Photovideo
Grey Area made a produciton and very first presentation of the series of works by Boris Cvjetanović that are not photography as an usual medium in his opus, but a moving image.
Fotovideo (or photographer's films)
Throughout his career of a photographer which started in the early 1980's, Boris Cvjetanović always stuck to a certain principle: a shot taken with a camera will not be changed in the process of making prints. He therefore never intervenes subsequently into what was defined as a shot at a certain moment. This is almost always indicated by a black margin of the protograph- the print of the film which borders the negative. Cvjetanović is an unintrusive, attentive, and perceptive observer of the world he lives in, always carrying the camera because everything and every moment is a potential motive for a photograph. Nowadays he often carries a small digital camera in his pocket.
Making use of the capacity of the digital camera to film videos, since 2003 he has been filming video clips in one take, whose quality and length depend on the type of the camera. His approach to video shows certain characteristics of photographer: unchangeable shot of a photograph finds its equivalent in the uninterrupted take, and the position of the cameraman is often static. The author is perceived as a photographer only, which sometimes generates the interaction between the object of the recording and the cameraman, based on a misunderstanding, because the filmed person thinks the author is waiting for the right moment to take a picture. Cvjetanović's video clips arise spontaneously out of a certain situation.
There is no story or plot which is planned in advance, the motives arise out of time spent with friends, artists (who are friends as well), or out of driving and movement. The cameraman is a person within, that sometimes turns into a voyeur, but most often he is a friend, and everybody knows he is capturing the moments spent together. Fotovideo is a series of short stories, sketches of character and situation, portraits and chronicles of pleasant moments.
Markita Franulić
Boris Cvjetanović: Photovideo:
01. Žuljana . 2005 . Doris - Martina
02. Zagreb . 2004 . Tomislav Gotovac
03. Zagreb . 2004 . Tomislav Gotovac – Saša Drach
04. Zagreb . 2005 . Tomislav Gotovac
05. Zagreb . 2005 . Tomislav Gotovac
06. Žujana . 2005
07. Ložišće . 2004 . Anto – Jelena
08. Cvjetni Trg . Zagreb . 2006
09. Zagreb . 2006
10. Žuljana . 2004 . Boris Greiner
11. Zagreb . 2005 . Boris – Niki – Vlasta
12. Zagreb . 2003 . Boris Greiner
13. Čiovo . 2004
14. Zagreb . 2005 . Zlatan Dumanić
15 . Zagreb . 2004
16 . Zagreb . 2003 . Petar Grimani
17. Dubrovnik . 2004 . Petar Grimani
18. Split – Zagreb . 2005
19. Zagreb . 2006 . Tomo – Nino
20. Zagreb . 2006 . Maja
21. Zagreb . 2004 . Mandič – Gotovac - Martek
22. Zagreb . 2005
23. Zagreb . 2006 . Marko
24. Novigrad . 2005
25. Sv. Nedjelja . 2003 . Iskra – Mokrović – Habjan
26. Zagreb . 2004 / 2005
27. Zagreb . 2006 . Petar Dabac
28. Zagreb . 2005
29. Split . 2005 . Rino
30. Varaždin . 2004 . Rončević
31. Žuljana . 2005
32. Žuljana . 2005
33. Žuljana . 2005 . Padovan
About author
Boris Cvjetanović (b. 1953, Zagreb) attended the High School of Applied Arts and graduated from the Fine Art Department of the Teachers Training Academy in Zagreb.
He has been working as a professional photographer since 1984. Since 1981 until present time he had about 30 solo exhibitions and he has participated in a number of group exhibitions in Croatia, European countries, Japan, USA and Australia.
He has published photographs in numerous newspapers and magazines. In 1996 published a book of photographs "Scenes Without Significance". His photos were published in the book by Francesco Bonami "Echoes – Contemporary Art at the Age of Endless Conclusions" (The Monacelli Press, New York, 1996).
Cvjetanović was Croatian representative at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003.
His photos are in the collections of the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, the Museum of Contemporary Art and Croatian History Museum in Zagreb, Gallery Dante Marino Cettina in Umag, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka, Gallery of Fine Arts in Split (Croatia) and private collections.
