We Don't Care (Je nám to ukradnuté)
Public announcement series in the town of Važec
Važec, 2020
This intervention in public space took the form of an announcement series, and it was created during the 12-day-long symposium DOM (12th – 23rd August 2020) in the town of Važec in Slovakia. I was invited to be a co-author of the programme for the public which included an exercise workshop and the final performance. The event primarily focused on the Jan Hála House with its close surroundings, and the central theme was unknown thieves who robbed the house blind in 2005 and stole permanent exposition paintings created by a Czech painter Jan Hála (1890–1959). The painter had spent many years in this house, having it both as his home and his creative place. There are approximately 2 000 inhabitants in Važec. The town is a popular stop on the way to nearby countryside sites, romantically interpreted by the painter in his work, along with people and traditions of their days.
During my stay, I implemented several interventions in public space outside the programme which were a subliminal reaction to a subsequent urge to critically reflect the symposium from the inside, as its co-author.
The interventions included a local radio announcement of an open contest for the most interesting short story or poem with a set subject: We Don't Care. For the announcement series, I wrote a text, sent it to the local municipal authority, and let the administrative personnel read it, just as they read common announcements for the entire town on a daily basis except on Sundays (such as obituaries or information about the local market).
The short film has been created as a material that is supposed to document the intervention project. It shows the first, second-last, and last day of the announcements (the first three days broadcasted the same announcement). Camera shots illustrating the public announcement audio record are taken from specific angles to represent the view from within the symposium, and they show the inactivity in the house surroundings.
Note: The short film skips the second and the third day of the announcements as the information announced was the same as on the first day.
Note 2: On the second-last day, the radio plays the song “Vata” before the announcement, which was granted to the public radio repertoire by me.
Važec, 2020
This intervention in public space took the form of an announcement series, and it was created during the 12-day-long symposium DOM (12th – 23rd August 2020) in the town of Važec in Slovakia. I was invited to be a co-author of the programme for the public which included an exercise workshop and the final performance. The event primarily focused on the Jan Hála House with its close surroundings, and the central theme was unknown thieves who robbed the house blind in 2005 and stole permanent exposition paintings created by a Czech painter Jan Hála (1890–1959). The painter had spent many years in this house, having it both as his home and his creative place. There are approximately 2 000 inhabitants in Važec. The town is a popular stop on the way to nearby countryside sites, romantically interpreted by the painter in his work, along with people and traditions of their days.
During my stay, I implemented several interventions in public space outside the programme which were a subliminal reaction to a subsequent urge to critically reflect the symposium from the inside, as its co-author.
The interventions included a local radio announcement of an open contest for the most interesting short story or poem with a set subject: We Don't Care. For the announcement series, I wrote a text, sent it to the local municipal authority, and let the administrative personnel read it, just as they read common announcements for the entire town on a daily basis except on Sundays (such as obituaries or information about the local market).
The short film has been created as a material that is supposed to document the intervention project. It shows the first, second-last, and last day of the announcements (the first three days broadcasted the same announcement). Camera shots illustrating the public announcement audio record are taken from specific angles to represent the view from within the symposium, and they show the inactivity in the house surroundings.
Note: The short film skips the second and the third day of the announcements as the information announced was the same as on the first day.
Note 2: On the second-last day, the radio plays the song “Vata” before the announcement, which was granted to the public radio repertoire by me.
Aura - First Ten Minutes of Gameplay
Official Trailers
Carpet Stories v.1
A short film, 23’23’’
Premiere: October 16, 2020, XY Gallery, Olomouc
This short film was created during a three-week-long research internship under the residency programme of XY Gallery in Olomouc. The film was made instead of a planned public presentation of my previous creation and instead of discussions, which are usually held at the end of each residency programme.
For three weeks, I had been working on several projects, supposed to be presented publicly as a performance and as an installation. Eventually, I got to know that implementing the projects would not be possible as the coronavirus second wave came which resulted in culture closures for the public. I devoted the remaining time to preparing a presentation with discussion for XY Gallery, planned to be held online. The film was being produced during the last week of the residency programme and it takes place in the very atelier of the residency centre where I worked. It was projected via a live stream on social media.
The film works with an (interactive) storytelling using the composed “family of narrators” generated by voice assistants with various language dialects. It elaborates on a story of perceiving the physical space as a virtual one, based on the ideological character of the space, objects, associations, and external influences. It refers independently to critical theory, phenomenology, moving picture, physical phenomena, computer game environment (e. g. an avatar from Half-Life), choreography, or a switchover to online (online learning, discussions, self-presentation).
Premiere: October 16, 2020, XY Gallery, Olomouc
This short film was created during a three-week-long research internship under the residency programme of XY Gallery in Olomouc. The film was made instead of a planned public presentation of my previous creation and instead of discussions, which are usually held at the end of each residency programme.
For three weeks, I had been working on several projects, supposed to be presented publicly as a performance and as an installation. Eventually, I got to know that implementing the projects would not be possible as the coronavirus second wave came which resulted in culture closures for the public. I devoted the remaining time to preparing a presentation with discussion for XY Gallery, planned to be held online. The film was being produced during the last week of the residency programme and it takes place in the very atelier of the residency centre where I worked. It was projected via a live stream on social media.
The film works with an (interactive) storytelling using the composed “family of narrators” generated by voice assistants with various language dialects. It elaborates on a story of perceiving the physical space as a virtual one, based on the ideological character of the space, objects, associations, and external influences. It refers independently to critical theory, phenomenology, moving picture, physical phenomena, computer game environment (e. g. an avatar from Half-Life), choreography, or a switchover to online (online learning, discussions, self-presentation).
Folly
Folly is located somewhere in the Zone.
Acupuncture of Exhibition Space (squared)
3.3.2020 - 23.3.2020 Pragovka Gallery / Entry Prague
installation, approx. 60000 nails, performance, electricity-connected subwoofer (no sound), 250m cable
"Acupuncture of Exhibition Space (squared)" allegorically follows the previous exhibition "Acupuncture of Exhibition Space" that took place from 29.5.-3.7.2019 in the FaVU Gallery in Brno.
The Acupuncture of Exhibition Space (series) is a metaphor of the gallery space as an independent actor, organism, and its stimulation. It works with space as an accumulation unit in the network, as well as with the network itself. The initial starting point of the project refers to the theory of French sociologist Bruno Latour. The actor-network theory, known simply as ANT, involves not only people, but also objects, organizations, and concepts. ANT is based on the concept of a heterogeneous network of actors in mutual material and semiotic relationships. Latour is trying to explain how (not so why) the actors in this network have come together to act as a whole. ANT argues that every actor, whether a person, an object, an organization or a concept, is equally important to the network. Similarly, acupuncture as a curing method takes into account the individuality together in a complex understanding of the condition of the whole organism instead of its separate pans Whatever is going on in one part of the body influences the other part. as according to Latour does the system of relationships in network Every network consists of interconnecting points that create the system - we call these points "the acupuncture points"
installation, approx. 60000 nails, performance, electricity-connected subwoofer (no sound), 250m cable
"Acupuncture of Exhibition Space (squared)" allegorically follows the previous exhibition "Acupuncture of Exhibition Space" that took place from 29.5.-3.7.2019 in the FaVU Gallery in Brno.
The Acupuncture of Exhibition Space (series) is a metaphor of the gallery space as an independent actor, organism, and its stimulation. It works with space as an accumulation unit in the network, as well as with the network itself. The initial starting point of the project refers to the theory of French sociologist Bruno Latour. The actor-network theory, known simply as ANT, involves not only people, but also objects, organizations, and concepts. ANT is based on the concept of a heterogeneous network of actors in mutual material and semiotic relationships. Latour is trying to explain how (not so why) the actors in this network have come together to act as a whole. ANT argues that every actor, whether a person, an object, an organization or a concept, is equally important to the network. Similarly, acupuncture as a curing method takes into account the individuality together in a complex understanding of the condition of the whole organism instead of its separate pans Whatever is going on in one part of the body influences the other part. as according to Latour does the system of relationships in network Every network consists of interconnecting points that create the system - we call these points "the acupuncture points"
Conditional Constructions I.: Interpellation
dance-movement composition for four dancers and two GoPro camera performers, intervention in public space 18.2.2020, Brno
Dance-movement event took place on 18 February. It began at the artist's solo exhibition STILL LEFT at G99, at the Brno House of Arts and moved through the city to the TIC Gallery. „Interpellation“ is the first of the four-part “CC” series of dance interventions in TIC Gallery Brno for 2020.
Imagine that there are individuals walking along. Somewhere (usually behind them) the hail rings out: ‘Hey, you there!’ One individual (nine times out of ten it is the right one) turns round, believing/suspecting/knowing that it is for him, i.e. recognizing that ‘it really is he’ who is meant by the hailing. But in reality these things happen without any succession. The existence of ideology and the hailing or interpellation of individuals as subjects are one and the same thing.
Dancers: Miriam Budzáková, Simona Štangová, Nikola Majtanová, Barbora Janáková
GoPro performers: Tereza Sikorová, Pavla Nikitina
Dance-movement event took place on 18 February. It began at the artist's solo exhibition STILL LEFT at G99, at the Brno House of Arts and moved through the city to the TIC Gallery. „Interpellation“ is the first of the four-part “CC” series of dance interventions in TIC Gallery Brno for 2020.
Imagine that there are individuals walking along. Somewhere (usually behind them) the hail rings out: ‘Hey, you there!’ One individual (nine times out of ten it is the right one) turns round, believing/suspecting/knowing that it is for him, i.e. recognizing that ‘it really is he’ who is meant by the hailing. But in reality these things happen without any succession. The existence of ideology and the hailing or interpellation of individuals as subjects are one and the same thing.
Dancers: Miriam Budzáková, Simona Štangová, Nikola Majtanová, Barbora Janáková
GoPro performers: Tereza Sikorová, Pavla Nikitina
Fragment 0
The initial and final motif of Michal Žilinský’s exhibition is a zero milestone. This takes place moment after an apocalypse, at the Earth without people, at the place, where different physical rules apply. This is the author’s fourth CGI animation, centered around a fictitious virtual environment. The so-called Zone is inspired by both abandoned and magical place of Andrei Tarkovsky and master of classic sci-fi – Strugatsky brothers. In Fragment 0, the author goes beyond: teases the viewer, shakes their confidence, mystifies. He chooses one object from the ambivalent Zone and hides its identity under the destructive signs of time and also visual play – under trompe l’oeil. At the same time, he follows his characteristic style as his brand: epic hyperrealism, references to chiaroscuro and almost magical symbolism could be seen in most of his previous works.
Into his latest project, the author also inweaves commercial strategies known from pop culture, more pronounced than in previous works. This is highlighted mainly by camera work, music (composed by Tomáš Moravanský) or by formal references to the genre of videogame introduction. The inanimate object of his interest becomes hero-Frankenstein, commodified by the same lascivious visual references like he ever lived. The ruin is depicted as a breakdown of matrix – clearly defined system – undermining the untenability of modern strict pragmatism. The ruin and its fragments were however created thanks to conflict of humans. The author then, by his installation refers not only to the extinction of the world and its original purpose but also to its legitimate contradictions. If using a 3D hyperrealistic moving image can blur borders of reality and fiction, then integration of hyperrealistic drawing, which is on the contrary most tradeable artifact of the exhibition, forces us to the absolute relativization. What if then, by the words of most popular 90’s ufologist Erich von Däniken, doomsday had already happened?
