Men Face Down

Men Face Down

A generation that has undergone radical changes in the social fabric and values, growing up with the concept of humanism, and coming of age in a world of pragmatic materialism. 

The Men Face Down project began a decade ago, when Maribor was enjoying a breath of fresh air in its, rather deflated, balloon of cultural aspirations. Depicting protagonists from the field of art and culture is a traditional photographic discipline, frequently victim to general rules of public representation. The approach to the volume sits in questioning and resisting the representation of public figures and personal media landscape. In Men Face Down, the authors tackle the representation of the public figure from a contrasting and untamed angle – the angle of vulnerability and honesty. This is assembles in the visual aspect of depicting a lying figure as well as the texts founded on intimate conversations with depicted subjects.

Matjaž Wenzel is an artist working in photography, video, and graphic design. He graduated from the University of Maribor in fine art. Following several engagements as an art teacher, he founded the studio MILIMETER for photography and graphic design. He has designed several books and book jackets for different publishing houses. With his photographic works, he has had several solo exhibitions and has shown in numerous group exhibitions at Moderna galerija (Ljubljana), UGM | Maribor Art Gallery, Les Rencontres de la Photographie d’Arles, International Photographic Salon (Tokyo); Pavillon Populaire, Musée Fabre (Montpellier), and Nuit Blanche (Paris), among others. Among the many awards and mentions for his work are best book design for the years 2007, 2017, 2018 (Slovenian Book Fair, Ljubljana), Glazerjeva listina (Maribor, 2011) and a nomination for the Prix Albert Renger-Patzsch (Museum Folkwang, Essen, 2009), Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize (The Photographers’ Gallery, London, 2009), and the OHO Award (Ljubljana, 2007). He lives and works in Maribor, Slovenia.

Editor, author of photography, graphical design: Matjaž Wenzel
Texts: Rene Maurin, Jure Mikuž, Miran Pustoslemšek 
Texts of the subjects depicted (2012-2024): Andrej Brumen Čop, Andrej Cvetnič, Matej Dečko, Sebastijan Duh, Borut Gombač, Mišo Hochstätter, Aleš Horvat, Jure Ivanušič, Boris Kolar, Bojan Labovič, Matjaž Latin, Rene Maurin, Marko Ornik, Borut Popenko, Rok Predin, Primož Premzl, Dejan Pušenjak, Miran Pustoslemšek, Sašo Rek, Marko Samec, Bojan Sedmak, Simon Šerbinek, Andrej H. Štruc, Rok Vilčnik, Borut Wenzel, Matjaž Wenzel, Peter Žiger
Copyediting: Ksenija Vidic
English translation: Ksenija Vidic, Rene Maurin
Publisher: Matjaž Wenzel for  studio MILIMETER
Format: 217,5 x 280 mm 
Photographs: 47  
Pages: 144
Binding: švicarska vezava
Print run: 500
Price: 27 €