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[vc_row content_text_aligment="" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no"][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text="8/6 - 8/9 2024" font_container="tag:h3|text_align:left" use_theme_fonts="yes"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row content_text_aligment="" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no"][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text="From Lines to Matter / Vojtěch Kovařík" use_theme_fonts="yes"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row content_text_aligment="" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no"][vc_column][vc_column_text]If our destinies are predetermined, what place does that leave for free will? For luck? For chance? Vojtěch Kovařík confronts the issue in his paintings – and with the current exhibition at Museum Kampa, he steps into the third dimension: the smooth surface of his paintings are accompanied by reliefs and sculptures, with the artist’s path leading from lines that divide the canvas to sculptural works. The themes in this exhibition are universal, touching on the very foundations of Euro-American civilization. Even today in the third millennium, ancient myths, gods and goddesses, Titans, heroes and heroines are all still relevant, their robust forms exceeding the monumental format of the paintings. We may see them as archetypes, whose stories and actions have served since time immemorial to mark the limits and possibilities of our own passage through life and search for meaning. These oversized heroes are megalopsychoi, the great-souled men, the first individualities. Perhaps that is why we may only catch a glimpse of them through the window frame of the canvas, not in their entirety. Sisyphus sinks under the weight of his actions. The parting lovers Eros and Psyche suffer the burden of predestination. The labours of Heracles speak to the fulfilment of destiny, the first of these being to train the Nemean lion. Just as Zeus’s son made himself invulnerable wrapped in his lion skin, so too does the painter face more and more challenges that seem impossible to overcome. The reduced setting of the paintings consists of a stylized interior and Mediterranean landscape, fertile and arid, dusk or dawn, inlets, deserts, and oases. The artist’s approach is authentic: a unique syncresis of the influences of antiquity, modernity, and the digital present.

[vc_row content_text_aligment="" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no"][vc_column][vc_raw_html]JTVCem9icmF6X2RhdHVtX2tvbmFuaSU1RA==[/vc_raw_html][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row content_text_aligment="" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no"][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text="Jiří SOZANSKÝ – August 1968 / 1969" use_theme_fonts="yes"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row content_text_aligment="" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no"][vc_column][vc_column_text]In his work, Jiří Sozanský (*1946) has long thematised traumatic moments of Czech history from the times of Nazi and Communist totalitarianism. In his sculpture August 1968/1969, he focuses on the breaking point brought upon the society by the invasion of the Warsaw Pact troops in August 1968 and the onset of the so-called ‘normalisation’ in the following year.   The cultural and political thaw of 1968 was understood by many as a breath of freedom after twenty years of rigid totalitarianism. This revival process was destroyed by the invasion of the occupation forces of the Soviet Union, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and East Germany on the night of 20 August. In the sculpture, the year 1968 is represented by an erected obelisk, into which a giant wedge is diagonally embedded, like a knife wound or a lightning strike.   The year 1969 is depicted as an obelisk or a crossbar broken in half. While the August invasion was an intervention from the outside, the tragedy of 1969 consisted in the acceptance of the occupation by the political representation of the state and a large part of its citizens and in the repressive crackdown on those who wanted to express their civil dissent. The August 1969 crackdown was not carried out by the occupation troops but by the domestic security, paramilitary and military forces.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text] Historical context — The Legacy of the Two August Anniversaries[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row content_text_aligment="" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no"][vc_column][vc_raw_html]JTVCem9icmF6X2RhdHVtX2tvbmFuaSU1RA==[/vc_raw_html][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row content_text_aligment="" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no"][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text="Identity - the story of Czech graphic design" use_theme_fonts="yes"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row content_text_aligment="" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no"][vc_column][vc_column_text] The exhibition on all three floors of Museum Kampa shows the best of the history of Czech graphic design, i.e. works in which aesthetic quality, good technical realisation, craftsmanship and functionality go hand in hand. Visitors may see several hundred exhibits from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day: iconic posters, exquisitely designed books and magazines, dozens of logotypes, the development of state symbols and navigation systems, as well as exceptional examples of graphic design from the era of audiovisual media. The exhibition, curated by Filip Blažek, Linda Kudrnovská and David Korecký, is the part of the multi-genre project Identity – the story of Czech graphic design (www.projektidentita.cz), which includes a TV series broadcast in January and February 2024 on Czech Television, a forthcoming feature film on graphic design, which will be released in Czech cinemas on 10 October, and a book of the same name, which was published to accompany the exhibition and is also a monograph on graphic design.  