Curator: Katarína Hládeková
Into his latest project, the author also inweaves commercial strategies known from pop culture, more pronounced than in previous works. This is highlighted mainly by camera work, music (composed by Tomáš Moravanský) or by formal references to the genre of videogame introduction. The inanimate object of his interest becomes hero-Frankenstein, commodified by the same lascivious visual references like he ever lived. The ruin is depicted as a breakdown of matrix – clearly defined system – undermining the untenability of modern strict pragmatism. The ruin and its fragments were however created thanks to conflict of humans. The author then, by his installation refers not only to the extinction of the world and its original purpose but also to its legitimate contradictions. If using a 3D hyperrealistic moving image can blur borders of reality and fiction, then integration of hyperrealistic drawing, which is on the contrary most tradeable artifact of the exhibition, forces us to the absolute relativization. What if then, by the words of most popular 90’s ufologist Erich von Däniken, doomsday had already happened?
Curator: Katarína Hládeková
Deep Field
Site-specific installation, LCD monitors, IKEA tables, shutterstock video
11.8. 2019 – during Artist in Residence in Kulturák Archa, Lubná, Czech Republic
As part of the residence, I slept in a henhouse near this field for two weeks. This installation was the last output of my stay. After a two-week residence during which I ate freshly laid eggs every day for breakfast, I returned home and for my amazement just at that time the stores began selling a new brand of eggs.
11.8. 2019 – during Artist in Residence in Kulturák Archa, Lubná, Czech Republic
As part of the residence, I slept in a henhouse near this field for two weeks. This installation was the last output of my stay. After a two-week residence during which I ate freshly laid eggs every day for breakfast, I returned home and for my amazement just at that time the stores began selling a new brand of eggs.
Still Files (from Still Left)
stills from a security camera, time-lapse, installation, paper boxes 40x40x40cm, various dimension
A photo of the exhibition is taken each day after the visiting hours as a time-lapse (19.2.2020 - 12.4.2020). The photos document the movement and expression of the visitors. These were mostly small spatial changes caused by stumbling or careless passage around the objects. The composition change of the boxes was based also according to the number of the visitors in the gallery at one time. For example, one of the situations was that someone moved all the boxes evenly to another level. Likewise, various compositions of the boxes were made by the visitors of the gallery. Every day before the opening of the gallery, the exhibition was repaired. Destroyed boxes were replaced with the new ones. The photos were saved even after the gallery was completely closed due to the expansion of a virus (dark photos).
Note. : There was no introduction, instruction or curator text for the visitor during the exhibition or its opening. Gallery staff should not direct people or explain to them the idea that anything is allowed in the gallery. Only two information was present for the visitor. One
information was the name of the exhibition itself and the other was that visitors could visit the exhibition for free if they exchanged entrance ticket for a used ticket from another cultural event.
Installation Still Left is based on the artist’s residency within the Brno Artists in Residence programme of the Brno House of Arts which took place in autumn 2019. Still Left is a continuation of a set of interconnected gallery projects, object installations, interventions in public space, scenic performances and short films under the umbrella title Still Live, in which Moravanský is currently researching and working on topics of everyday life, movement psychology, intellectual property, virtuality and culture of individualism in relation to phenomenology.
A photo of the exhibition is taken each day after the visiting hours as a time-lapse (19.2.2020 - 12.4.2020). The photos document the movement and expression of the visitors. These were mostly small spatial changes caused by stumbling or careless passage around the objects. The composition change of the boxes was based also according to the number of the visitors in the gallery at one time. For example, one of the situations was that someone moved all the boxes evenly to another level. Likewise, various compositions of the boxes were made by the visitors of the gallery. Every day before the opening of the gallery, the exhibition was repaired. Destroyed boxes were replaced with the new ones. The photos were saved even after the gallery was completely closed due to the expansion of a virus (dark photos).
Note. : There was no introduction, instruction or curator text for the visitor during the exhibition or its opening. Gallery staff should not direct people or explain to them the idea that anything is allowed in the gallery. Only two information was present for the visitor. One
information was the name of the exhibition itself and the other was that visitors could visit the exhibition for free if they exchanged entrance ticket for a used ticket from another cultural event.
Installation Still Left is based on the artist’s residency within the Brno Artists in Residence programme of the Brno House of Arts which took place in autumn 2019. Still Left is a continuation of a set of interconnected gallery projects, object installations, interventions in public space, scenic performances and short films under the umbrella title Still Live, in which Moravanský is currently researching and working on topics of everyday life, movement psychology, intellectual property, virtuality and culture of individualism in relation to phenomenology.
Still Live: Afterparty (+Safety Air Refresher)
Slow number for two dancers, 8-channel sound composition
21.2.2020 / SONIX - concerts of international spatial electroacoustic music, Brno
For the first time, the performance was part of my premiere of the eight-channel music composition "Safety Air Refresher" presented during the "SONIX - concerts of international spatial electroacoustic music" event.
Safety Air Refresher is a part of multichannel sound series White Noise Cube.
Afterparty is part of a series Still Live Project.
21.2.2020 / SONIX - concerts of international spatial electroacoustic music, Brno
For the first time, the performance was part of my premiere of the eight-channel music composition "Safety Air Refresher" presented during the "SONIX - concerts of international spatial electroacoustic music" event.
Safety Air Refresher is a part of multichannel sound series White Noise Cube.
Afterparty is part of a series Still Live Project.
Afterparty at Pragovka Gallery
Slow number for two dancers, 8-channel sound composition
For the second time, the performance was part of the Accompanying Program of the exhibition Acupuncture of Exhibition Space (squared). The performance took place exactly on the day when the quarantine was declared, so we streamed the performance online at the streaming channel of the gallery. The performance was accompanied by a switched-on bass loudspeaker.
Afterparty is part of a series Still Live Project.
For the second time, the performance was part of the Accompanying Program of the exhibition Acupuncture of Exhibition Space (squared). The performance took place exactly on the day when the quarantine was declared, so we streamed the performance online at the streaming channel of the gallery. The performance was accompanied by a switched-on bass loudspeaker.
Afterparty is part of a series Still Live Project.
Trailer for exhibition Still Left + CC I
Dance-movement event took place on 18 February. It began at the artist's solo exhibition STILL LEFT at G99, at the Brno House of Arts and moved through the city to the TIC Gallery. „Interpellation“ is the first of the four-part “CC” series of dance interventions in TIC Gallery Brno for 2020.
Still Left - Exhibition Walkthrough with the Artist
19.2.2020 - 12.4.2020, Brno House of Arts / G99, Brno
installation, paper boxes 40x40x40cm, various dimension
Tomáš Moravanský’s STILL LEFT exhibition in the G99 Gallery is the outcome of his residence in the Brno Artists in Residence programme of the Brno House of Arts in autumn 2019. STILL LEFT follows a series of interlinked gallery projects, object installations, interventions into the public space, scenic performances and short films created under the joint title STILL LEFT, in which Moravanský is currently exploring the subjects of everyday life, psychology of movement, intellectual property, virtuality and the culture of individualism in relation to phenomenology.
The artist expands the STILL LEFT exhibition with the approach to the perceived world as a virtual one; with the use of objects, he sets it in the space of a gallery, as a place intended for an intellectual and contemplative walk. He thus creates a paraphrase of a game which has no result, only possibilities. The protagonist is automatically drawn into a situation in which a work of art affects his or her inner state manifested individually through corporeality, producing new information, a specific dialogue in reality, leaving evidence of his or her expression in the world as well as visible shapes of their intentions. We relate to the external space through the situation of our body.
Thanks to the “bodily” or “postural schema”, we have at every moment a global, practical and implicit idea of the relationship between our body and things, of our position in relation to them. We transmit to the surrounding space a cluster of possible movements, or motoric projects. Our body is not within a space in the same way as objects; rather, it inhabits it and settles in it, attaches to it like a hand to a tool. Therefore if we want to shift our position, we don’t have to move our body like an object. We don’t need any means to change its position, we do it as if by miracle, thanks to the fact that the body is ours and allows us direct access to the space.
The real space in which every point is what it really is covered with humans by a “virtual space” into which such spatial values are inscribed which the particular points would reach if the coordinates of our body changed. As a result, a system of correspondences comes into existence between our situation and the situation of the others, in which each correspondence symbolizes all of the others.
This different approach which changes our factual situation into one of the cases in a system of other possible situations is already realized at the moment when, for example, we point our finger at a point in space. The pointing gesture which animals do not understand assumes that we are already moving within a virtual, centrifigural or cultural space, at the end of a line indicated by the finger. This mimic use of our body is not connected with the mind as it doesn’t separate us from the body situation; on the contrary, it takes over its whole meaning.
Still Left is part of a series Still Live Project.
installation, paper boxes 40x40x40cm, various dimension
Tomáš Moravanský’s STILL LEFT exhibition in the G99 Gallery is the outcome of his residence in the Brno Artists in Residence programme of the Brno House of Arts in autumn 2019. STILL LEFT follows a series of interlinked gallery projects, object installations, interventions into the public space, scenic performances and short films created under the joint title STILL LEFT, in which Moravanský is currently exploring the subjects of everyday life, psychology of movement, intellectual property, virtuality and the culture of individualism in relation to phenomenology.
The artist expands the STILL LEFT exhibition with the approach to the perceived world as a virtual one; with the use of objects, he sets it in the space of a gallery, as a place intended for an intellectual and contemplative walk. He thus creates a paraphrase of a game which has no result, only possibilities. The protagonist is automatically drawn into a situation in which a work of art affects his or her inner state manifested individually through corporeality, producing new information, a specific dialogue in reality, leaving evidence of his or her expression in the world as well as visible shapes of their intentions. We relate to the external space through the situation of our body.
Thanks to the “bodily” or “postural schema”, we have at every moment a global, practical and implicit idea of the relationship between our body and things, of our position in relation to them. We transmit to the surrounding space a cluster of possible movements, or motoric projects. Our body is not within a space in the same way as objects; rather, it inhabits it and settles in it, attaches to it like a hand to a tool. Therefore if we want to shift our position, we don’t have to move our body like an object. We don’t need any means to change its position, we do it as if by miracle, thanks to the fact that the body is ours and allows us direct access to the space.
The real space in which every point is what it really is covered with humans by a “virtual space” into which such spatial values are inscribed which the particular points would reach if the coordinates of our body changed. As a result, a system of correspondences comes into existence between our situation and the situation of the others, in which each correspondence symbolizes all of the others.
This different approach which changes our factual situation into one of the cases in a system of other possible situations is already realized at the moment when, for example, we point our finger at a point in space. The pointing gesture which animals do not understand assumes that we are already moving within a virtual, centrifigural or cultural space, at the end of a line indicated by the finger. This mimic use of our body is not connected with the mind as it doesn’t separate us from the body situation; on the contrary, it takes over its whole meaning.
Still Left is part of a series Still Live Project.
