Fotograf Magazine

“Visual affairs” is how Jan Lesák (born 1984), a student at the Photography Studio of the Faculty of Art and Design (Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem) summarizes his works. To a great degree, his series combine various principles of appropriation. They work within a broad spectrum of photographic archives, as well as with film themes and visuals. Still, it is not “recycling” in the truest sense of the word. Rather than the gleaner or scavenger, Jan instead resembles a programmer, combining separate elements which each bear a specific piece of information. The elements that form the overall work are not necessarily of a material basis. To simplify the matter: the “raw materials”[ref]Bourriaud N. Postproduction: Culture as Screenplay: How Art Reprograms the World. Praha: Tranzit 2004: 3-12.[/ref]  he employs are not just pre-existing material cultural products, but also ideas or concepts. This approach is aptly illustrated in his recent cycle Krematorium (Crematorium, 2006).