Object:Paradise would not be Object:Paradise without a certain level of chaos—it’s written into their manifesto. Conceived and founded in Prague in 2018, OP is far from your average poetry collective (if such a thing exists). It’s an organization dedicated to transcending our relationship to language and our expectations around what poetry is or “should” be. OP events are a beautiful disaster, and I strive to bring this chaotic feeling into their photos, as if somehow visually compensating for what the viewer missed in not being present. Everything in the room makes it into the final images: performers, audience, and confused passers-by alike.
About the photography
Because OP happenings are fields of experimentation, I make sure to carry this attitude to each photographic set. No two OP events are alike, and neither are the images that they inspire. Color-filtered flashes contrast the lighting in the room, while wide-angle lenses capture the layered mess as it unfolds. But make no mistake: though they are very intentional, there is no rhyme or reason for these experimentations, and I cannot pretend that there is. In the true spirit of the Object:Paradise manifesto, I’m only “orchestrating the chaos.”
“Eduard Germis garners movement behind and before the lens. His ability to place himself and the camera within a moment functions in itself as a performance of light and action.
Not only is Germis an important figure in the Prague creative community who documents happenings, but he is also known to create new texts from his subjects with his focus on the intricate rhythms of the human body and its surroundings. ”
THE OBJECT:PARADISE MANIFESTO
USE THE LANGUAGE THAT THE PERFORMER AND AUDIENCE CREATE IN THAT MOMENT
CONTEXT IS COTEXT
MEDIATE THE THOUGHT AND THE BEAT
EVERYTHING IS PART OF THE PERFORMANCE
THE AUDIENCE IS THE POET
DETHRONE, THEN DEMOTE THE POET WHO CAME KNOWING
ELIMINATE THE EGO
DEPLATFORM THE STAGE
ORCHESTRATE THE CHAOS
LANGUAGE EXISTS ONLY IN A SINGLE MOMENT, THAT MOMENT
DOWN WITH DENOTATION
INTERACT THE REACTION
CELEBRATE THE PARTY THAT LANGUAGE IS
THE BEST WORDS IN THE BEST ORDER DOES NOT EXIST
LET ALL PLANS GO WRONG
DEMONETIZE LANGUAGE
DEDOOM THE WRONG NOTES
EMBRACE MISCOMMUNICATION
PROMOTE THE CONTEXT FOR THE SUBJECTIVE WORLD TO BE EXPERIENCED IN THE OBJECTIVE MOMENT