Unboxing Still Left (de-installation film
12.4.2020, Brno House of Arts
Tomáš Moravanský’s STILL LEFT exhibition in the G99 Gallery is the outcome of his residence in the Brno Artists in Residence programme of the Brno House of Arts in autumn 2019. STILL LEFT follows a series of interlinked gallery projects, object installations, interventions into the public space, scenic performances and short films created under the joint title STILL LEFT, in which Moravanský is currently exploring the subjects of everyday life, psychology of movement, intellectual property, virtuality and the culture of individualism in relation to phenomenology.
Still Left is part of a series Still Live Project.
Tomáš Moravanský’s STILL LEFT exhibition in the G99 Gallery is the outcome of his residence in the Brno Artists in Residence programme of the Brno House of Arts in autumn 2019. STILL LEFT follows a series of interlinked gallery projects, object installations, interventions into the public space, scenic performances and short films created under the joint title STILL LEFT, in which Moravanský is currently exploring the subjects of everyday life, psychology of movement, intellectual property, virtuality and the culture of individualism in relation to phenomenology.
Still Left is part of a series Still Live Project.
Fragment 0 / opening performance
Installation, 3D animation with sound, 8′ 45″, loop, graphite pencil drawing on paper, 42x65 cm, 42x14 cm, opening performance/string trio, various dimension
Music score, opening performance/string trio: Tomáš Moravanský
Interpretation: Barbara Tolarová (viola), Dina Kadysheva (Violoncello)
11. 12. 2019 – 25. 1. 2020 - TIC Gallery / Brno, Czech Republic
The initial and final motif of Michal Žilinský’s exhibition is a zero milestone. This takes place moment after an apocalypse, at the Earth without people, at the place, where different physical rules apply. This is the author’s fourth CGI animation, centered around a fictitious virtual environment. The so-called Zone is inspired by both abandoned and magical place of Andrei Tarkovsky and master of classic sci-fi – Strugatsky brothers. In Fragment 0, the author goes beyond: teases the viewer, shakes their confidence, mystifies. He chooses one object from the ambivalent Zone and hides its identity under the destructive signs of time and also visual play – under trompe l’oeil. At the same time, he follows his characteristic style as his brand: epic hyperrealism, references to chiaroscuro and almost magical symbolism could be seen in most of his previous works.
Into his latest project, the author also inweaves commercial strategies known from pop culture, more pronounced than in previous works. This is highlighted mainly by camera work, music (composed by Tomáš Moravanský) or by formal references to the genre of videogame introduction. The inanimate object of his interest becomes hero-Frankenstein, commodified by the same lascivious visual references like he ever lived. The ruin is depicted as a breakdown of matrix – clearly defined system – undermining the untenability of modern strict pragmatism. The ruin and its fragments were however created thanks to conflict of humans. The author then, by his installation refers not only to the extinction of the world and its original purpose but also to its legitimate contradictions. If using a 3D hyperrealistic moving image can blur borders of reality and fiction, then integration of hyperrealistic drawing, which is on the contrary most tradeable artifact of the exhibition, forces us to the absolute relativization. What if then, by the words of most popular 90’s ufologist Erich von Däniken, doomsday had already happened?
Curator: Katarína Hládeková
Music score, opening performance/string trio: Tomáš Moravanský
Interpretation: Barbara Tolarová (viola), Dina Kadysheva (Violoncello)
11. 12. 2019 – 25. 1. 2020 - TIC Gallery / Brno, Czech Republic
The initial and final motif of Michal Žilinský’s exhibition is a zero milestone. This takes place moment after an apocalypse, at the Earth without people, at the place, where different physical rules apply. This is the author’s fourth CGI animation, centered around a fictitious virtual environment. The so-called Zone is inspired by both abandoned and magical place of Andrei Tarkovsky and master of classic sci-fi – Strugatsky brothers. In Fragment 0, the author goes beyond: teases the viewer, shakes their confidence, mystifies. He chooses one object from the ambivalent Zone and hides its identity under the destructive signs of time and also visual play – under trompe l’oeil. At the same time, he follows his characteristic style as his brand: epic hyperrealism, references to chiaroscuro and almost magical symbolism could be seen in most of his previous works.
Into his latest project, the author also inweaves commercial strategies known from pop culture, more pronounced than in previous works. This is highlighted mainly by camera work, music (composed by Tomáš Moravanský) or by formal references to the genre of videogame introduction. The inanimate object of his interest becomes hero-Frankenstein, commodified by the same lascivious visual references like he ever lived. The ruin is depicted as a breakdown of matrix – clearly defined system – undermining the untenability of modern strict pragmatism. The ruin and its fragments were however created thanks to conflict of humans. The author then, by his installation refers not only to the extinction of the world and its original purpose but also to its legitimate contradictions. If using a 3D hyperrealistic moving image can blur borders of reality and fiction, then integration of hyperrealistic drawing, which is on the contrary most tradeable artifact of the exhibition, forces us to the absolute relativization. What if then, by the words of most popular 90’s ufologist Erich von Däniken, doomsday had already happened?
Curator: Katarína Hládeková
Aula: Area of Universal Latency
CGI short film, 22 minutes
Area of Universal Latency (Aula) is a part of a large, interdependent system of specific places, rooted in the historical reality of northwestern Slovakia. The dominant feature of Aula is the House, some sort of author’s family memorial, once a romantic place, now abandoned ruin surrounded by a rotting apple orchard. The external human or natural uncoordinated interventions organically transform Aula and constantly “make it contemporary”. It lives in its special “post-human”, latent apocalyptic biosphere. The reality of constantly ongoing processes of birth and decomposition in Aula, means utopia. This is not a utopia in the sense of an impossible future, but a utopia as the present we live in. Through its ambivalence, CGI film Aula tries to point out to the current uncertainty of society.
Dean's Award at Faculty of Fine Arts BUT- 2018
The Winner of Other Visions SK - 2019
Area of Universal Latency (Aula) is a part of a large, interdependent system of specific places, rooted in the historical reality of northwestern Slovakia. The dominant feature of Aula is the House, some sort of author’s family memorial, once a romantic place, now abandoned ruin surrounded by a rotting apple orchard. The external human or natural uncoordinated interventions organically transform Aula and constantly “make it contemporary”. It lives in its special “post-human”, latent apocalyptic biosphere. The reality of constantly ongoing processes of birth and decomposition in Aula, means utopia. This is not a utopia in the sense of an impossible future, but a utopia as the present we live in. Through its ambivalence, CGI film Aula tries to point out to the current uncertainty of society.
Dean's Award at Faculty of Fine Arts BUT- 2018
The Winner of Other Visions SK - 2019
Physical Introduction
post-clown performance, installation, sound of ventilation, video, 25 min
4.12.2018, no longer used sound studio, Buranteatr, Brno, CZ
8.11.2019, festival YUP, Haus der Jugend, Osnabrück, Germany (as Virtual Introduction)
“A surviving genre of modern times.“
Physical Introduction is a performance on the edge of physical theatre, sound and installation reacting specifically to the space in which it is performed. It is a separated scene from a POOL series of post-clown manifestations. The performance took place in unused recording studio in a theatre. At the entrance to the room, viewers could take a menthol candy, which some of them unpacked during the performance. It apologizes for the European stereotype of the clown's appearance and its contemporary representations. Likewise, it refers to the western pop culture clown as well as to the B-movies and C-movies film genres. It improves the inherent properties of a particular space and renames its original state in to the post-clown environs. It also creates mimicry, even in the sound - we turned on the ventilation that was in the recording studio, which also caused that the room was gradually getting cold. The post-clown opposes the stereotypes of its predecessors and contemporaries by nihilism. It ignores the physical laws as a passive citizen who wants to be unobserved and natural in its environment. Instead of seeking freedom and desire, the physical actress as a post-clown caricature herself in the authenticity of existence. The concept uses passivity from the actress and focuses on minimalism and detail and appeals to the viewer's imagination. It doesn't matter what happened in the past, the story begins with the intertextuality of genres. POOL: Physical Introduction is an introduction to the everydayness of post-clown character.
4.12.2018, no longer used sound studio, Buranteatr, Brno, CZ
8.11.2019, festival YUP, Haus der Jugend, Osnabrück, Germany (as Virtual Introduction)
“A surviving genre of modern times.“
Physical Introduction is a performance on the edge of physical theatre, sound and installation reacting specifically to the space in which it is performed. It is a separated scene from a POOL series of post-clown manifestations. The performance took place in unused recording studio in a theatre. At the entrance to the room, viewers could take a menthol candy, which some of them unpacked during the performance. It apologizes for the European stereotype of the clown's appearance and its contemporary representations. Likewise, it refers to the western pop culture clown as well as to the B-movies and C-movies film genres. It improves the inherent properties of a particular space and renames its original state in to the post-clown environs. It also creates mimicry, even in the sound - we turned on the ventilation that was in the recording studio, which also caused that the room was gradually getting cold. The post-clown opposes the stereotypes of its predecessors and contemporaries by nihilism. It ignores the physical laws as a passive citizen who wants to be unobserved and natural in its environment. Instead of seeking freedom and desire, the physical actress as a post-clown caricature herself in the authenticity of existence. The concept uses passivity from the actress and focuses on minimalism and detail and appeals to the viewer's imagination. It doesn't matter what happened in the past, the story begins with the intertextuality of genres. POOL: Physical Introduction is an introduction to the everydayness of post-clown character.
Exhibition Walkthrough with the Artist: Acupuncture of Exhibition Space (light version)
Gallery installation, 60 000 nails, processual sound, video performance, variable dimensions
29.5.-3.7.2019 at FaVU Gallery, Brno, CZ
The Acupuncture of Exhibition Space Project took place on 29.5.-3.7.2019 at FaVU Gallery in Brno. The exhibition consisted of approximately 60,000 nails nailed to the 117 m² gallery walls (three connected rooms), along with the dropped plaster, which was a by-product of the installation process and from a hidden subwoofer that amplified noise of the street next to the gallery. All the rooms were dark all the time and visitors could only light with headlamps. The installation of the exhibition took place over a period of five days, at which time only three actors from the group worked on it. The concept of the exhibition was based on the conditions and contexts of the gallery itself, as well as on the ideology and history of the exhibition space. The 5-day performative installation followed a pre-set time schedule for choreography of work in space. During this work the whole gallery was darkened from the beginning of the installation to the last day of the exhibition. The actors also used only headlamps during the installation, so they could only watch one specific point each time the nail was nailed to the wall. This is also to ensure that they are not disturbed by the surroundings beyond the light point, and also to deny any thought of the aesthetics of the nail composition within the work area. In this way of work, these surfaces were difficult to distinguish from each other in the process because the walls and nails were identical and the work consisted of monotonous repetitive operations. Movement through the gallery had its strict rules when alternating and moving from wall to wall. The space was divided into 60 blocks for this project, based on its architecture. Before the start of the work, there was a draw of the order of the places where the actors will move, so that all of them work simultaneously and independently of each block separately, undisturbed in several cycles.
