Fotograf Magazine

The main feature of the works of Tomáš Ludvík (b. 1980) is his preference for a conceptual approach, and a resignation to an aesthetic stylization and manipulation in photography. In a more narrow sense, Ludvík’s graduation project (accompanied by a critical essay published in the present issue of Fotograf, on page 108) People of an Environment (Lidé z prostředí 2002-2004), takes a critical stand towards one of the main tendencies of Czech documentary photography, which – with the proliferation of visual gesture – has lost a certain authenticity and trust. In contrast to the long- accepted principle of the decisive moment, the artist highlights the method of zero action, of the banal situation, of any moment. He thus continues the well-trodden path (indeed, for more than twenty years!) of Lukáš Jasanský and Martin Polák, both in their absolu- tely radical personal disengagement to the portrayed, and the creation of transparent views of the world shrouded in technical images.