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Blackboard entry by Hans Hack

A Creative Pool project by Hans Hack (Germany)

My artistic work focuses on the perception of urban space and the connections between architecture and historic and social contexts. The mask project that I am presenting here is just one of my projects but I think it suits best with the themes of  Gestalten.

The 'masks' have been collected from diverse places such as New York, Berlin, London, Brussels, Moscow and Almaty. I collect them by exploring the cities for details of modern building façades which resemble stylistic elements of  ‘traditional’ art, such as ornaments, clear geometric forms and broad and bold application of color. The masks are made with modern techniques such as digital photography and digital image processing programs. They consist of modernist architecture which often embodies western utopias, visions and concepts of modernity. In their appearance, the masks remind the viewer of masks from 'traditional' arts which have been (or are being) seen as primitive, backwards and as a contrast to modern western society. The Masks of Modernities question the perception of modernity and the binary categories of modern and traditional.