At the same time, the artists were shrouded in the same workwear, from head to toe, in order to prevent the identification of a co-worker at the time of moving from place to place in these difficult light conditions. During these five days, each member of the group alternated in cycles several times at each of the blocks, resulting that it was not possible to tell who nailed where and how - thus disappeared individual manuscripts from the walls. They also had a rule not to communicate with each other in any way, which would not have been even possible, especially because of speaker noise and nailing. The workflows of the concept were set up to exclude subjective decisions within the implementation process. During the installation, as well as throughout the duration of the exhibition, one of the walls concealed the already mentioned large subbass loudspeaker, which was connected to a microphone placed on the street and reproduced its noise (transport vehicles, trams, sketchy dialogues). The noise of the street is in itself a significant problem of this institution because every time the tram passes, it regularly shakes this old school building where the gallery is located. The loudspeaker reproduced this noise several times more, at only low, but significant frequencies, abstractly throughout the space, evenly, which had the effect of strengthening the atmosphere (in comparison to the whale's belly). Due to the even distribution of subfrequencies in space, it was not possible to find their source, the position of the hidden speaker behind the wall. The sound of the gallery was coming out, behind its door, but it wasn't so easy to tell if it was a reproduced sound or real street noise, because the volume was equally dependent on the street situation.
Before entering the exhibition visitors were given headlamps, thus having a similar experience to watch and hear the exhibition as the authors during the installation. That is, except the sound of nailing with hammers and beeps which determined the schedule of work and rest. The visitor also created his / her individual approach to looking at this space full of nails, they could search the space. The more visitors were in the gallery at one time, the more the possibilities of looking at the exhibition changed by multiplying the points of light that intersected into sorts of networks, abstract grids. Conversely, in the situation of the only visitor, who put the light on correctly, could see the exhibition without shadows at the right angle of the nails covering the shadow. These elements were reflected in the photo documentation of the exhibition, when it was not entirely possible to reproduce the endless possibilities of looking at the exhibition in its immersive nature. Therefore, after the end of exhibition, the space was also documented under full "photogenic" lighting. The hundreds of hours of video footage were generated during the installation process, because the actors used GoPro cameras together with the headlamps. These records show the working procedures and various states (mental, sometimes even physical), but on the contrary, it is not possible to tell to whom, when and where the specific views belong, because they all look literally the same. The installation process was also recorded on a 360° camera format with a central point of the gallery. During the first days of the exhibition, GoPro cameras also received few visitors, whose records are very interesting material about the movement and perception of this almost ritually acting space.
At the end of the exhibition and the removal of nails, large pieces of walls fell off, exposing the remains of past exhibitions, several layers of paint and previous partial repairs from inconsistent building materials, and the overall dilapidation of this historic building. The gallery therefore had to be completely reconstructed, revitalized.
Acupuncture of Exhibition Space is a metaphor of the gallery space as an independent actor, organism, and its stimulation. It works with space as an accumulation unit in the network, as well as with the network itself. The initial starting point of the project refers to the theory of French sociologist Bruno Latour. The actor-network theory, known simply as ANT, involves not only people, but also objects, organizations, and concepts. ANT is based on the concept of a heterogeneous network of actors in mutual material and semiotic relationships. Latour is trying to explain how (not so why) the actors in this network have come together to act as a whole. ANT argues that every actor, whether a person, an object, an organization or a concept, is equally important to the network.
Similarly, acupuncture as a treatment method takes individuality together in a comprehensive understanding of the condition of the whole organism instead of its separate parts. Whatever happens in one part of the body affects another part of the body, similar to the Latour's network system. Each network is made up of connection points that make up the system and can be referred to as 'acupuncture points'.
29.5.-3.7.2019 at FaVU Gallery, Brno, CZ
The Acupuncture of Exhibition Space Project took place on 29.5.-3.7.2019 at FaVU Gallery in Brno. The exhibition consisted of approximately 60,000 nails nailed to the 117 m² gallery walls (three connected rooms), along with the dropped plaster, which was a by-product of the installation process and from a hidden subwoofer that amplified noise of the street next to the gallery. All the rooms were dark all the time and visitors could only light with headlamps. The installation of the exhibition took place over a period of five days, at which time only three actors from the group worked on it. The concept of the exhibition was based on the conditions and contexts of the gallery itself, as well as on the ideology and history of the exhibition space. The 5-day performative installation followed a pre-set time schedule for choreography of work in space. During this work the whole gallery was darkened from the beginning of the installation to the last day of the exhibition. The actors also used only headlamps during the installation, so they could only watch one specific point each time the nail was nailed to the wall. This is also to ensure that they are not disturbed by the surroundings beyond the light point, and also to deny any thought of the aesthetics of the nail composition within the work area. In this way of work, these surfaces were difficult to distinguish from each other in the process because the walls and nails were identical and the work consisted of monotonous repetitive operations. Movement through the gallery had its strict rules when alternating and moving from wall to wall. The space was divided into 60 blocks for this project, based on its architecture. Before the start of the work, there was a draw of the order of the places where the actors will move, so that all of them work simultaneously and independently of each block separately, undisturbed in several cycles.
At the same time, the artists were shrouded in the same workwear, from head to toe, in order to prevent the identification of a co-worker at the time of moving from place to place in these difficult light conditions. During these five days, each member of the group alternated in cycles several times at each of the blocks, resulting that it was not possible to tell who nailed where and how - thus disappeared individual manuscripts from the walls. They also had a rule not to communicate with each other in any way, which would not have been even possible, especially because of speaker noise and nailing. The workflows of the concept were set up to exclude subjective decisions within the implementation process. During the installation, as well as throughout the duration of the exhibition, one of the walls concealed the already mentioned large subbass loudspeaker, which was connected to a microphone placed on the street and reproduced its noise (transport vehicles, trams, sketchy dialogues). The noise of the street is in itself a significant problem of this institution because every time the tram passes, it regularly shakes this old school building where the gallery is located. The loudspeaker reproduced this noise several times more, at only low, but significant frequencies, abstractly throughout the space, evenly, which had the effect of strengthening the atmosphere (in comparison to the whale's belly). Due to the even distribution of subfrequencies in space, it was not possible to find their source, the position of the hidden speaker behind the wall. The sound of the gallery was coming out, behind its door, but it wasn't so easy to tell if it was a reproduced sound or real street noise, because the volume was equally dependent on the street situation.
Before entering the exhibition visitors were given headlamps, thus having a similar experience to watch and hear the exhibition as the authors during the installation. That is, except the sound of nailing with hammers and beeps which determined the schedule of work and rest. The visitor also created his / her individual approach to looking at this space full of nails, they could search the space. The more visitors were in the gallery at one time, the more the possibilities of looking at the exhibition changed by multiplying the points of light that intersected into sorts of networks, abstract grids. Conversely, in the situation of the only visitor, who put the light on correctly, could see the exhibition without shadows at the right angle of the nails covering the shadow. These elements were reflected in the photo documentation of the exhibition, when it was not entirely possible to reproduce the endless possibilities of looking at the exhibition in its immersive nature. Therefore, after the end of exhibition, the space was also documented under full "photogenic" lighting. The hundreds of hours of video footage were generated during the installation process, because the actors used GoPro cameras together with the headlamps. These records show the working procedures and various states (mental, sometimes even physical), but on the contrary, it is not possible to tell to whom, when and where the specific views belong, because they all look literally the same. The installation process was also recorded on a 360° camera format with a central point of the gallery. During the first days of the exhibition, GoPro cameras also received few visitors, whose records are very interesting material about the movement and perception of this almost ritually acting space.
At the end of the exhibition and the removal of nails, large pieces of walls fell off, exposing the remains of past exhibitions, several layers of paint and previous partial repairs from inconsistent building materials, and the overall dilapidation of this historic building. The gallery therefore had to be completely reconstructed, revitalized.
Acupuncture of Exhibition Space is a metaphor of the gallery space as an independent actor, organism, and its stimulation. It works with space as an accumulation unit in the network, as well as with the network itself. The initial starting point of the project refers to the theory of French sociologist Bruno Latour. The actor-network theory, known simply as ANT, involves not only people, but also objects, organizations, and concepts. ANT is based on the concept of a heterogeneous network of actors in mutual material and semiotic relationships. Latour is trying to explain how (not so why) the actors in this network have come together to act as a whole. ANT argues that every actor, whether a person, an object, an organization or a concept, is equally important to the network.
Similarly, acupuncture as a treatment method takes individuality together in a comprehensive understanding of the condition of the whole organism instead of its separate parts. Whatever happens in one part of the body affects another part of the body, similar to the Latour's network system. Each network is made up of connection points that make up the system and can be referred to as 'acupuncture points'.
Exhibition Walkthrough with the Artist: Acupuncture of Exhibition Space (dark - open hour exhibition view version)
Gallery installation, 60 000 nails, processual sound, video performance, variable dimensions
29.5.-3.7.2019 at FaVU Gallery, Brno, CZ
The Acupuncture of Exhibition Space Project took place on 29.5.-3.7.2019 at FaVU Gallery in Brno. The exhibition consisted of approximately 60,000 nails nailed to the 117 m² gallery walls (three connected rooms), along with the dropped plaster, which was a by-product of the installation process and from a hidden subwoofer that amplified noise of the street next to the gallery. All the rooms were dark all the time and visitors could only light with headlamps. The installation of the exhibition took place over a period of five days, at which time only three actors from the group worked on it. The concept of the exhibition was based on the conditions and contexts of the gallery itself, as well as on the ideology and history of the exhibition space. The 5-day performative installation followed a pre-set time schedule for choreography of work in space. During this work the whole gallery was darkened from the beginning of the installation to the last day of the exhibition. The actors also used only headlamps during the installation, so they could only watch one specific point each time the nail was nailed to the wall. This is also to ensure that they are not disturbed by the surroundings beyond the light point, and also to deny any thought of the aesthetics of the nail composition within the work area. In this way of work, these surfaces were difficult to distinguish from each other in the process because the walls and nails were identical and the work consisted of monotonous repetitive operations. Movement through the gallery had its strict rules when alternating and moving from wall to wall. The space was divided into 60 blocks for this project, based on its architecture. Before the start of the work, there was a draw of the order of the places where the actors will move, so that all of them work simultaneously and independently of each block separately, undisturbed in several cycles.
At the same time, the artists were shrouded in the same workwear, from head to toe, in order to prevent the identification of a co-worker at the time of moving from place to place in these difficult light conditions. During these five days, each member of the group alternated in cycles several times at each of the blocks, resulting that it was not possible to tell who nailed where and how - thus disappeared individual manuscripts from the walls. They also had a rule not to communicate with each other in any way, which would not have been even possible, especially because of speaker noise and nailing. The workflows of the concept were set up to exclude subjective decisions within the implementation process. During the installation, as well as throughout the duration of the exhibition, one of the walls concealed the already mentioned large subbass loudspeaker, which was connected to a microphone placed on the street and reproduced its noise (transport vehicles, trams, sketchy dialogues). The noise of the street is in itself a significant problem of this institution because every time the tram passes, it regularly shakes this old school building where the gallery is located. The loudspeaker reproduced this noise several times more, at only low, but significant frequencies, abstractly throughout the space, evenly, which had the effect of strengthening the atmosphere (in comparison to the whale's belly). Due to the even distribution of subfrequencies in space, it was not possible to find their source, the position of the hidden speaker behind the wall. The sound of the gallery was coming out, behind its door, but it wasn't so easy to tell if it was a reproduced sound or real street noise, because the volume was equally dependent on the street situation.
