OSTRANENIE

Ostranenie

остранение

Is the artistic technique of presenting to audiences common things in an unfamiliar or strange way so they could gain new perspectives and see the world differently.

As we planned to launch our online platform, we called out to 30 artists to send us an original photograph that portrays the idea of “ostranenie”, a central neologism in the critical school of Russian Formalism that means two related actions: to make something strange, to push something aside. The concept got stuck in our heads in the shape of this vivid perception of 2020: the feeling of being in the middle of a black hole while watching it from the outside, like a spectator; the feeling of perceiving our ordinary daily routine as strange, questioning what’s familiar with no apparent reason.

All of a sudden, having dinner at a restaurant turned into a horror film; we became hyper-aware of our hands, as if they are detached from our body; smiling is no longer a public act; the mouth became grotesque and a deformity to our faces. We felt a shift in our perception of daily life. “Ostranenie”.

Ostranenie is a work in progress that will remain open, throughout 2021, to the collaboration of everyone who’s wishing to participate. We’d like to invite you to do this exercise with us: ask yourself what became “ostranenie” for you in 2020? In what situations did you feel like a spectator of your own life? And translate it into one photograph with title, date, and place (you’re welcome to use a photo taken at any time from 2020 until now).

Please send your proposal to plataforma.uma@gmail.com, with OSTRANENIE as the subject.

Joana Magalhães, Mafalda Lencastre, Maria Inês Marques