wrote:
‘In Replay, Rethink, Reframe Vason is jumping in and out of the frame, in front and behind the camera, outside conventional photography, above self-portraiture, into the gap of performative imagination.’
‘REPLAY, RETHINK, REFRAME’
explores the «intimate» relationship between performance and photography, the action and the image. ‘REPLAY, RETHINK, REFRAME’ invites the viewer to an «intimate» encounter with Manuel Vason’s artistic practice along with new work specifically commissioned for this exhibition.
“I recognize myself in the others…”
Manuel Vason, Double Exposures 2014
Artist/Collaborators involved in the installation: Alastair MacLennan, Ana Hupe, Anne Seagrave, Daniela Galmour, Ernst Fischer, Fearghus Oconchuir & Bernadette Iglich, Franko B, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Helena Vieira, Kira O’Reilly, Kris Canavan, La Ribot, Lucia Russo, Marcelo Evelin, Miguel Pereira, Niko-Raes, Richard Hancock & Traci Kelly, Ron Athey, Suka Off, Yann Marussich.
In Vason’s collaborations with other artists, a performance work is either restaged anew or uniquely developed, specifically for his camera. These projects differ in principle from conventional documentation of performance in that Vason is always the sole witness to the singular live event, which also takes place in a non-theatrical space of the artists« choosing. Each collaboration is predicated on a series of mutual concerns: a challenge to the relationship between performance and the photographic document; a fascination with the body; and the exploration of new forms of collaborative practice.