Before entering the exhibition visitors were given headlamps, thus having a similar experience to watch and hear the exhibition as the authors during the installation. That is, except the sound of nailing with hammers and beeps which determined the schedule of work and rest. The visitor also created his / her individual approach to looking at this space full of nails, they could search the space. The more visitors were in the gallery at one time, the more the possibilities of looking at the exhibition changed by multiplying the points of light that intersected into sorts of networks, abstract grids. Conversely, in the situation of the only visitor, who put the light on correctly, could see the exhibition without shadows at the right angle of the nails covering the shadow. These elements were reflected in the photo documentation of the exhibition, when it was not entirely possible to reproduce the endless possibilities of looking at the exhibition in its immersive nature. Therefore, after the end of exhibition, the space was also documented under full "photogenic" lighting. The hundreds of hours of video footage were generated during the installation process, because the actors used GoPro cameras together with the headlamps. These records show the working procedures and various states (mental, sometimes even physical), but on the contrary, it is not possible to tell to whom, when and where the specific views belong, because they all look literally the same. The installation process was also recorded on a 360° camera format with a central point of the gallery. During the first days of the exhibition, GoPro cameras also received few visitors, whose records are very interesting material about the movement and perception of this almost ritually acting space.
At the end of the exhibition and the removal of nails, large pieces of walls fell off, exposing the remains of past exhibitions, several layers of paint and previous partial repairs from inconsistent building materials, and the overall dilapidation of this historic building. The gallery therefore had to be completely reconstructed, revitalized.
Acupuncture of Exhibition Space is a metaphor of the gallery space as an independent actor, organism, and its stimulation. It works with space as an accumulation unit in the network, as well as with the network itself. The initial starting point of the project refers to the theory of French sociologist Bruno Latour. The actor-network theory, known simply as ANT, involves not only people, but also objects, organizations, and concepts. ANT is based on the concept of a heterogeneous network of actors in mutual material and semiotic relationships. Latour is trying to explain how (not so why) the actors in this network have come together to act as a whole. ANT argues that every actor, whether a person, an object, an organization or a concept, is equally important to the network.
Similarly, acupuncture as a treatment method takes individuality together in a comprehensive understanding of the condition of the whole organism instead of its separate parts. Whatever happens in one part of the body affects another part of the body, similar to the Latour's network system. Each network is made up of connection points that make up the system and can be referred to as 'acupuncture points'.
29.5.-3.7.2019 at FaVU Gallery, Brno, CZ
The Acupuncture of Exhibition Space Project took place on 29.5.-3.7.2019 at FaVU Gallery in Brno. The exhibition consisted of approximately 60,000 nails nailed to the 117 m² gallery walls (three connected rooms), along with the dropped plaster, which was a by-product of the installation process and from a hidden subwoofer that amplified noise of the street next to the gallery. All the rooms were dark all the time and visitors could only light with headlamps. The installation of the exhibition took place over a period of five days, at which time only three actors from the group worked on it. The concept of the exhibition was based on the conditions and contexts of the gallery itself, as well as on the ideology and history of the exhibition space. The 5-day performative installation followed a pre-set time schedule for choreography of work in space. During this work the whole gallery was darkened from the beginning of the installation to the last day of the exhibition. The actors also used only headlamps during the installation, so they could only watch one specific point each time the nail was nailed to the wall. This is also to ensure that they are not disturbed by the surroundings beyond the light point, and also to deny any thought of the aesthetics of the nail composition within the work area. In this way of work, these surfaces were difficult to distinguish from each other in the process because the walls and nails were identical and the work consisted of monotonous repetitive operations. Movement through the gallery had its strict rules when alternating and moving from wall to wall. The space was divided into 60 blocks for this project, based on its architecture. Before the start of the work, there was a draw of the order of the places where the actors will move, so that all of them work simultaneously and independently of each block separately, undisturbed in several cycles.
At the same time, the artists were shrouded in the same workwear, from head to toe, in order to prevent the identification of a co-worker at the time of moving from place to place in these difficult light conditions. During these five days, each member of the group alternated in cycles several times at each of the blocks, resulting that it was not possible to tell who nailed where and how - thus disappeared individual manuscripts from the walls. They also had a rule not to communicate with each other in any way, which would not have been even possible, especially because of speaker noise and nailing. The workflows of the concept were set up to exclude subjective decisions within the implementation process. During the installation, as well as throughout the duration of the exhibition, one of the walls concealed the already mentioned large subbass loudspeaker, which was connected to a microphone placed on the street and reproduced its noise (transport vehicles, trams, sketchy dialogues). The noise of the street is in itself a significant problem of this institution because every time the tram passes, it regularly shakes this old school building where the gallery is located. The loudspeaker reproduced this noise several times more, at only low, but significant frequencies, abstractly throughout the space, evenly, which had the effect of strengthening the atmosphere (in comparison to the whale's belly). Due to the even distribution of subfrequencies in space, it was not possible to find their source, the position of the hidden speaker behind the wall. The sound of the gallery was coming out, behind its door, but it wasn't so easy to tell if it was a reproduced sound or real street noise, because the volume was equally dependent on the street situation.
Before entering the exhibition visitors were given headlamps, thus having a similar experience to watch and hear the exhibition as the authors during the installation. That is, except the sound of nailing with hammers and beeps which determined the schedule of work and rest. The visitor also created his / her individual approach to looking at this space full of nails, they could search the space. The more visitors were in the gallery at one time, the more the possibilities of looking at the exhibition changed by multiplying the points of light that intersected into sorts of networks, abstract grids. Conversely, in the situation of the only visitor, who put the light on correctly, could see the exhibition without shadows at the right angle of the nails covering the shadow. These elements were reflected in the photo documentation of the exhibition, when it was not entirely possible to reproduce the endless possibilities of looking at the exhibition in its immersive nature. Therefore, after the end of exhibition, the space was also documented under full "photogenic" lighting. The hundreds of hours of video footage were generated during the installation process, because the actors used GoPro cameras together with the headlamps. These records show the working procedures and various states (mental, sometimes even physical), but on the contrary, it is not possible to tell to whom, when and where the specific views belong, because they all look literally the same. The installation process was also recorded on a 360° camera format with a central point of the gallery. During the first days of the exhibition, GoPro cameras also received few visitors, whose records are very interesting material about the movement and perception of this almost ritually acting space.
At the end of the exhibition and the removal of nails, large pieces of walls fell off, exposing the remains of past exhibitions, several layers of paint and previous partial repairs from inconsistent building materials, and the overall dilapidation of this historic building. The gallery therefore had to be completely reconstructed, revitalized.
Acupuncture of Exhibition Space is a metaphor of the gallery space as an independent actor, organism, and its stimulation. It works with space as an accumulation unit in the network, as well as with the network itself. The initial starting point of the project refers to the theory of French sociologist Bruno Latour. The actor-network theory, known simply as ANT, involves not only people, but also objects, organizations, and concepts. ANT is based on the concept of a heterogeneous network of actors in mutual material and semiotic relationships. Latour is trying to explain how (not so why) the actors in this network have come together to act as a whole. ANT argues that every actor, whether a person, an object, an organization or a concept, is equally important to the network.
Similarly, acupuncture as a treatment method takes individuality together in a comprehensive understanding of the condition of the whole organism instead of its separate parts. Whatever happens in one part of the body affects another part of the body, similar to the Latour's network system. Each network is made up of connection points that make up the system and can be referred to as 'acupuncture points'.
exhibition walkthrough - visitor
Gallery installation, 60 000 nails, processual sound, video performance, variable dimensions
29.5.-3.7.2019 at FaVU Gallery, Brno, CZ
The Acupuncture of Exhibition Space Project took place on 29.5.-3.7.2019 at FaVU Gallery in Brno. The exhibition consisted of approximately 60,000 nails nailed to the 117 m² gallery walls (three connected rooms), along with the dropped plaster, which was a by-product of the installation process and from a hidden subwoofer that amplified noise of the street next to the gallery. All the rooms were dark all the time and visitors could only light with headlamps. The installation of the exhibition took place over a period of five days, at which time only three actors from the group worked on it. The concept of the exhibition was based on the conditions and contexts of the gallery itself, as well as on the ideology and history of the exhibition space. The 5-day performative installation followed a pre-set time schedule for choreography of work in space. During this work the whole gallery was darkened from the beginning of the installation to the last day of the exhibition. The actors also used only headlamps during the installation, so they could only watch one specific point each time the nail was nailed to the wall. This is also to ensure that they are not disturbed by the surroundings beyond the light point, and also to deny any thought of the aesthetics of the nail composition within the work area. In this way of work, these surfaces were difficult to distinguish from each other in the process because the walls and nails were identical and the work consisted of monotonous repetitive operations. Movement through the gallery had its strict rules when alternating and moving from wall to wall. The space was divided into 60 blocks for this project, based on its architecture. Before the start of the work, there was a draw of the order of the places where the actors will move, so that all of them work simultaneously and independently of each block separately, undisturbed in several cycles.
At the same time, the artists were shrouded in the same workwear, from head to toe, in order to prevent the identification of a co-worker at the time of moving from place to place in these difficult light conditions. During these five days, each member of the group alternated in cycles several times at each of the blocks, resulting that it was not possible to tell who nailed where and how - thus disappeared individual manuscripts from the walls. They also had a rule not to communicate with each other in any way, which would not have been even possible, especially because of speaker noise and nailing. The workflows of the concept were set up to exclude subjective decisions within the implementation process. During the installation, as well as throughout the duration of the exhibition, one of the walls concealed the already mentioned large subbass loudspeaker, which was connected to a microphone placed on the street and reproduced its noise (transport vehicles, trams, sketchy dialogues). The noise of the street is in itself a significant problem of this institution because every time the tram passes, it regularly shakes this old school building where the gallery is located. The loudspeaker reproduced this noise several times more, at only low, but significant frequencies, abstractly throughout the space, evenly, which had the effect of strengthening the atmosphere (in comparison to the whale's belly). Due to the even distribution of subfrequencies in space, it was not possible to find their source, the position of the hidden speaker behind the wall. The sound of the gallery was coming out, behind its door, but it wasn't so easy to tell if it was a reproduced sound or real street noise, because the volume was equally dependent on the street situation.
Before entering the exhibition visitors were given headlamps, thus having a similar experience to watch and hear the exhibition as the authors during the installation. That is, except the sound of nailing with hammers and beeps which determined the schedule of work and rest. The visitor also created his / her individual approach to looking at this space full of nails, they could search the space. The more visitors were in the gallery at one time, the more the possibilities of looking at the exhibition changed by multiplying the points of light that intersected into sorts of networks, abstract grids. Conversely, in the situation of the only visitor, who put the light on correctly, could see the exhibition without shadows at the right angle of the nails covering the shadow. These elements were reflected in the photo documentation of the exhibition, when it was not entirely possible to reproduce the endless possibilities of looking at the exhibition in its immersive nature. Therefore, after the end of exhibition, the space was also documented under full "photogenic" lighting. The hundreds of hours of video footage were generated during the installation process, because the actors used GoPro cameras together with the headlamps. These records show the working procedures and various states (mental, sometimes even physical), but on the contrary, it is not possible to tell to whom, when and where the specific views belong, because they all look literally the same. The installation process was also recorded on a 360° camera format with a central point of the gallery. During the first days of the exhibition, GoPro cameras also received few visitors, whose records are very interesting material about the movement and perception of this almost ritually acting space.
At the end of the exhibition and the removal of nails, large pieces of walls fell off, exposing the remains of past exhibitions, several layers of paint and previous partial repairs from inconsistent building materials, and the overall dilapidation of this historic building. The gallery therefore had to be completely reconstructed, revitalized.