The exhibition is divided into three floors thematically focused on public space, shared experiences and the private world. Iconic works will be highlighted through special labels with arrows to ensure that no visitor misses key exhibits. In accompanying texts, visitors may learn about the broader cultural, historical and political context of the exhibited artefacts, i.e. how graphic design influences society and vice versa. The exhibition is a joint project of the Kampa Museum, Typo and Mowshe. The graphic design is by Marvil studio, the architecture is by Adam Blažek, Jan Kloss and Matěj Činčera.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row content_text_aligment="" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no"][vc_column][vc_raw_html]JTVCem9icmF6X2RhdHVtX2tvbmFuaSU1RA==[/vc_raw_html][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row content_text_aligment="" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no"][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text="Ludmila Seefried Matějková / Before the Door" use_theme_fonts="yes"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row content_text_aligment="" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no"][vc_column][vc_column_text]Ludmila Seefried Matějková (*1938) developed her artistic course for most of her life outside her homeland, specifically in West German Berlin, where she moved in 1967. She returned to the Czech Republic in 2015. Her sculptural and drawing work reflects the horrors of war, the monstrosities of the Stalinist 1950s and the hardships of life in exile. Motifs of direct violence and pain are accompanied by deep insights into the human soul with its silent dramas, such as uprooting, loss of self-esteem, self-torture, apathy, or, on the contrary, questioning, self-awareness and contemplation. The exhibition in Museum Kampa will present a selection of Matějková's work, ranging from early polyester sculptures (Scream, Hanna, Before the Door) to several works in baked clay (The Beggar, Nab, Strangulation). The exhibition will be accompanied by a diary publication with Matějková's memories of her time behind and before the Iron Curtain.  Here, the author uses authentic language to describe the political and social context of the time and its influence on the formation of her artistic language. In the same colourful way, she presents her work of her public space projects in Berlin and in a trio of literary short stories she explains the creation of the sculptures (Hanna, The Beggar, Nab) which will be on display.   Partner of the exhibition:[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row content_text_aligment="" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no"][vc_column][vc_single_image image="8416" img_size="full" onclick="custom_link" link="http://www.lkpumpservice.cz/"][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row content_text_aligment="" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no"][vc_column][vc_raw_html]JTVCem9icmF6X2RhdHVtX2tvbmFuaSU1RA==[/vc_raw_html][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row content_text_aligment="" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no"][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text="Vladimír Houdek: Set of All Movements" use_theme_fonts="yes"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row content_text_aligment="" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no"][vc_column][vc_column_text]Vladimír Houdek Set of All Movements   It is not difficult to imagine moving from one point to another, from point A to point B. Indeed, the number of points in the universe far exceeds the number of letters in the alphabet, in any alphabet, whether we see them or only assume they are there. How much movement takes place without us being aware of it, without us being able to keep track? What exactly falls within the set of all movements? People move across cities, regions, and continents. They criss-cross the planet. Stars and planets orbit vast galaxies. Molecules vibrate within matter. We study the regularity and deviation of movement between and around points, describing ellipses and ecliptics, the fluctuations of Brownian motion. In order to comprehend all these changes, we create schemata and diagrams, systems of rules. The world is one boundless continuous change, a ceaseless movement. Our ideas about the future have been shaped by modernity and its various utopian schemes. We go back to the crossroads to gaze upon the systems and hypotheses of the past. Among its expansions and centrifugal forces, we search for a centre. Vladimír Houdek’s work revolves around the artificialism of Štyrský and Toyen, the black paintings of Suprematism, Kandinsky’s alchemy and reflections on the spiritual in art. Houdek consistently draws on such materials as books and maps – the guides that lead us through an unknown world. Houdek’s process goes through many stages as he works and reworks layers of acrylic paint, adding, drying, cutting, removing. Alongside these paintings, he also works in gouache and collage. To the glowing alabaster and black expanses of his earlier canvases come the colours of the spectrum, particularly yellow. The titles of his series and exhibitions convey

