A copy of a copy of a copy

Peles Empire, Cabana II, 2012

Peles Empire: F X G (2013)

Alexandre da Cunha, 'Samplings (Ausschnitt/Ausschnitt)', 2012, digital print on paper.
From ORIGINAL / COPY III, Peles Empire Romania

Peles Empire (Katharina Stoever and Barbara Wolff) have been making work based on Peles Castle in Romania since 2005. Their practice is a continual examination of this single subject–every room in the late nineteenth-century castle is a copy/pastiche of a different period style–and rigorously investigates the problem of representation and the condition of the image as a copy of a copy of a copy. The work is shown across two mirroring spaces–one in London, the other in Romania–where they also invite other artists to make exhibitions.     

The low-fi processes used to build their duplicate images–distortions and printing errors–highlight the variations that arise inherently from the construction of any representation. In this way like Robert Rauschenberg’s Factum 1 and Factum 2 1957, their “imaging” of difference as a bi-product of representation, positions difference as inherent in any creative activity. This back and forth movement between original, duplicate, mirror image and new translation is continuous.  

"We were and are mostly interested in the castle’s method of reproduction, the non-hierarchical combination of different styles and epochs. Initially we simply ‘copied the copy,’ whereas now we try to explore how far this method can be pushed." Quoted from an interview with Jac Mantle published in The Skinny, 29 April 2013.

Peles Empire are currently showing at Stuttgarter Kunstmuseum and Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn. ORIGINAL/COPY III is currently open by appointment at Peles Empire Fabrica de Pensule, etaj 1 59-61 Strada Henri Barbusse 400616 Cluj - Napoca ROMANIA.