Positives
In Positives (2002-2003) famous historical press photos are re-staged, repeating the original in terms of composition, but changing the characters and the general meaning of the captured events, making a positive version of them. Libera comments: "The series is another attempt at playing with trauma. We are always dealing with memorized objects, not the objects themselves. I wanted to employ this mechanism of seeing and remembering and touch upon the phenomenon of memory's afterimages. This is how we actually perceive those photographs [the series "Positives"] - the harmless scenes trigger flashbacks of the brutal originals. I have picked the "negatives" from my own memory, from among the images I remembered from the childhood"
Zbigniew Libera (Poland, 1959) Is one of the most interesting and important Polish artists. His works - photographs, video films, installations, objects and drawings - piercingly and subversively play with the stereotypes of contemporary culture. His shocking video works from the 80s preceded body art by 10 years. In mid-90s, Libera began to create Correcting Devices - objects which are modifications of already existing products - objects of mass consumption. He also designs transformed toys - works that reveal the mechanisms of upbringing, education and cultural conditioning, the most famous of which is Lego Concentration Camp. From that moment on, he is one of the pillar of the so-called critical art. In recent years he has also been preoccupied with photography, especially the specificity of press photography and the ways in which the media shape our visual memory and manipulate the image of history.
