Dana Balážová, Eva Brodská, Lucie Kralíková and Petr Švolba
The connecting element of the exhibition is the elemental life-giving element and magical symbol preserved for many ages - fire. A functional furnace and rising smoke will become the focal point of the exhibition. The shared experience of many a loud (or silent) prayer can be a connection to ancestors present, future and past in one precious time. In the gallery installation, tapestries, a moving image, and clumps of plants will come together, waiting to be burned in communal gatherings. The artists dedicate these to three themes: winning friendships, summoning rain, and divinatory and prophetic dreams.
Šimon Chovan
Šimon Chovan, a recent graduate of Sandberg Instituut (Amsterdam), presents his first ever solo exhibition in the Czech Republic, titled Dendrites & Tissues. Chovan's site-specific installation works with a characteristic material sensibility, mixing organic and inorganic substances with a distinctive ochre pigment. In this way, material and conceptual, biological and cultural, human and non-human forms can be understood in their specificity and difference, as well as in their relationship to each other. The inscecane objects into organized units thus resemble structures, systems and networks of various types, be they natural or artificial.
The entire film is set in the Supreme Court in Prague, which becomes an imaginary stage for exploring the symptoms of contemporary cultural unrest. The courtroom itself symbolizes dynamic spaces that involve strong interpersonal and social dynamics and are characterized by a clear hierarchy of power. The space is occupied by four performers who perform gestures such as whispering, preparing to speak, swearing, or trying unsuccessfully to shift the rigid architecture. The protagonists seem to be both actors and observers, imaginary NPCs stuck in the courtroom, constantly preparing for a speech and a narrative that never happens.