ASLEEP WOKE AWAKE / Rudi Uran

ASLEEP / WOKE / AWAKE SPANJE / PREBUJENJE / BUDNOST Vse se je začelo z enim samim pogledom. Francoski filozof Jacques Derrida v svoji knjigi razlaga preprost dogodek. Nekega jutra, ga golega pred ogledalom, opazuje njegova mačka. V tistem trenutku se zgodi nekaj nenavadnega. Nenadoma ni več človek, ki gleda žival, postane nekdo, ki je tudi sam opazovan. Ta preprosti pogled je zamajal našo predstavo, da človek stoji v središču sveta in da vse obstaja predvsem zanj. Kaj pa, če nismo edini nosilci pogleda? Kaj pa, če nas svet opazuje nazaj? Iz tega vprašanja je nastal projekt ASLEEP / WOKE / AWAKE. Ne kot zgodba o psih in njihovih lastnikih, temveč kot raziskovanje odnosov med človekom, živaljo in prostorom, ki si ga delimo. ASLEEP ASLEEP je stanje vsakdanjosti. Hodimo skozi svet prepričani, da ga poznamo. Srečujemo ljudi, vodimo živali na sprehode in naravo jemljemo kot kuliso svojega življenja. Redko se vprašamo, kako nas vidijo drugi. Redko pomislimo, da smo tudi sami del večje mreže odnosov. ASLEEP ni spanje telesa. Je trenutek, ko pozabimo, da smo povezani. Je tiha slepota, ki jo prinese navada. WOKE Potem se zgodi srečanje. Pogled psa. Pogovor z neznancem. Nepričakovana bližina. Za trenutek začutimo, da svet ni sestavljen iz ločenih posameznikov. Toda prebujenje ni vedno enostavno. Pogosto ga spremljajo vprašanja, negotovost in potreba po razlagi. Poskušamo razumeti vse, kar se dogaja okoli nas. Iščemo pomene, definicije in odgovore. V tem projektu se zato med portrete naselijo podobe vode, lubja, kamnov in naravnih struktur. Ne kot simboli, temveč kot opomnik, da vsega ni mogoče razložiti. Da svet obstaja tudi brez naših interpretacij. AWAKE AWAKE ni cilj. Je sprejetje. Je trenutek, ko ne potrebujemo več nadzora nad pomenom stvari. Ko dovolimo, da so ljudje, živali in svet okoli nas preprosto prisotni. Takrat pogled postane odnos. Človek opazuje psa. Pes opazuje človeka. Fotografija beleži oba. In med njima nastane prostor zaupanja. AWAKE je zavedanje, da nihče ni središče. Da smo vsi del istega kroženja pogledov, bližin in odgovornosti. Morda prava budnost ni v tem, da vidimo več. Morda je v tem, da končno razumemo, da smo tudi sami videni. ASLEEP / WOKE / AWAKE It all began with a single gaze. In his book, the French philosopher Jacques Derrida recounts a simple event. One morning, standing naked before a mirror, he notices that his cat is watching him. In that moment, something unusual happens. He is no longer merely a human observing an animal; he becomes someone who is himself being observed. This simple gaze unsettles our assumption that human beings stand at the center of the world and that everything exists primarily for them. What if we are not the only bearers of a gaze? What if the world is looking back at us? From this question emerged the project ASLEEP / WOKE / AWAKE. Not as a story about dogs and their owners, but as an exploration of the relationships between humans, animals, and the spaces they share. ASLEEP ASLEEP is the state of everyday existence. We move through the world convinced that we know it. We meet people, walk our dogs, and take nature as the backdrop to our lives. Rarely do we ask how others see us. Rarely do we consider that we ourselves are part of a larger web of relationships. ASLEEP is not the sleep of the body. It is the moment when we forget that we are connected. It is the quiet blindness that habit brings. WOKE Then an encounter occurs. The gaze of a dog. A conversation with a stranger. An unexpected moment of closeness. For an instant, we sense that the world is not made up of separate individuals. But awakening is not always easy. It is often accompanied by questions, uncertainty, and the need for explanation. We try to understand everything that is happening around us. We search for meanings, definitions, and answers. For this reason, images of water, bark, stones, and natural structures appear among the portraits in this project. Not as symbols, but as reminders that not everything can be explained. That the world exists independently of our interpretations. AWAKE AWAKE is not a destination. It is acceptance. It is the moment when we no longer need to control the meaning of things. When we allow people, animals, and the world around us simply to be present. Then the gaze becomes a relationship. A human watches a dog. A dog watches a human. The photograph records them both. And between them, a space of trust emerges. AWAKE is the awareness that no one is at the center. That we are all part of the same circulation of gazes, closeness, and responsibility. Perhaps true wakefulness is not about seeing more. Perhaps it is about finally understanding that we, too, are being seen.