Portraitzine issue #Gintas K
Portraitzine is an independent publishing project by Visvaldas Morkevičius, Lithuanian photographer, comprising a series of photographes as results of the visual anthropology research.
www.visvaldas.com
7' vinyl performance was made by Gintas K during the process of Visvaldas Morkevicius photographing and was added to Portraitzine as to fulfill the atmosphere in which photographs was made.
The author sees Portraitzine as a collection of “journeys.” A journey is understood as a metaphor that gives a base for this project, defined by such parameters as a choice of a destination (a photographic subject), documentation of displacement (a photographe), and a curated collection of entries (a publication). It aims to relay the experience of undiscovered, often exotic environments and their denizens. Meticulously looking for details that could outline their identities, the research glances over the quotidian surroundings and gazes at postures that characters take in front of the camera: an artificial observer put in between the photographer and his subject. The photographer, by no means assumed as being in a superior position, accepts the role of “a tourist” who collects memorabilia and ephemera through observation. In Portraitzine, these ‘souvenirs’ speak not about a country or a city, but about people, their living and creative environments and their daily. Thus the focus point considers the person in a photographic frame altogether with his / her environs, emotional condition, personal qualities and temper, some of which have yet to be deciphered. The route is planned carefully, or happens by an accident like an irresistible ‘last minute’ call. Portraying people in an ethnographic manner, Visvaldas takes up the project as a form of a journey, and presents its outcomes in a visual logbook format - Portraitzine publication.
Gintas K talks with sounds. Born as Gintas Kraptavičius in Lithuania in 1969, he has been active in experimental music scene since 1994. Gintas was the core member of Lithuanian industrial electronic music group “Modus”, while later taking up the role of an interdisciplinary artist, performing in a Fluxus manner. Today, besides collaborating with other sound artists, he periodically releases experimental and electroacoustic records and performs in various international festivals of new media art.
As someone enveloped in the experimental field of sound-making, Gintas doesn‘t exactly enjoy being photographed. He works and lives in a seemingly modest town of Marijampolė in a south of Lithuania. These qualities – professed indifference towards a coat of shiny surface and unassuming seriousness – are also those of his music. It asks for an engaged, concentrated listener. The subtlety of Gintas‘ music extends to this book-project. Both are best enjoyed in silence.
reviews:
Tobulas formatas. Gintas K. Visvaldas Morkevičius. PORTRAITZINE (2020).
Robertas Kundrotas
2020 m. Birželio 19 d., 19:53
www.radikaliai.lt
Man iškart patiko formatas, vos tik iš Visvaldo rankų gavau šį leidinį. Gražiai ir originaliai sumanyta – limituotu tiražu (150 vnt.) leisti foto žurnalą apie lietuvius pogrindžio menininkus. Ginto leidinys antras (pirmas – Remigijaus).
Leidinį sudaro aplankas, plakatas, įamžinantis garsininko darbo vietą ir pagrindinį įrankį – kompiuterį, 36 puslapių foto albumas su Ginto, jo namų ir aplinkos nuotraukomis bei 7 colių vinilo plokštelė su šia proga muziko improvizuotu garsu. Albumo nuotraukos atskleidžia paprastą, eilinę, rutininę garsininko gyvenimo dieną, matome kompaktinių diskų ir knygų lentynas su nuskaitytais, nučiupinėtais knygų viršeliais, jo darbo kambarį, augintinius žiurkę ir žuvytes, patį autorių, palinkusį prie kompiuterio klaviatūros, specialų krėslą, dukters piešiniais padabintas sienas, prieštvaninę, dar sovietinę garso sistemą, dukters piešiniu įrėmintą jaunavedžių nuotrauką, klavišais lakstančias autoriaus rankas ir t. t. Taip parodoma paprasta, nenudailinta ir nesurežisuota autoriaus kasdienybė.
Štai kaip leidinį pristato pats autorius:
Portraitzine – vaizdų antropologijos fotografijų rinktinė. Tai lyg kelionių dienoraštis ar jų įspūdžių kolekcija. Kelionė leidinyje ir kūrybiniame procese yra metafora, apibrėžta tam tikrais siužeto parametrais: kelionės tikslo pasirinkimu (arba fotografijos subjektu), keliavimo dokumentacija (fotografavimo procesu), sukuruota vaizdinių serija (pačia publikacija). Leidinys supažindina jo skaitytoją su neįprastomis, egzotinėmis vietomis ir juose sutinkamais tipažais. Kiekviena tokia „kelionė“ tampa tyrimo dalimi; fotografas, aktyviai ieškodamas tam tiktų detalių fizinėje aplinkoje ir emocinėse būsenose, kvazi-analitiškai konstruoja skirtingų individų kultūrinį identitetą. Nepaisant to stengiamasi išardyti ar susilpninti žvelgiančiojo objekto – žvilgsnio subjekto ryšį. Tai pasiekiama tampant „turistu“ kolekcionuojant suvenyrius, prisiminimus ir įspūdžius iš neutralios stebėtojo pozicijos. Šie įspūdžiai, išleisti Portraitzine leidinyje, skaitytojams pasakoja ne apie apkeliautas šalis ar miestus, tačiau apie sutiktus skirtingus individus, jų kasdienines, darbo ir kūrybines aplinkas bei buitį, derinant fotografijos paviršių su emocionalia introspekcija. Tokios kelionės nutinka ir jas kruopščiai planuojant, ir pasidavus spontaniškoms aplinkybėms. Portraitzine leidinys – vaizdinis ir etnografinis kelionių ir susitikimų dienoraštis.
