Persijn Broersen & Margit Lukács. Relics of the Real

We are proud to present the third solo show of Persijn Broersen and Margit Lukács at AKINCI. In Relics of the Real, Broersen & Lukács present a series of new works that show a timeless world dictated by the woes and wants of our virtual times. With the mechanisms of illusion as a leading motive in their work, they focus on the search for the pristine, be it in the myth of Eden or in classical motifs from the past. In these works, the boundless dimensions of virtual space accumulate the most breathtaking mirages, but are inevitably subject to their own insubstantiality.

With their film Establishing Eden, recently nominated for the IFFR Tiger Awards, Broersen & Lukács plunge into the spectacle of the establishing shot: the moment a landscape is presented and becomes a penetrating metaphor for the narrative it stages. Creating an architecture of fragments connected by the camera-movement of a perpetual establishing shot, reconstructed from blockbusters like 'Avatar' (James Cameron, 2009) and 'Lord of the Rings' (Peter Jackson, 2001-2014), Broersen & Lukács explore the evergreen and unspoilt scenery of New Zealand, confiscated by the entertainment industry as a worldly Land of Eden.

Pulling back from the carefully constructed landscapes that make up this version of Eden, Broersen & Lukács expose a backstage set-up, which becomes the material for the framed ‘mattes’ in the exhibition. Matte is a technique used as special effect in film- and photography to create the illusion of an expansive, scenic décor. Here, however, the mattes frame the space behind its scenery, visible through the open vista’s and merging actual and fictional space into one.

In the film After Eden Broersen & Lukács accelerate their pace. With a expeditious montage of landscapes cut from a cross section of Hollywood’s film culture—ranging from classic westerns to contemporary war movies—they establish Eden once again. This time, however, there are signs of friction: fences and borders, floods and explosions, violent stampedes leaving a bare and exhausted desert behind. The eye of the camera becomes more and more frantic in its search for the pristine.

Stranded Present projects yet another collapse of the pristine. During their search for the fortitude and durability of classical motifs, Broersen & Lukács came across antiquarian Robert Wood’s 18th-century illustrations of the ruins of Palmyra. Transformed, shifted and mutilated, these classical motifs have found their home in the adornments of many households. Created before the destruction of Palmyra by ISIS, Broersen & Lukács reconstructed the temple, depicting its endless dimensions—plastic, malleable and untouchable—as a liquid body, transforming over time.

Distorted and fragmented along the way, the complex construction of Broersen & Lukács’ immersive imagery is in the least concealed, constantly reminding us that, in the infinite space of the virtual, it’s quite a challenge to keep a grip: propelled from one cliff-hanger into another, one finds oneself captured by a loophole of scenes reminiscent of a distant reality that never was.