Hole in the Flow
16 Dec 2010 - 19 Feb 2011
HOLE IN THE FLOW (Dira do behu veci)
Cyril Blazo, Roman Ondak, XYZ (Matej Gavula and Milan Tittel), curated by Lucia Gavulova
Dec 16, 2010 - Feb 19, 2011
hunt kastneris pleased to present Hole in the Flow, an exhibition of work by four Slovak artists – Cyril Blažo (1970), Roman Ondák and the artist group XYZ (Matej Gavula, 1972 & Milan Tittel, 1966). The exhibition, curated by Lucia Gavulová from the Foundation and Center for Contemporary Art in Bratislava, is a part of the "10 days of Slovak Photography in Prague” program of exhibitions organized by the non-profit Bratislava gallery, Photoport.
The exhibition explores the way these four specific artists use the medium of photography, as it is consistently employed in the elaboration of their conceptual work. A specific feature of the exhibition is the definition of the exhibited works in terms of this particular medium and as it relates to the otherwise hybrid nature of their artwork.
The selection of the artists was based not only on the fact that they are of the same generation and share similar approaches, but more importantly on how each of these artists focus on the everyday in their work - staging and documentating fictitious situations, and using art as medium to draw the attention of the viewer to the world of objects, phenomena and situations from everyday life. In the case of Cyril Blažo and the group XYZ, there is also a shared absence of commentary on politics, criticism of collective utopias, or personal mythologies. The only thing that matters is the artefact itself, or „kousek, jenž si vyrobíš“ (the piece you make on your own). Cyril Blažo and the group XYZ have already exhibited several times together – in 2008 at the exhibition BCXYZ at the gallery Bastart in Bratislava, and more recently, this past autumn, at the exhibition entitled Fatigue Duty at the Kulturpark Kasarne in Košice. Roman Ondák is also close to this trio of mentioned artists. He and the group XYZ cooperated on the exhibition White Trace XYZ in March 2009 in Banska Bystrica, where reciprocal symphathies and a common dialog resonated in an interview conducted by the exhibition curators, Lucia Gavulová and Daniel Grúň, who adopted the roles and personalities of the XYZ members, and where Roman Ondák became an imaginary participant of the exhibition.
The exhibition at hunt kastner, Hole in the Flow, arose from an impulse to present only one level of the artists‘ work, defined by the medium of photography, and to show the various ways each artist use this medium . Blažo shoots images and presents them as „ready-made“ artefacts, with no post-production manipulation, or he completes them with only minimal input, such as drawing. For Roman Ondák, photography is mostly an instrument of documentation, a tool. XYZ treats photography as a medium in the most „speculative“ way. In their case photography operates as material which they consistently rework.
10 days of Slovak Photography
prepared by Lucia Gavulová, Iva Sýkorová and Filip Vančo.
Slovensky inštitút - 10.12 - 11.1.2011
hunt kastner – 16.12 – 19.2.2011
Galerie VŠUP – 17.12 – 15.1. 2011
Galerie 35m2 – 14.1 – 30.1.2011
Cyril Blazo, Roman Ondak, XYZ (Matej Gavula and Milan Tittel), curated by Lucia Gavulova
Dec 16, 2010 - Feb 19, 2011
hunt kastneris pleased to present Hole in the Flow, an exhibition of work by four Slovak artists – Cyril Blažo (1970), Roman Ondák and the artist group XYZ (Matej Gavula, 1972 & Milan Tittel, 1966). The exhibition, curated by Lucia Gavulová from the Foundation and Center for Contemporary Art in Bratislava, is a part of the "10 days of Slovak Photography in Prague” program of exhibitions organized by the non-profit Bratislava gallery, Photoport.
The exhibition explores the way these four specific artists use the medium of photography, as it is consistently employed in the elaboration of their conceptual work. A specific feature of the exhibition is the definition of the exhibited works in terms of this particular medium and as it relates to the otherwise hybrid nature of their artwork.
The selection of the artists was based not only on the fact that they are of the same generation and share similar approaches, but more importantly on how each of these artists focus on the everyday in their work - staging and documentating fictitious situations, and using art as medium to draw the attention of the viewer to the world of objects, phenomena and situations from everyday life. In the case of Cyril Blažo and the group XYZ, there is also a shared absence of commentary on politics, criticism of collective utopias, or personal mythologies. The only thing that matters is the artefact itself, or „kousek, jenž si vyrobíš“ (the piece you make on your own). Cyril Blažo and the group XYZ have already exhibited several times together – in 2008 at the exhibition BCXYZ at the gallery Bastart in Bratislava, and more recently, this past autumn, at the exhibition entitled Fatigue Duty at the Kulturpark Kasarne in Košice. Roman Ondák is also close to this trio of mentioned artists. He and the group XYZ cooperated on the exhibition White Trace XYZ in March 2009 in Banska Bystrica, where reciprocal symphathies and a common dialog resonated in an interview conducted by the exhibition curators, Lucia Gavulová and Daniel Grúň, who adopted the roles and personalities of the XYZ members, and where Roman Ondák became an imaginary participant of the exhibition.
The exhibition at hunt kastner, Hole in the Flow, arose from an impulse to present only one level of the artists‘ work, defined by the medium of photography, and to show the various ways each artist use this medium . Blažo shoots images and presents them as „ready-made“ artefacts, with no post-production manipulation, or he completes them with only minimal input, such as drawing. For Roman Ondák, photography is mostly an instrument of documentation, a tool. XYZ treats photography as a medium in the most „speculative“ way. In their case photography operates as material which they consistently rework.
10 days of Slovak Photography
prepared by Lucia Gavulová, Iva Sýkorová and Filip Vančo.
Slovensky inštitút - 10.12 - 11.1.2011
hunt kastner – 16.12 – 19.2.2011
Galerie VŠUP – 17.12 – 15.1. 2011
Galerie 35m2 – 14.1 – 30.1.2011