BOJAN IVOVIC: NEW YORK ON PAUSE

PRESS RELEASE

ISTANBUL’74 presents

“New York On PAUSE”

An Online Exhibition by Bojan Ivovic.

May 15 – June 1, 2020

“The city that never sleeps took a nap…” 

In this online-only presentation “New York On PAUSE,” director of photography, Bojan Ivovic reveals eerie photographs showing New York City on pause. He strolls down the busiest streets of New York and documents the city as a ghost town in a set of 16 photographs. Reminiscent of stills from a post-apocalyptic film, the shots were taken in 16:9 cinema format by using a video camera and cinema lenses which is unusual as we live in the “billion-megapixel” era of photography.

“New York On PAUSE,” where PAUSE stands for “Policies Assure Uniform Safety for Everyone”, an executive order signed on 22nd of March 2020, by New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, a 10-point policy to assure uniform safety for everyone. It includes a new directive that all non-essential businesses statewide must close in-office personnel functions, and temporarily bans all non-essential gatherings of individuals of any size for any reason.

In his photographic work, Ivovic reflects the devastating aftermath of the pandemic which is most evident in the bare landscape of a city which is home to one of the densest populations in the world. “I think that people are not aware that New York City, as known as the center of the world, was and probably will never be this empty and apocalyptic,” comments Ivovic on the eerie effects of the pandemic. The bare streets of New York City evoke uncanny cityscapes which are a reflection of these unprecedented times.

ABOUT ARTIST

Ivovic was born in Montenegro (former Yugoslavia). He spent most of his life in Belgrade, and while he was developing his visual career, at the same time got his postgraduate master’s degree in economics. He fell in love with NYC 3 years ago. Since then, he is visually presenting his most intimate relationship with the city and discovering a new and refreshing dimension of it. As an experienced Director of Photography, he has a big visual influence from painters Edward Hopper and John Atkinson Grimshaw.