Přemysl Procházka’s exhibition project is a single painting in trapezoidal format, depicting a football field from a classic “television” perspective. The gist of the procedural project is that every day of the exhibition the artist comes and repaints the image – creating a new situation on the pitch. Through the use of acrylic, which is not completely opaque, previous layers can be “detected” upon close examination, which the viewer can also consider analogous to the dim memories of a previous game. This laboriously emerging static “shot” is in contrast to the precise and quickly emerging photographs from a cell phone or camera that proliferate in personal archives or photo banks.
The concept also attacks the traditional notion of exhibiting the final phase of a painting and turns to its mutability and transience – again, the parallel with a football match as a completely unique authentic “live” performance emerges. The artist, after all, becomes a performer like the football players while painting, and the gallery viewers are not only watching a sports match, but also the artist’s battle with the canvas. To complete the overall atmosphere, the installation and production is implemented in the outdoor courtyard, where viewers have the opportunity to sip sponsor beer while watching.
The project sabotages digital recording media and prefers a here-and-now experience: “If we want to enjoy the fight, we have to be present, just as we have to visit the exhibition if we want to enjoy the painting. We can visit it repeatedly, we can come to cheer and guess how the match will develop. The end of the exhibition will also be the end of the match – the players will leave and only an empty pitch will remain.” (PP)
