ASYMPTOTE by Evelyn Bencicova & Adam Csoka Keller

ASYMPTOTE is the outstanding result of an ongoing collaboration between Evelyn Bencicova (featured) and Adam Csoka Keller, a project aiming to explore, reflect and build a new perspective on life under the socialist regime by overcoming the stereotypes and false premises we are confronted with when learning and recollecting stories of a time which exists in our memory only through a narrow and filtered image of the past who most have not even experienced.

Based on a thorough research of the subject and a collection of testimonies and opinions of people who lived through this era, the creators of the series describe it as “a fusion of observations, facts and photography illustrating situations from real life under the socialist regime created in order to break the traditional confines of the public’s views on the era and its aesthetics”, as well as “a complex illustration of the era and a kind of eye-opener especially for the younger generation”, which often lacks interest, the insights and authentic resources to understand beyond their present.

Architecture and human form a coherent language, the beautiful geometry of a permanent threat, amplified by the haunting whispers of an omniscient presence and the pressing gaze of a sleepless all-seeing eye in a play of power, control and self-discipline. The state of tension and conflict, induced by the violence or obsessive repetition of sound, the bizarre visual perfection, where each element is carefully arranged to fit the established purpose and ideal, alternating with moments of silence and stillness or of profound yet curiously fragile unity create an impressive impact on the viewer, of reject and attraction at the same time. An interesting aspect is that most of the characters taking part in this spectacle have been stripped of their identities, they are all the same, with the same appearance, equal in fashion and behavior. There is no escape from this labyrinthine world. Not following the rules drives to exclusion and sanction. The subtle invasion of the present in the past makes it difficult to recognize the borders which separate them.

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Images courtesy of Evelyn Bencicova. Video courtesy of Adam Csoka Keller, sound by Arielle Esther.

View more from Evelyn on her website, Tumblr, Facebook, Behance and Instagram.

More info about Adam on his website, on Behance, Vimeo, Instagram and Tumblr.  Editor and Art Director of Sixth Finger Magazine.