Oliver Laric

For Laric, time is a social construct as opposed to a physical reality, which is why multiple realities coexist in his work and the distinction between original and copy ceases to exist.

This video work, presented at the opening of the exhibition, investigates the concept of hierarchy of images, or the idea that some images – personal, collective or socially constructed – are more important or more relevant than others, or even more valid copies or replicas of themselves.

Versions emphasises that the concept of having just one original image is problematic, and this also applies to the representational idea we have of ourselves. Faced with a series of copies that echo and expand the biographical, historical and contemporary circulation of individual, cultural and documentary images, which version is real? But above all, what does it matter?

Laric recognises a non-hierarchical form of image creation, and invites us to reflect on this theme, which, in the context of the exhibition, becomes an essential interpretation. In fact, the work suggests that our visual knowledge and ability to explore ourselves rather than the surrounding world no longer focuses on the dichotomy of ”original” and “copy”, because in our era one has no precedence over the other.

Oliver Laric (Innsbruck, Austria, 1981). He lives and works in Berlin. He has had solo exhibitions at S.M.A.K., Ghent; the Saint Louis Art Museum; Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin; Secession, Vienna; Austrian Cultural Forum, London; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; and the MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts. He has also participated in group exhibitions at the Whitechapel Gallery, London; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel; Palais de Tokyo, Paris and Kunstverein München. Laric’s work was included in the 2015 New Museum Triennial, 2016 Liverpool Biennial, 2018 São Paulo Biennial and 2018 Guangzhou Triennial.