16.5.2025, 13:45
CVU BATANA
Exhibition of the Rovinj Photodays 2024 Grand Prix winner
Curator: Sabina Salamon
The project “Soft Gleam” explores the complex phenomenon of tourism and its impact on landscapes, cultures, and the perception of authenticity. A more subjective and imaginative view of the desire to explore and wander through distant places shapes the perception of place, which continuously evolves. This shift becomes more apparent as tourism transitions into mass tourism. While travelers were once associated with those who longingly observed and discovered foreign lands until the early 19th century, by the century’s end, the concept of the tourist had emerged— someone who consumes rather than simply experiences the destination.
Through documentary and manipulated photographs, the project maps the desire for authentic travel experiences that stand in contrast to the uniformity of commercial vacations. The photographs reveal how tourists seek out attractive and unusual environments — often staged, reconstructed, or transformed into commercial products by the tourism industry. This shift also alters how landscapes are portrayed: places and their meanings become commodified, tailored to meet the expectations of tourists. Consumption becomes inseparable from visual representation, gradually devaluing the identity and visual authenticity of the landscape. The landscape, in turn, becomes a mere backdrop to satisfy the desires of contemporary tourists. The project also examines the transformation of personal travel albums into commercial catalogs for travel agencies, as well as the phenomenon of souvenirs — objects that tourists bring back as keepsakes of the places and cultures they visit. These items are not only material objects but also symbols imbued with emotional and cultural meaning, allowing tourists to symbolically appropriate the places they’ve visited.
In this way, souvenirs become modern relics, representing the relationship between the tourist and the place — even if that relationship is entirely imagined.
Tatiana Takáčová is a visual artist whose work explores psychological and sociological themes, contemporary phenomena, and the concept of temporality within photographic imagery. Working primarily with photography, she engages these subjects through a range of approaches, including documentary strategies, diary-based reflections, staged compositions, and installation. Her artistic practice navigates the space between conceptual and documentary photography.
She earned her degree in Photography at the Department of Photography and New Media at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava, where she is currently pursuing a doctoral degree. Since 2022, she has also been active as a curator at the KAIR Residency Center. In 2024, she received the Grand Prix award at the international photography competition Rovinj Photodays. Tatiana has participated in numerous exhibitions both in Slovakia and internationally.