Acupuncture of Exhibition Space is a metaphor of the gallery space as an independent actor, organism, and its stimulation. It works with space as an accumulation unit in the network, as well as with the network itself. The initial starting point of the project refers to the theory of French sociologist Bruno Latour. The actor-network theory, known simply as ANT, involves not only people, but also objects, organizations, and concepts. ANT is based on the concept of a heterogeneous network of actors in mutual material and semiotic relationships. Latour is trying to explain how (not so why) the actors in this network have come together to act as a whole. ANT argues that every actor, whether a person, an object, an organization or a concept, is equally important to the network.
Similarly, acupuncture as a treatment method takes individuality together in a comprehensive understanding of the condition of the whole organism instead of its separate parts. Whatever happens in one part of the body affects another part of the body, similar to the Latour's network system. Each network is made up of connection points that make up the system and can be referred to as 'acupuncture points'.
29.5.-3.7.2019 at FaVU Gallery, Brno, CZ
The Acupuncture of Exhibition Space Project took place on 29.5.-3.7.2019 at FaVU Gallery in Brno. The exhibition consisted of approximately 60,000 nails nailed to the 117 m² gallery walls (three connected rooms), along with the dropped plaster, which was a by-product of the installation process and from a hidden subwoofer that amplified noise of the street next to the gallery. All the rooms were dark all the time and visitors could only light with headlamps. The installation of the exhibition took place over a period of five days, at which time only three actors from the group worked on it. The concept of the exhibition was based on the conditions and contexts of the gallery itself, as well as on the ideology and history of the exhibition space. The 5-day performative installation followed a pre-set time schedule for choreography of work in space. During this work the whole gallery was darkened from the beginning of the installation to the last day of the exhibition. The actors also used only headlamps during the installation, so they could only watch one specific point each time the nail was nailed to the wall. This is also to ensure that they are not disturbed by the surroundings beyond the light point, and also to deny any thought of the aesthetics of the nail composition within the work area. In this way of work, these surfaces were difficult to distinguish from each other in the process because the walls and nails were identical and the work consisted of monotonous repetitive operations. Movement through the gallery had its strict rules when alternating and moving from wall to wall. The space was divided into 60 blocks for this project, based on its architecture. Before the start of the work, there was a draw of the order of the places where the actors will move, so that all of them work simultaneously and independently of each block separately, undisturbed in several cycles.
At the same time, the artists were shrouded in the same workwear, from head to toe, in order to prevent the identification of a co-worker at the time of moving from place to place in these difficult light conditions. During these five days, each member of the group alternated in cycles several times at each of the blocks, resulting that it was not possible to tell who nailed where and how - thus disappeared individual manuscripts from the walls. They also had a rule not to communicate with each other in any way, which would not have been even possible, especially because of speaker noise and nailing. The workflows of the concept were set up to exclude subjective decisions within the implementation process. During the installation, as well as throughout the duration of the exhibition, one of the walls concealed the already mentioned large subbass loudspeaker, which was connected to a microphone placed on the street and reproduced its noise (transport vehicles, trams, sketchy dialogues). The noise of the street is in itself a significant problem of this institution because every time the tram passes, it regularly shakes this old school building where the gallery is located. The loudspeaker reproduced this noise several times more, at only low, but significant frequencies, abstractly throughout the space, evenly, which had the effect of strengthening the atmosphere (in comparison to the whale's belly). Due to the even distribution of subfrequencies in space, it was not possible to find their source, the position of the hidden speaker behind the wall. The sound of the gallery was coming out, behind its door, but it wasn't so easy to tell if it was a reproduced sound or real street noise, because the volume was equally dependent on the street situation.
Before entering the exhibition visitors were given headlamps, thus having a similar experience to watch and hear the exhibition as the authors during the installation. That is, except the sound of nailing with hammers and beeps which determined the schedule of work and rest. The visitor also created his / her individual approach to looking at this space full of nails, they could search the space. The more visitors were in the gallery at one time, the more the possibilities of looking at the exhibition changed by multiplying the points of light that intersected into sorts of networks, abstract grids. Conversely, in the situation of the only visitor, who put the light on correctly, could see the exhibition without shadows at the right angle of the nails covering the shadow. These elements were reflected in the photo documentation of the exhibition, when it was not entirely possible to reproduce the endless possibilities of looking at the exhibition in its immersive nature. Therefore, after the end of exhibition, the space was also documented under full "photogenic" lighting. The hundreds of hours of video footage were generated during the installation process, because the actors used GoPro cameras together with the headlamps. These records show the working procedures and various states (mental, sometimes even physical), but on the contrary, it is not possible to tell to whom, when and where the specific views belong, because they all look literally the same. The installation process was also recorded on a 360° camera format with a central point of the gallery. During the first days of the exhibition, GoPro cameras also received few visitors, whose records are very interesting material about the movement and perception of this almost ritually acting space.
At the end of the exhibition and the removal of nails, large pieces of walls fell off, exposing the remains of past exhibitions, several layers of paint and previous partial repairs from inconsistent building materials, and the overall dilapidation of this historic building. The gallery therefore had to be completely reconstructed, revitalized.
Acupuncture of Exhibition Space is a metaphor of the gallery space as an independent actor, organism, and its stimulation. It works with space as an accumulation unit in the network, as well as with the network itself. The initial starting point of the project refers to the theory of French sociologist Bruno Latour. The actor-network theory, known simply as ANT, involves not only people, but also objects, organizations, and concepts. ANT is based on the concept of a heterogeneous network of actors in mutual material and semiotic relationships. Latour is trying to explain how (not so why) the actors in this network have come together to act as a whole. ANT argues that every actor, whether a person, an object, an organization or a concept, is equally important to the network.
Similarly, acupuncture as a treatment method takes individuality together in a comprehensive understanding of the condition of the whole organism instead of its separate parts. Whatever happens in one part of the body affects another part of the body, similar to the Latour's network system. Each network is made up of connection points that make up the system and can be referred to as 'acupuncture points'.
preview of the installation process
Gallery installation, 60 000 nails, processual sound, video performance, variable dimensions
29.5.-3.7.2019 at FaVU Gallery, Brno, CZ
The Acupuncture of Exhibition Space Project took place on 29.5.-3.7.2019 at FaVU Gallery in Brno. The exhibition consisted of approximately 60,000 nails nailed to the 117 m² gallery walls (three connected rooms), along with the dropped plaster, which was a by-product of the installation process and from a hidden subwoofer that amplified noise of the street next to the gallery. All the rooms were dark all the time and visitors could only light with headlamps. The installation of the exhibition took place over a period of five days, at which time only three actors from the group worked on it. The concept of the exhibition was based on the conditions and contexts of the gallery itself, as well as on the ideology and history of the exhibition space. The 5-day performative installation followed a pre-set time schedule for choreography of work in space. During this work the whole gallery was darkened from the beginning of the installation to the last day of the exhibition. The actors also used only headlamps during the installation, so they could only watch one specific point each time the nail was nailed to the wall. This is also to ensure that they are not disturbed by the surroundings beyond the light point, and also to deny any thought of the aesthetics of the nail composition within the work area. In this way of work, these surfaces were difficult to distinguish from each other in the process because the walls and nails were identical and the work consisted of monotonous repetitive operations. Movement through the gallery had its strict rules when alternating and moving from wall to wall. The space was divided into 60 blocks for this project, based on its architecture. Before the start of the work, there was a draw of the order of the places where the actors will move, so that all of them work simultaneously and independently of each block separately, undisturbed in several cycles.
At the same time, the artists were shrouded in the same workwear, from head to toe, in order to prevent the identification of a co-worker at the time of moving from place to place in these difficult light conditions. During these five days, each member of the group alternated in cycles several times at each of the blocks, resulting that it was not possible to tell who nailed where and how - thus disappeared individual manuscripts from the walls. They also had a rule not to communicate with each other in any way, which would not have been even possible, especially because of speaker noise and nailing. The workflows of the concept were set up to exclude subjective decisions within the implementation process. During the installation, as well as throughout the duration of the exhibition, one of the walls concealed the already mentioned large subbass loudspeaker, which was connected to a microphone placed on the street and reproduced its noise (transport vehicles, trams, sketchy dialogues). The noise of the street is in itself a significant problem of this institution because every time the tram passes, it regularly shakes this old school building where the gallery is located. The loudspeaker reproduced this noise several times more, at only low, but significant frequencies, abstractly throughout the space, evenly, which had the effect of strengthening the atmosphere (in comparison to the whale's belly). Due to the even distribution of subfrequencies in space, it was not possible to find their source, the position of the hidden speaker behind the wall. The sound of the gallery was coming out, behind its door, but it wasn't so easy to tell if it was a reproduced sound or real street noise, because the volume was equally dependent on the street situation.
Before entering the exhibition visitors were given headlamps, thus having a similar experience to watch and hear the exhibition as the authors during the installation. That is, except the sound of nailing with hammers and beeps which determined the schedule of work and rest. The visitor also created his / her individual approach to looking at this space full of nails, they could search the space. The more visitors were in the gallery at one time, the more the possibilities of looking at the exhibition changed by multiplying the points of light that intersected into sorts of networks, abstract grids. Conversely, in the situation of the only visitor, who put the light on correctly, could see the exhibition without shadows at the right angle of the nails covering the shadow. These elements were reflected in the photo documentation of the exhibition, when it was not entirely possible to reproduce the endless possibilities of looking at the exhibition in its immersive nature. Therefore, after the end of exhibition, the space was also documented under full "photogenic" lighting. The hundreds of hours of video footage were generated during the installation process, because the actors used GoPro cameras together with the headlamps. These records show the working procedures and various states (mental, sometimes even physical), but on the contrary, it is not possible to tell to whom, when and where the specific views belong, because they all look literally the same. The installation process was also recorded on a 360° camera format with a central point of the gallery. During the first days of the exhibition, GoPro cameras also received few visitors, whose records are very interesting material about the movement and perception of this almost ritually acting space.
At the end of the exhibition and the removal of nails, large pieces of walls fell off, exposing the remains of past exhibitions, several layers of paint and previous partial repairs from inconsistent building materials, and the overall dilapidation of this historic building. The gallery therefore had to be completely reconstructed, revitalized.
Acupuncture of Exhibition Space is a metaphor of the gallery space as an independent actor, organism, and its stimulation. It works with space as an accumulation unit in the network, as well as with the network itself. The initial starting point of the project refers to the theory of French sociologist Bruno Latour. The actor-network theory, known simply as ANT, involves not only people, but also objects, organizations, and concepts. ANT is based on the concept of a heterogeneous network of actors in mutual material and semiotic relationships. Latour is trying to explain how (not so why) the actors in this network have come together to act as a whole. ANT argues that every actor, whether a person, an object, an organization or a concept, is equally important to the network.
Similarly, acupuncture as a treatment method takes individuality together in a comprehensive understanding of the condition of the whole organism instead of its separate parts. Whatever happens in one part of the body affects another part of the body, similar to the Latour's network system. Each network is made up of connection points that make up the system and can be referred to as 'acupuncture points'.
