The soft tissue between the ribs and the navel, hypo (under) - khondros (sternum), is the name for the place from which it often physically springs, and from which the term hypochondria is derived. The endless curiosity and study of one's own body, despite more or less dubious motivations, does nothing to diminish the seriousness and power of this obsessively attentive questioning. We may therefore ask - can this mode of observation be transferred to other bodies or even beyond the species? And could this extended state of empathy be useful if we could reframe it appropriately?
Šimon Chovan has been speculating on these questions for a long time, and the body of work presented at his first solo exhibition in the Czech Republic is no exception. A close look at the seemingly minimalist form of the site-specific project Dendrites & Tissues reveals a detailed work with both form and context. Chovan often casts, dissects, dissolves and stages his objects into complex, organized wholes that evoke structures and systems of various types: human, natural or artificial.
The drawings carved into wood, which serve as the gallery's paneling, thus relate to this dislocation of boundaries. Is this a written code from the anxiously cork-padded bedroom of Anne de Noailles or Marcel Proust, or rather a bark typographically gouged out by a bark beetle, disrupting the entrenched security of the interior? But the branching of the mother corridor into intricate patterns can also resemble mine shafts, neural dendrites, lupine scabs, technological hardware or the growth of mould on damp walls.
The appearance of the objects is evocative and haptic, which is facilitated by conscious work with the exhibition space. This is played out by the artist in Galerie mladých, when he expands the ornamentation of Mannerist plasterwork from the drawings into the baroque-cellular morphology of the dendrites. The mixture of materials such as silicone, porous loofah, branches and ochre pigment confirms the material sensibility that characterises Chovan's work, especially with regard to the latter.
Ochre, an ahistorical dye containing iron oxide, is an important element in his work - the volcanic region of Banská Štiavnica, where the artist comes from, is rich in it. The question of what is original ("natural") and what is constructed is answered by the dialogue between the "living" pieces emerging from the gallery walls and ceiling and the piece that is isolated in the vitrine, where it appears as a mere remnant. Here, it only resists metal dust.
The exhibition project, in the words of the French philosopher Catherine Malabou, encourages us to think about the interrelation of material and conceptual, biological and cultural, human and non-human forms - not only in their specificity, but also in their interconnectedness. Dendrites & Tissues therefore suggests not so much an autoimmune attack against one's own tissues and organs, but rather a liberation from original functions and givens.
Supported using public funding by Slovak Arts Council.
