Jiří Kovanda
Anti-Heroism And Resistance
30 Jun - 23 Oct 2016
Left: ©Jiří Kovanda
Lenin, mixed media, 30×24 cm,
courtesy: Adam Gallery Collection
Right: ©Jiří Kovanda
Untitled (Kalashnikov), mixed media, 28×38 cm,
courtesy: Adam Gallery Collection
Lenin, mixed media, 30×24 cm,
courtesy: Adam Gallery Collection
Right: ©Jiří Kovanda
Untitled (Kalashnikov), mixed media, 28×38 cm,
courtesy: Adam Gallery Collection
JIŘÍ KOVANDA
Anti-Heroism And Resistance
30 June – 23 October 2016
Curator: Călin Dan
The National Museum of Contemporary Art continues its strategy of promoting the experimental art produced in the former Communist block with a solo show of Jiří Kovanda. Prepared and launched in collaboration with the Czech Cultural Centre from Bucharest, the event is staging the first ever overview of this landmark artist in Romania, comprising a site specific installation and pieces from private Czech collections.
Jiří Kovanda’s work is important for the audience of MNAC and for the art community from Romania in general, due to the consistency of his anti-system attitude – in relation to art, to society and to politics all the same. While such radical approach could look eccentric in the context of the local cultural production, one has to remember kindred spirits such as Ion Grigorescu, Florin Maxa, Onucsan Miklos, who were all following, in (almost) strict contemporaneity, the same narrow and risky path.
Kovanda is an artist interested more in stimulating meditation than in producing art. His discourse is predominantly oriented towards the problematic relation of the society with the public space, understood in its physical, political, and psychological dimensions. The retrospective look at Kovanda’s oeuvre helps the understanding of the minimal intervention he makes in the gigantic spaces of the Museum, a masterpiece of absence, heavy with historical meaning.
Călin Dan
Anti-Heroism And Resistance
30 June – 23 October 2016
Curator: Călin Dan
The National Museum of Contemporary Art continues its strategy of promoting the experimental art produced in the former Communist block with a solo show of Jiří Kovanda. Prepared and launched in collaboration with the Czech Cultural Centre from Bucharest, the event is staging the first ever overview of this landmark artist in Romania, comprising a site specific installation and pieces from private Czech collections.
Jiří Kovanda’s work is important for the audience of MNAC and for the art community from Romania in general, due to the consistency of his anti-system attitude – in relation to art, to society and to politics all the same. While such radical approach could look eccentric in the context of the local cultural production, one has to remember kindred spirits such as Ion Grigorescu, Florin Maxa, Onucsan Miklos, who were all following, in (almost) strict contemporaneity, the same narrow and risky path.
Kovanda is an artist interested more in stimulating meditation than in producing art. His discourse is predominantly oriented towards the problematic relation of the society with the public space, understood in its physical, political, and psychological dimensions. The retrospective look at Kovanda’s oeuvre helps the understanding of the minimal intervention he makes in the gigantic spaces of the Museum, a masterpiece of absence, heavy with historical meaning.
Călin Dan