29.5.-3.7.2019 at FaVU Gallery, Brno, CZ
The Acupuncture of Exhibition Space Project took place on 29.5.-3.7.2019 at FaVU Gallery in Brno. The exhibition consisted of approximately 60,000 nails nailed to the 117 m² gallery walls (three connected rooms), along with the dropped plaster, which was a by-product of the installation process and from a hidden subwoofer that amplified noise of the street next to the gallery. All the rooms were dark all the time and visitors could only light with headlamps. The installation of the exhibition took place over a period of five days, at which time only three actors from the group worked on it. The concept of the exhibition was based on the conditions and contexts of the gallery itself, as well as on the ideology and history of the exhibition space. The 5-day performative installation followed a pre-set time schedule for choreography of work in space. During this work the whole gallery was darkened from the beginning of the installation to the last day of the exhibition. The actors also used only headlamps during the installation, so they could only watch one specific point each time the nail was nailed to the wall. This is also to ensure that they are not disturbed by the surroundings beyond the light point, and also to deny any thought of the aesthetics of the nail composition within the work area. In this way of work, these surfaces were difficult to distinguish from each other in the process because the walls and nails were identical and the work consisted of monotonous repetitive operations. Movement through the gallery had its strict rules when alternating and moving from wall to wall. The space was divided into 60 blocks for this project, based on its architecture. Before the start of the work, there was a draw of the order of the places where the actors will move, so that all of them work simultaneously and independently of each block separately, undisturbed in several cycles.
At the same time, the artists were shrouded in the same workwear, from head to toe, in order to prevent the identification of a co-worker at the time of moving from place to place in these difficult light conditions. During these five days, each member of the group alternated in cycles several times at each of the blocks, resulting that it was not possible to tell who nailed where and how - thus disappeared individual manuscripts from the walls. They also had a rule not to communicate with each other in any way, which would not have been even possible, especially because of speaker noise and nailing. The workflows of the concept were set up to exclude subjective decisions within the implementation process. During the installation, as well as throughout the duration of the exhibition, one of the walls concealed the already mentioned large subbass loudspeaker, which was connected to a microphone placed on the street and reproduced its noise (transport vehicles, trams, sketchy dialogues). The noise of the street is in itself a significant problem of this institution because every time the tram passes, it regularly shakes this old school building where the gallery is located. The loudspeaker reproduced this noise several times more, at only low, but significant frequencies, abstractly throughout the space, evenly, which had the effect of strengthening the atmosphere (in comparison to the whale's belly). Due to the even distribution of subfrequencies in space, it was not possible to find their source, the position of the hidden speaker behind the wall. The sound of the gallery was coming out, behind its door, but it wasn't so easy to tell if it was a reproduced sound or real street noise, because the volume was equally dependent on the street situation.
Before entering the exhibition visitors were given headlamps, thus having a similar experience to watch and hear the exhibition as the authors during the installation. That is, except the sound of nailing with hammers and beeps which determined the schedule of work and rest. The visitor also created his / her individual approach to looking at this space full of nails, they could search the space. The more visitors were in the gallery at one time, the more the possibilities of looking at the exhibition changed by multiplying the points of light that intersected into sorts of networks, abstract grids. Conversely, in the situation of the only visitor, who put the light on correctly, could see the exhibition without shadows at the right angle of the nails covering the shadow. These elements were reflected in the photo documentation of the exhibition, when it was not entirely possible to reproduce the endless possibilities of looking at the exhibition in its immersive nature. Therefore, after the end of exhibition, the space was also documented under full "photogenic" lighting. The hundreds of hours of video footage were generated during the installation process, because the actors used GoPro cameras together with the headlamps. These records show the working procedures and various states (mental, sometimes even physical), but on the contrary, it is not possible to tell to whom, when and where the specific views belong, because they all look literally the same. The installation process was also recorded on a 360° camera format with a central point of the gallery. During the first days of the exhibition, GoPro cameras also received few visitors, whose records are very interesting material about the movement and perception of this almost ritually acting space.
At the end of the exhibition and the removal of nails, large pieces of walls fell off, exposing the remains of past exhibitions, several layers of paint and previous partial repairs from inconsistent building materials, and the overall dilapidation of this historic building. The gallery therefore had to be completely reconstructed, revitalized.
Acupuncture of Exhibition Space is a metaphor of the gallery space as an independent actor, organism, and its stimulation. It works with space as an accumulation unit in the network, as well as with the network itself. The initial starting point of the project refers to the theory of French sociologist Bruno Latour. The actor-network theory, known simply as ANT, involves not only people, but also objects, organizations, and concepts. ANT is based on the concept of a heterogeneous network of actors in mutual material and semiotic relationships. Latour is trying to explain how (not so why) the actors in this network have come together to act as a whole. ANT argues that every actor, whether a person, an object, an organization or a concept, is equally important to the network.
Similarly, acupuncture as a treatment method takes individuality together in a comprehensive understanding of the condition of the whole organism instead of its separate parts. Whatever happens in one part of the body affects another part of the body, similar to the Latour's network system. Each network is made up of connection points that make up the system and can be referred to as 'acupuncture points'.
STILL LIVE - Natural painters
Video-performance series, installation, choreography, stage-performances, variable dimensions
2018 - FaVU Gallery, Brno
2018 - House of the Lord of Kunstat, Brno (as Pride and Prejudice)
2018 - 2020 - separate parts presented in various forms as live performances
list:
Natural Painters
Doubles
DJs
Untitled
Obsessive Contemplative Disorder
Stage Behind the Mirror
The project Still Live from 2018 is a series of six videos whose common feature is the multiplication of a subject performing a predetermined sequence of actions. This is the first part of an extensive project series that can potentially continue endlessly - just like the actions recorded on videos can be repeated endlessly and also by various actors. The project, characterized as postconceptual is with the tradition of conceptual art connected with a focus on a predetermined instruction, according to which it is possible to repeatedly realize the work. However, the precondition of success is the elimination of subjective decisions in the implementation process. In the literature, these instructions are compared to scientific algorithms but also to musical scores and choreography. I also use these methods in the interpretation of my approach; this work is actually an organic attempt to link my work in the context of visual art with a parallel career in music and theater. The choice of activities and roles that show the protagonists of some of the videos (landscape painters, DJs) refers in various art forms to the traditional (pre-conceptual) conception of creation as an expression of individuality. The work in its theoretical background works with factual processing of individual videos with poststructuralsitic interpretation of the subject. (Lacanian psychoanalysis plays a central role here).
The entire Still Live project can be interpreted as a nostalgic report on the disappearance of an individual subject expressing itself through a work of art but also as a celebration of the possibility of constructing the subject's simulacrum and its expression.
Still Live from 2018 is the first part of a series of eponymous title Still Live.
2018 - FaVU Gallery, Brno
2018 - House of the Lord of Kunstat, Brno (as Pride and Prejudice)
2018 - 2020 - separate parts presented in various forms as live performances
list:
Natural Painters
Doubles
DJs
Untitled
Obsessive Contemplative Disorder
Stage Behind the Mirror
The project Still Live from 2018 is a series of six videos whose common feature is the multiplication of a subject performing a predetermined sequence of actions. This is the first part of an extensive project series that can potentially continue endlessly - just like the actions recorded on videos can be repeated endlessly and also by various actors. The project, characterized as postconceptual is with the tradition of conceptual art connected with a focus on a predetermined instruction, according to which it is possible to repeatedly realize the work. However, the precondition of success is the elimination of subjective decisions in the implementation process. In the literature, these instructions are compared to scientific algorithms but also to musical scores and choreography. I also use these methods in the interpretation of my approach; this work is actually an organic attempt to link my work in the context of visual art with a parallel career in music and theater. The choice of activities and roles that show the protagonists of some of the videos (landscape painters, DJs) refers in various art forms to the traditional (pre-conceptual) conception of creation as an expression of individuality. The work in its theoretical background works with factual processing of individual videos with poststructuralsitic interpretation of the subject. (Lacanian psychoanalysis plays a central role here).
The entire Still Live project can be interpreted as a nostalgic report on the disappearance of an individual subject expressing itself through a work of art but also as a celebration of the possibility of constructing the subject's simulacrum and its expression.
Still Live from 2018 is the first part of a series of eponymous title Still Live.
FLOW
site-specific installation, video, 2′, loop
May 2019
A piece of broken drawer furniture on a rock sticking out of the sea during the evening tide. I had to swim to the rock with a drawer and the video was taken from a nearby island. I left the furniture there for two days. The drawer eventually opened under the pressure of physical forces. This view was created during Artist in Residence on St. Anastasia Island, Bulgaria.
May 2019
A piece of broken drawer furniture on a rock sticking out of the sea during the evening tide. I had to swim to the rock with a drawer and the video was taken from a nearby island. I left the furniture there for two days. The drawer eventually opened under the pressure of physical forces. This view was created during Artist in Residence on St. Anastasia Island, Bulgaria.
Attraction
post-clown performance, public/private intervention, two-channel video (60 min)
3. 5. - 20. 5. 2019 - St. Anastasia Island, Bulgaria
The project was created within one month Artist in Residence, Czech center Sofia, Bulgaria Every day we prepared a camera in the room and a second hidden camera on a pillar in front of the door and waited for regular arrivals of the boat with tourists to the island where we worked on the POOL project as part of the Artist in Residence program. We were accommodated in tourist rooms next to the historical museum dedicated to the island. We fixed color filters to the windows of the room, thanks to which made it possible to see out of the room but not from outside to inside of the room. Every morning we practiced this routine in a clown costume jumping on the bed behind the closed door of a tourist hostel. We always started just before the arrival of the ship and ended after its departure until the island remained depopulated. This record was made on the day the school group arrived on the island. One boy was too curious about what was behind the closed door, probably thinking the door was still a nearby museum and opened it (in video at 1:10 min) which triggered a chain reaction of curious children looking inside the room.
Note: Before the end of the recording, the camera inside the room has run out of battery, but the microphone and the hidden camera remain recording.
3. 5. - 20. 5. 2019 - St. Anastasia Island, Bulgaria
The project was created within one month Artist in Residence, Czech center Sofia, Bulgaria Every day we prepared a camera in the room and a second hidden camera on a pillar in front of the door and waited for regular arrivals of the boat with tourists to the island where we worked on the POOL project as part of the Artist in Residence program. We were accommodated in tourist rooms next to the historical museum dedicated to the island. We fixed color filters to the windows of the room, thanks to which made it possible to see out of the room but not from outside to inside of the room. Every morning we practiced this routine in a clown costume jumping on the bed behind the closed door of a tourist hostel. We always started just before the arrival of the ship and ended after its departure until the island remained depopulated. This record was made on the day the school group arrived on the island. One boy was too curious about what was behind the closed door, probably thinking the door was still a nearby museum and opened it (in video at 1:10 min) which triggered a chain reaction of curious children looking inside the room.
Note: Before the end of the recording, the camera inside the room has run out of battery, but the microphone and the hidden camera remain recording.
Sea from the Elevation Floor
post-clown performance, site-specific installation, happening, plastic foil, light design, video
42 min.
5. 5. - 21. 5. 2019 – Installation / St. Anastasia Island, Bulgaria
19. 5. 2019 – Performance / St. Anastasia Island, Bulgaria
The project was created within one month Artist in Residence, Czech center in Sofia, Bulgaria
On a very small island of St. Anastasia (size about one hectare) where we were working on the POOL project, we created several site-specific installations. Some were visible and some were not. One of the visible ones was the installation of a covered sea view with a plastic foil in the place (stage with elevation) which is the most representative tourist point within the island and from where you can see the arrival of the tourist boat and the light of the night city of Burgas. This installation was present on the island for about 2 weeks until we left. The plastic was properly recycled.
