Kristýna Gajdošová, Barbora Ilič
What currently connects a curator, an artist, a DJ, and a cameraman? Everything and nothing, as all of them typically strive to be everything, while simultaneously defining themselves in opposition to almost everything. Through four archetypal figures of the art world, the exhibition's author creates a multi-layered narrative that reflects the paradoxical tendencies and consequences of operating within the so-called world of art. The project intersects the doctoral research of the artists, who are both researchers and the subjects of their own investigations. A common thread among these studies is an interest in the proclaimed emancipatory and anti-systemic tendencies in contemporary art, and the ways in which these tendencies are later re-integrated into the existing modes of production and the polarizing trends in the political sphere. The project’s outcomes will take the form of several fragments of moving images, reminiscent of the trailer genre.
The Rodina
Markéta Krtek
The main character in Seer, Martyrs & Hybrid Carl is a psychic who hates himself for it. Yet he uses his powers to keep them under control, but only for profit. During one seance to find the spirit of his client's relative, he meets three elephant souls - Mary, Topsy and Tyke. Carl is therefore confronted with his own prejudices because, as a Christian, he does not believe in the existence of animal souls. The elephant women share their tragic fates with Carl, presenting him with an indictment of the human race and pointing out the connection between the oppression of animals and the oppression of "people who are not human enough". He then meets the spirit of Tigon, the spirit of the drawing which he revived on the verge of puberty, in the moment of Carl's realization regarding his powers as a psychic. Tigon is a hybrid of tiger and human, a bridge between the animal and the human, and he encourages Carl not to forget what the elephants have told him, but also to accept himself, including his psychic self. Genre-wise, the film is defined as a post-humanist ghost story with elements of camp, melodrama and video essay.
Anna Chrtková, Matyáš Grimmich, Karolína Schön
The exhibition aims to achieve a moment of calm in the phase of the most hectic crisis - the moment of the "Great Burnout". Corporations are handing over their employees, we as art are chasing attention, Western society is vainly trying to achieve so-called "social peace" and the whole human world functions as one body in a cycle of work-fatigue-work-even more fatigue. Burnout, however, is a privilege that far from everyone can afford. The exhibition is conceived as a crisis intervention. What space do we need to create to allow ourselves to lie down and rest, at least to imagine?
David Mišťúrik
SHOWCASE, the completion of the REALITY trilogy, critically plays with the phenomenon of reality shows and the entertainment that is closely connected to it. In this case, the central video, which is set in an immersive setting, becomes a speculative satire on the press conference. The audience is situated in the role of fans, but at the same time finds itself under the fire of flashbacks. It is the harsh spotlights and camera flashes that are the dominant visual element of the installation. They refer to exhibitionism, but at the same time to discomfort – to the feelings that the participant of any reality show has to reckon with. Everything here will be disguised in the cloak of a small/big show that must have been extremely expensive, or at least appears so.
Bernardeta Babáková, Monika Rygálová
A video projection installation working with a girl's nostalgic gaze, drawing on the unsettling atmosphere of gothic novels and post-apocalyptic genres. The installation object draws on the aesthetics of domestic model making, dollhouses and portable altars. The glowing windows invite you to peer into the bowels of a lonely villa, where a feast with special rules for diners is most likely taking place for the last time. The video draws on a tradition of stories set around mansions, imprinting the memory of a place while the beings who inhabited it pass away, disappear. Both the installation and the concept of the audiovisual work look nostalgically back to the girlhood years, drawing on the attitudes and ideas of the world associated with this period. To a time when inhabiting mysterious spaces and ancient interiors seemed a certainty, dinner an endless game after which all one could do was relax and wait for the next days full of pleasurable pleasures.
Ondřej Klavík
The work of Ondřej Klavík is interesting for its almost painterly work with charcoal. The artist himself frames the themes of his large-scale works with existential and essential motifs such as presence or its counterpoint in absence. Absence is made present in his work primarily through themes that are based on absence - that is, they are shaped through their surroundings or otherwise imply absent qualities. He depicts the de-materialisation and displacement of masses. Mining, digging, removing, relocating, or the various uncovered interior places of the Earth that are made up of absent matter. It is present in them precisely through its absence. At the same time, he draws inspiration from extinct cultures, places, or mythologies that are touched by absence. Thus, the present intersects with the vanished, the real with the fictional, the general with the concrete, the descriptive with the abstract.
Leo Trotsenko
This exhibition reflects on the theme of death through such basic and elementary images as heaven and earth. They convey the perspective and experience of a Ukrainian civilian during the Russian-Ukrainian war. The exhibition consists of a sound installation, videos and objects: embroidered plastic garbage cans. The series of objects is called Dream of Humanism, and through simple symbols of different types of clouds such as Cumulonimbus, Stratocumulus, Cirrus, Nimbostratus, etc., it brings the emotion of fear of the open sky.
Martin Piaček
Martin Piaček is part of a group of artists who shaped Slovak social-critical art after the year 2000. Their work is characterized by anthropological reflections on Slovak history and culture, often employing exaggeration and irony. Along with Dalibor Bača, Michal Moravčík, and Tomáš Džadoň, Piaček was involved in the activist platform Verejný podstavec during the 1990s, which focused on critiquing contemporary political representation, reflecting on societal issues, and organizing actions to preserve inconvenient buildings and objects. At that time, Martin's interests also extended to the emblems of Slovak national identity, particularly the construct of the "national hero." This led him to explore the concept of masculinity, which he subversively critiqued through visual representation.