[vc_row content_text_aligment="" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no"][vc_column][vc_raw_html]JTVCem9icmF6X2RhdHVtX2tvbmFuaSU1RA==[/vc_raw_html][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row content_text_aligment="" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no"][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text="Zdenka RUSOVÁ: Between the mysterious and the obvious" use_theme_fonts="yes"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row content_text_aligment="" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no"][vc_column][vc_column_text]Zdenka Rusová is a graphic artist, sketch artist, teacher, the first female professor of graphic art in Norway and first female rector of an art school in all of Scandinavia. Working in ink and pen drawing, as well as the graphic techniques of drypoint and etching, she has also tried other printing techniques and painting. In Norway, she sparked a great discussion about the possibilities of teaching, which led to the reform of the local art education. She was born in Prague on 21 July 1939. In a number of interviews, Rusová says she was born with Hitler and grew up with Stalin. She graduated from UMPRUM in the studio of Antonín Strnadel, specializing in book illustration. The first important exhibition of Zdenka Rusová’s work was organized by Jaromír Zemina in October 1966 at Galerie mladých. Her first exhibition at the Galerie mladých in 1966 was seen by Ole Henrik Moe, a Norwegian art critic and later director of the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter in Høvikodden, who recommended the artist to obtain her first grant for a stay in Norway. She was enchanted by this northern country, with its rugged landscape and sea on the distant horizon, and in 1970 she returned there to settle permanently. In the interim period, she continued her education at the academy in Stuttgart. In Czechoslovakia, she made paintings of ambivalent female heads with mysterious smiles, and worked on print graphics revolving around circus motifs. In 1967, she created an extensive series of graphic prints featuring female heads in various in profile, some broken and others ‘unlaced’. Following this series, she drew heads without hair, and that appeared rather like lumps growing from the shoulders. In her Norwegian stage, she created abstracted paintings, adding

[vc_row content_text_aligment="" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no"][vc_column][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row content_text_aligment="" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no"][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text="The Goose in Kampa / the Collector Vladimír Železný" use_theme_fonts="yes"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row content_text_aligment="" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no"][vc_column][vc_column_text]The somewhat cryptic title The Goose in Kampa heralds a representative exhibition of Vladimír Železný’s collection, in which visitors will encounter artworks by the most prominent personalities of Czech modern art. Displayed will be works by Jan Zrzavý, Emil Filla, Toyen, Jindřich Štyrský and Jiří (Georges) Kars. The post-war art will be represented by works by Květa Válová, Jan Koblasa, and especially Mikuláš Medek. The collection is curated by the Zlatá Husa Gallery, which celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary this year; thus the title of the exhibition refers to the name of the gallery. The works for the exhibition were personally selected by Vladimír Železný, a key figure in contemporary Czech art collecting. According to his own words, he wants to show the transformation of Czech art during one’s lifetime, from Merging of Souls by Max Švabinský from 1901 to the top informel canvases by Mikuláš Medek from the mid-1960s.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row content_text_aligment="" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no"][vc_column][vc_raw_html]JTVCem9icmF6X2RhdHVtX2tvbmFuaSU1RA==[/vc_raw_html][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row content_text_aligment="" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no"][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text="Preparing for Darkness, Vol. 8" use_theme_fonts="yes"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row content_text_aligment="" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no"][vc_column][vc_column_text]About the exhibition / curator’s statement It’s time for a divorce. A divorce from a type of contemporary art and especially painting that seems suspended in eternal post-modernity; one that, through a marked lack of artistic skill, can’t seem to reference anything but itself. This state of modern art can be experienced as a “pluriverse” of styles, citations, and allusions without a semblance of internal coherence.  With my exhibition series “Preparing for Darkness”, I would like to pose a counter concept. The 8th edition of the series takes place at Museum Kampa and presents 13 artists - mostly painters - who stand as examples of a generation marked by an exceptional intellectual approach to artistic practices. The resulting profound examination of art history, paired with extraordinary artistic skill, can be seen as veritable and imminent, as they each, through their own unique style, offer a real, pictorially comprehensible and perceptible dialogue between past art and their own inscribed emotional world. What unites them is a resurrection of melancholy, which returns to highlight the magical in a viewing experience. In that sense, my chosen metaphor “Preparing for Darkness'' is meant to describe both melancholy and the state of the world. Uwe Goldenstein Artists Nicola Samorì (I), Enrico Minguzzi (I), Flavia Pitis (RO), Radu Belcin (RO), Adela Janska (CZ), Richard Stipl (CZ), Daniel Pitín (CZ), Adam Magyar (H), Attila Szűcs (H), Inna Artemova (D), Adam Bota (A), Liu Langqing (CH) & Rafael Megall (ARM / in collaboration with Demetrio Paparoni) [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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