Kontakt Kutná Hora (2010)
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KONTAKT …works from the Collection of Erste Group
8 May–29 August 2010
GASK / Central Bohemian Gallery, Jesuit College, Kutná Hora
With the presentation of works from Kontakt at the inauguration of the new art space GASK on the premises of a former Jesuit college in Kutná Hora, a major body of works from the collection was presented for the third time as an overall thematic survey. The exhibition in Kutná Hora marked another opportunity to present a large number of artists and works from different countries, as well as to present the different themes addressed by the collection. The exhibition was curated by Jana Ševčíková and Jiří Ševčík, who have made an essential contribution to the reevaluation of pre- and post-1989 Czech art history. With the presentation of Kontakt in Kutná Hora, the collection’s name also returned to its linguistic roots: the name Kontakt was originally derived from works by Július Koller and Jiří Kovanda, both of whom used the term Kontakt in their works of the 1970s in order to hint at the interrupted communication between art and the public as well as between the Communist Bloc and the Western world. The historically oriented section of the collection also played an important role in the exhibition in Kutná Hora, starting at a point in contemporary art history at which decisive political, actionist, performative, feminist and gender-related movements entered the realm of art, a fact which has strongly fostered the perception of these issues in the public space ever since. On a conceptual-formalist level, many artworks of the time were attempts to formulate reactions to the development of modernism and its status within the art discourse of the socialist countries. The younger generation of artists in the exhibition also dealt with structures that radically define space, with the conditions of current identity formations resulting from the dissolution of countries like the former Czechoslovakia or former Yugoslavia, and with the transformation processes entailed by a Europe that is defined by the standards of the European Union. Hence, the collection’s presentation in Kutná Hora showed countries’ willingness to open up new spaces for art and to present contemporary artistic practices that do not always enjoy easy access to institutional frameworks.
GASK / Galerie Stredoceského kraje, Jezuitská kolej
Barborská 53/24
Kutná Hora 284 01
Czech Republic
8 May–29 August 2010
GASK / Central Bohemian Gallery, Jesuit College, Kutná Hora
With the presentation of works from Kontakt at the inauguration of the new art space GASK on the premises of a former Jesuit college in Kutná Hora, a major body of works from the collection was presented for the third time as an overall thematic survey. The exhibition in Kutná Hora marked another opportunity to present a large number of artists and works from different countries, as well as to present the different themes addressed by the collection. The exhibition was curated by Jana Ševčíková and Jiří Ševčík, who have made an essential contribution to the reevaluation of pre- and post-1989 Czech art history. With the presentation of Kontakt in Kutná Hora, the collection’s name also returned to its linguistic roots: the name Kontakt was originally derived from works by Július Koller and Jiří Kovanda, both of whom used the term Kontakt in their works of the 1970s in order to hint at the interrupted communication between art and the public as well as between the Communist Bloc and the Western world. The historically oriented section of the collection also played an important role in the exhibition in Kutná Hora, starting at a point in contemporary art history at which decisive political, actionist, performative, feminist and gender-related movements entered the realm of art, a fact which has strongly fostered the perception of these issues in the public space ever since. On a conceptual-formalist level, many artworks of the time were attempts to formulate reactions to the development of modernism and its status within the art discourse of the socialist countries. The younger generation of artists in the exhibition also dealt with structures that radically define space, with the conditions of current identity formations resulting from the dissolution of countries like the former Czechoslovakia or former Yugoslavia, and with the transformation processes entailed by a Europe that is defined by the standards of the European Union. Hence, the collection’s presentation in Kutná Hora showed countries’ willingness to open up new spaces for art and to present contemporary artistic practices that do not always enjoy easy access to institutional frameworks.
GASK / Galerie Stredoceského kraje, Jezuitská kolej
Barborská 53/24
Kutná Hora 284 01
Czech Republic