Towards the end of the residence, the head of the island asked us as artists to present some of our work for evening visitors - teambuilding of a company specializing in eco-cars, along with families. We placed a post-clown performance under the plastic installation. Again, we started just before the arrival of the ship and ended after its departure, until the island remained depopulated. No one has been informed in advance or during what we are presenting. The video shows that after moments of confusion, the group spontaneously took a photo together with the performing Post-Clown, one of the visitors shared a live stream on social networks and started an online discussion. After about 15 minutes, the equally confused head of the island began to explain the history of the island as tourist guides do. The visitors took many photos with the background of the plastic sea, as well as during the two weeks of the installation. Tereza performed until the boat with the visitors was far away in the distance on the way back, because after dark we switched on the night lighting of the island, which we redesigned by blue filters, which could also be seen from afar.
42 min.
5. 5. - 21. 5. 2019 – Installation / St. Anastasia Island, Bulgaria
19. 5. 2019 – Performance / St. Anastasia Island, Bulgaria
The project was created within one month Artist in Residence, Czech center in Sofia, Bulgaria
On a very small island of St. Anastasia (size about one hectare) where we were working on the POOL project, we created several site-specific installations. Some were visible and some were not. One of the visible ones was the installation of a covered sea view with a plastic foil in the place (stage with elevation) which is the most representative tourist point within the island and from where you can see the arrival of the tourist boat and the light of the night city of Burgas. This installation was present on the island for about 2 weeks until we left. The plastic was properly recycled.
Towards the end of the residence, the head of the island asked us as artists to present some of our work for evening visitors - teambuilding of a company specializing in eco-cars, along with families. We placed a post-clown performance under the plastic installation. Again, we started just before the arrival of the ship and ended after its departure, until the island remained depopulated. No one has been informed in advance or during what we are presenting. The video shows that after moments of confusion, the group spontaneously took a photo together with the performing Post-Clown, one of the visitors shared a live stream on social networks and started an online discussion. After about 15 minutes, the equally confused head of the island began to explain the history of the island as tourist guides do. The visitors took many photos with the background of the plastic sea, as well as during the two weeks of the installation. Tereza performed until the boat with the visitors was far away in the distance on the way back, because after dark we switched on the night lighting of the island, which we redesigned by blue filters, which could also be seen from afar.
Fragment 2B
Mapping, Zone series, 1:60, 3D render
Fragment 2B is best compared to the Zone created by the Strugatsky brothers and Andrei Tarkovsky, to the Paul Noble’s tyrannical Nobson Newtown or to the Pavel Makov’s existentialist graphics.
The moving image examines vertical plane of the construction, layers of concrete pillars and beams, their exposed corroded reinforcements and almost religious wrapping of the structure into fabrics. Those factors support temporal ambivalence of this environment as a reminder of material temporality. There are more questions than answers. Does the wrapping act represent an obsessive attempt to preserve past values or do the passive plastic sheeting predispose this place for future expansion? In between the aesthetics of the ruins and the construction process, the present epoch of emptiness emerges. Stuck in the hibernation state, only the occasional organic turmoil makes the possibility of change.
Fragment 2B is best compared to the Zone created by the Strugatsky brothers and Andrei Tarkovsky, to the Paul Noble’s tyrannical Nobson Newtown or to the Pavel Makov’s existentialist graphics.
The moving image examines vertical plane of the construction, layers of concrete pillars and beams, their exposed corroded reinforcements and almost religious wrapping of the structure into fabrics. Those factors support temporal ambivalence of this environment as a reminder of material temporality. There are more questions than answers. Does the wrapping act represent an obsessive attempt to preserve past values or do the passive plastic sheeting predispose this place for future expansion? In between the aesthetics of the ruins and the construction process, the present epoch of emptiness emerges. Stuck in the hibernation state, only the occasional organic turmoil makes the possibility of change.
(We Stand By Culture)
post-clown performance, video, 30 min.
31.10.2019 - Mobilis Festival, Liptovský Mikuláš, SK
The project "We Stand by Culture" takes its name from the currently known student activist initiative and the wider artistic and cultural community from Slovakia, which strives for a more competent, transparent and fair functioning of the culture sector. Our one-time event takes place in a small cultural center in Liptovsky Mikulas, where a festival took place in the autumn of 2019, inviting artists and debators to perform on the theme of Manifesto.
Our performance was announced for a specific hour at this center which is associated with a small café and an independent bookstore. Instead of performing on stage, our performance took place a few meters elsewhere in the same space but behind the café's counter. With the organizers of the event, we agreed that during this hour it would not be possible to sell anything, because the performer would be standing on the spot and not be disturbed. Above the dispensing window, there was a sticker "Stojíme pri kultúre (we stand by culture)" on the frame - an original sticker of the mentioned initiative, which often occurs glued in various places, which someone had pasted there before.
Tereza (post-clown performer) stood behind this window instead of the bartender. This symbolic gesture stopped the sale of any cultural product, coffee or beer there. Visitors ordered before the start of the performance could not leave during this hour because they had not paid, so they had to stay. Those who came to the show went straight to the other room and waited for something to happen on stage. They waited, started discussing common things, asked organizers when it would start, but they were not allowed to say anything. Occasionally someone went to the bar to order but it was not possible. So people were sitting still and watching the stage most of the time. The performance was two meters away from them behind their back. After the time had passed, another cultural program began and the normal operation of the café could continue as if nothing had happened.
31.10.2019 - Mobilis Festival, Liptovský Mikuláš, SK
The project "We Stand by Culture" takes its name from the currently known student activist initiative and the wider artistic and cultural community from Slovakia, which strives for a more competent, transparent and fair functioning of the culture sector. Our one-time event takes place in a small cultural center in Liptovsky Mikulas, where a festival took place in the autumn of 2019, inviting artists and debators to perform on the theme of Manifesto.
Our performance was announced for a specific hour at this center which is associated with a small café and an independent bookstore. Instead of performing on stage, our performance took place a few meters elsewhere in the same space but behind the café's counter. With the organizers of the event, we agreed that during this hour it would not be possible to sell anything, because the performer would be standing on the spot and not be disturbed. Above the dispensing window, there was a sticker "Stojíme pri kultúre (we stand by culture)" on the frame - an original sticker of the mentioned initiative, which often occurs glued in various places, which someone had pasted there before.
Tereza (post-clown performer) stood behind this window instead of the bartender. This symbolic gesture stopped the sale of any cultural product, coffee or beer there. Visitors ordered before the start of the performance could not leave during this hour because they had not paid, so they had to stay. Those who came to the show went straight to the other room and waited for something to happen on stage. They waited, started discussing common things, asked organizers when it would start, but they were not allowed to say anything. Occasionally someone went to the bar to order but it was not possible. So people were sitting still and watching the stage most of the time. The performance was two meters away from them behind their back. After the time had passed, another cultural program began and the normal operation of the café could continue as if nothing had happened.
Continuum
post-clown performance, video loop, installation, found juggling cone, blue benches 9.6.2019, carbon mine,
Carbonarium International Performance Art Festival, Kyiv, Ukraine
The “Continuum” performance took place as in situ intervention in a former coal mine in Kyiv within the Carbonarium festival’s main programme. We shot a video of a coal mine tunnel (where the performance was later held) and a post-clown actress who is leaving the bench and disappears in the darkness of the tunnel (in the space which we covered later by a projection screen) and coming back from the darkness to sit back on the bench. This movement was screened as a video loop and during the performance, the post-clown actress was sitting in front of the screen on one of the benches together with the audience. The audience was situated in an environment where the real merged with the virtual - the projection was a continuation of the real environment, which was displayed in the video. The performance lasted until the last spectator left.
Carbonarium International Performance Art Festival, Kyiv, Ukraine
The “Continuum” performance took place as in situ intervention in a former coal mine in Kyiv within the Carbonarium festival’s main programme. We shot a video of a coal mine tunnel (where the performance was later held) and a post-clown actress who is leaving the bench and disappears in the darkness of the tunnel (in the space which we covered later by a projection screen) and coming back from the darkness to sit back on the bench. This movement was screened as a video loop and during the performance, the post-clown actress was sitting in front of the screen on one of the benches together with the audience. The audience was situated in an environment where the real merged with the virtual - the projection was a continuation of the real environment, which was displayed in the video. The performance lasted until the last spectator left.
Continuum (performance)
post-clown performance, video loop, installation, found juggling cone, blue benches 9.6.2019, carbon mine,
Carbonarium International Performance Art Festival, Kyiv, Ukraine
The “Continuum” performance took place as in situ intervention in a former coal mine in Kyiv within the Carbonarium festival’s main programme. We shot a video of a coal mine tunnel (where the performance was later held) and a post-clown actress who is leaving the bench and disappears in the darkness of the tunnel (in the space which we covered later by a projection screen) and coming back from the darkness to sit back on the bench. This movement was screened as a video loop and during the performance, the post-clown actress was sitting in front of the screen on one of the benches together with the audience. The audience was situated in an environment where the real merged with the virtual - the projection was a continuation of the real environment, which was displayed in the video. The performance lasted until the last spectator left.
Carbonarium International Performance Art Festival, Kyiv, Ukraine
The “Continuum” performance took place as in situ intervention in a former coal mine in Kyiv within the Carbonarium festival’s main programme. We shot a video of a coal mine tunnel (where the performance was later held) and a post-clown actress who is leaving the bench and disappears in the darkness of the tunnel (in the space which we covered later by a projection screen) and coming back from the darkness to sit back on the bench. This movement was screened as a video loop and during the performance, the post-clown actress was sitting in front of the screen on one of the benches together with the audience. The audience was situated in an environment where the real merged with the virtual - the projection was a continuation of the real environment, which was displayed in the video. The performance lasted until the last spectator left.
On the Horizon Was a Ship, Sailboat
Video, performance (behind the camera/hand-held camera), sound, 53′
May 2019 - during Artist in Residence stay on St. Anastasia Island, Czech Centre Sofia, Bulgaria
May 2019 - during Artist in Residence stay on St. Anastasia Island, Czech Centre Sofia, Bulgaria
Apple 1984
3D render, 16:25 min., two-channel installation
2017
"28.9. 1984
Father, I’ve collected all the apples again, brought them downstairs and sorted them through. Rotten ones throw into the trash. Give to someone those which are fine. They can make a pie or a compote, those apples are great for that. I had no more time to gather the ones from beneath the tree, which only grows small apples, so do it. Otherwise, you’ll spread all sorts of bacteria all over the garden and that would be a pity. Anyway, thank you for the apples.
Best regards,
Jarmila"
2017
"28.9. 1984
Father, I’ve collected all the apples again, brought them downstairs and sorted them through. Rotten ones throw into the trash. Give to someone those which are fine. They can make a pie or a compote, those apples are great for that. I had no more time to gather the ones from beneath the tree, which only grows small apples, so do it. Otherwise, you’ll spread all sorts of bacteria all over the garden and that would be a pity. Anyway, thank you for the apples.
Best regards,
Jarmila"