Maurer, Dóra: Reversible and Interchangeable Phases of Motion No. 4 (1972/1997)

Dóra Maurer’s conceptual series explores the changes in visual meaning: photographs of the phases of a given subject’s movement are arranged in different orders, thereby modifying how the series reads. She considers individual photographs simple “signs”, which are assembled into different “texts”. Read from left to right, the different sequences of motion can be interpreted as simple actions, in accordance with the artist’s request written as a caption: “name each event line by line”. Dóra Maurer studies the elements of art, the structure itself, more precisely the phenomenon of change and shift. Her attitude is that of the researcher who creates models, researching with selected elements and making a specific set of rules for each, strictly focusing on the problems inherent to art. “My works document changes in the way I think” – she considers her works intellectual products and not merchandise. As banal as it may sound, this kind of analytical and creative approach to art was in itself considered suspicious and nonconformist in the period: artistic abstraction, progressive Western tendencies, neo-avant-garde art existed in the grey zone, as tolerated activities. Modernism was confined to industrial design and architecture. Among her contemporaries, Dóra Maurer was almost the only woman artist who persevered in her consistent artistic program, which also had very significant educational aspects. K.Sz.