Iš dalies, kaip raštijos fronto kareivis, pasigedau daugiau informacijos, interviu, apžvalgos ir įžvalgų apie autorių, jo kelią į eksperimentinę muziką ir muzikos, garsų ir triukšmo vietą jo gyvenime, bet kaip leidėjas pastabų neturiu. Tobula. Originali idėja, puikus leidinys, šaunus formatas.
Belieka palinkėti Visvaldui neprarasti kūrybinio entuziazmo ir toliau leisti unikalius foto albumus.
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PORTRAITZINE ISSUE GINTAS K (7" and magazine)
Vital Weekly number 1234
vitalweekly.net/1234.html
This is a fanzine about one person; one person being photographed in his home and only presented with a minimum of text, which is not an interview. I am not sure if there are any other issues of 'Portraitzine', but this one is dedicated to Gintas K and comes with a 7" of his music. In case you have no idea who Gintas K is, he's a composer from Lithuania. Originally he was a member of Modus, an industrial group, but since some twenty years, he works with a laptop and music software. It is, of course, an interesting peek in the surrounding where Gintas K lives and works. As a laptop artist, he doesn't need much more than a table, some controller, laptop and speakers and we see some of his house, which looks all very modest; children drawings on the wall, some chairs, a crucifix, a buddha statue, bookshelves and a bunch of CDs (not detailed enough to see what he has!). On the record, Gintas K has two pieces of music. You could wonder if such delicate computer music is well suited to be on vinyl, but maybe Gintas K figured out that the element of crackle and surface noise would become a part of the music. The pieces are called 'Cut Piece' and 'Uncut Piece', connected I guess, via shared sounds and software approach. These are two delicate pieces of unstable electrical charges that lingering on, not knowing if they should fall or rise further. Gintas K is a puppeteer that holds the invisible wires of the sounds and playing tricks with the listener. As modest as his surroundings I thought. (FdW)
––– Address:
www.visvaldas.com
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Gintas K – Portraitzine
Posted: 23 May 2020 in Singles and EPs
Tags: Abstract, Ambient, electronica, Experimental, Gintas K, Portraitzine, Single reviw, Soundtrack, Visvaldas Morkevičius 0
1st May 2020
Christopher Nosnibor
auralaggravation.com/2020/05/23/gintas-k-portraitzine/
For some years now, I’ve followed Gintas K’s career with interest, for the simple fact that his work is, well, interesting, not to mention varied. This latest release is quite different from anything previous: a 7” single containing the audio, this is ostensibly a multimedia work, which finds the record packaged with a magazine, and was produced in collaboration with Visvaldas Morkevičius as an independent publishing project.
Morkevičius is a Lithuanian photographer, and the print aspect of the release comprises a series of photographs, which are the result of the artist’s visual anthropology research. K’s contribution is that of a soundtrack, as the accompanying blurb explains: ‘7” vinyl performance was made by Gintas K during the process of Visvaldas Morkevicius photographing and was added to Portraitzine as to fulfill the atmosphere in which photographs was made.’
It may be that the audio works better with the visuals, in that it fills out the understanding of both the listener and the watcher, but as a standalone work, Gintas’ two untitled works function successfully in their own right.
The sounds on side A – ‘Cut Piece’ are spare, strange, squelchy, bloopy, gloopy, fractal, disjointed, whistling, bleepy, hyperdigital. There are immense spaces between the sounds, meaning that when thumps, thuds and bangs arrive, they do with maximum impact: more than one I found myself physically jolting n my seat, having been lulled by a digital babble and spells of near-silence.
Side B, featuring the shorter ‘Uncut piece’ is mega-minimal: drips and blips punctuate three-and-a-half minutes of not a lot. And yet that not-a-lot is important: it focuses the attention, and reattenuates the listener’s attention on sound and the spaces in between. It slips and fades to nothing.
I find myself staring into space, barely aware that the ‘music’ has ended. If the ‘music’ ever really began. It’s hard to feel any real emotional or psychological connection with these snippets. But that is not their function. And ultimately, it works, and that’s the objective here.
