Founded by Jan Peserl, Werkstatt is a visual studio from Zagreb, Croatia. The name originated from the German word for “workshop”, as Jan tells us; “I thought it would fit nicely because it covers a lot of my different work, from collages and illustrations to music and video bending. I love to think that I am one little workshop that is constantly improving and trying to find something new to work on.”
Dissociation is one of Werkstatt’s most recent projects that depicts the feelings of dissociation, illusory happiness, and the sensation of everlasting anxious emptiness in Jan’s chest. Collage was their go-to medium for the project, as they has been working with it throughout their creative career.
In Dissociation, Jan mostly focused on capturing the feeling they had at that moment, playing with proportions and really exaggerating them. “There is a lot of experimentation with different textures and everything else,” says the designer.
Most photographs in the series are edited in a gritty, texturised, and analogue way. Jan comments; “I think it gives them a bit of that bleak feeling that makes you think about your life”. The resulting compositions are surreal, minimalist, and figurative, thus everyone can find a different meaning in each one of them.
When creating the works, Jan took inspiration from the reading of existential-themed books such as, The Myth of Sisyphus by Camus, The Trial by Kafka, and Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky. Jan states; “These books made me think about the transience of life and if there is even a point in living it. Camus said, ‘Deciding whether or not life is worth living is to answer the fundamental question in philosophy’. That thought was the foundation of this project.”
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