ARTIST PROFILE

Jakub Roček

  • Czech Republic (b. 1989 in Brno)
  • Currently in Praha, Czech Republic.

CONTACT & LINKS

ARTIST STATEMENT

01
For a long time I’ve been attracted to the idea of a scientific-artistic comprehensibility of the world. In the 21st century the abstraction of natural sciences deepened enough that it’s now desirable to look back on ways to visualise it. And that offers a parallel with visual arts that interests me: the idea of art not as a standalone (visual) language but as a strange mix between the objectivism of natural sciences and the subjectivism of the artist.

02
From the above, it’s implied that I look for sources of inspiration both in the field of arts as I do in the field of science. In general, I’m fascinated by themes of mathematics, geometry, abstraction (i.e., scientific simplification), simulation, and the possibilities of digitality. Here, I’m interested namely in Paul Virilio, Petr Vopěnka, Marsall McLuhan, Michael Heim, Gilles Deleuze, and Félix Guattari. On the other hand, a certain technoscepticism is typical for my work, where I’m influenced by older authors like Martin Heidegger or Ernst Junger.

03
Specificity is a strong word; my borders are set mainly by the work continuum. I don’t like a project-like system and rather prefer an evolutionary progress – and that’s always without a goal, but with many specialisations.

04
Most of my work is time-consuming, especially videos. Planning and scripting is a necessary part, but most of the decision making and changes happen in a virtual environment during the process. The medium affects the results, but not by infiltrating into the final message, but rather like a working partner; an occasional opponent that defines barriers and limits.

05
Art is a symbolic system that, just like other systems, demands totality, its openness is often shallow and fragile, and I personally highly dislike that. A couple of lines above, I’ve compared my workflow to the evolutionary progress – it’s without a goal.