ART WEEK 2018

1) Petr Dub (*1976 Prague, CZ)

16. 6. – 2. 9. 2018  | The Liberec Regional Art Gallery, Masarykova 723/14, Liberec

Open daily except Mondays, 10:00−17:00, Thursdays 10:00−19:00 (free entry on Thursdays). Free entry on Sunday 17. 6. during the commented tour, during other days according to the price list of The Liberec Regional Art Gallery.

Hermann R. is not at home

canvas, wood, key colour, wallpaper, installation, 2018

In his work, Petr Dub systematically explores the possibilities of modern painting. He uses common materials for his works – canvas, colours and wooden “frames”, but he intentionally disturbs their conventional shapes and exhibition limits. In his work, values of high gallery art and its history mix with the world of cheap visual tricks evoking in mainstream spectators – beauty.

For this year’s ARTWEEK, Petr Dub has prepared an intervention in the Regional Art Gallery in Liberec. He follows on from exhibitions that were presented within the project Spaces between paintings at the Art Gallery in Třinec and in Prague Art Gallery NOD in this year´s first half.

The artwork Hermann R. is not at home is dedicated to the question of making a sensory and rational experience. The author feels that in the prepared installation for ARTWEEK it is not about the created complex and controlled experience but about the gaps between information which are captured by the human eye and the interpretation our brain provides. Dub uses abstract monochromatic pictures for this experiment and combines them with the meaning of blue colour used for creating digital tricks and effects. The placement of the artwork in the gallery is not the final solution for the author but is in itself a never-ending variation of the spectator’s perception. The Hermann R. mentioned in the name of the artwork is no other but the inventor of the well-known Rorschach test, used in psychology to evaluate human personality.

2) Ching Chuan Hu (*1990 Taipei, TWN)

16. 6. – 22. 6. 2018, 13:00  18:00 | nám. Dr. E. Beneše 2/10, Liberec

free entry

Uncanny field

video, 5:29 min, 2017–2018

Rhythmic loop

video, 2:17 min, 2016

This Taiwanese artist, who focuses on new media, presents two videos in Liberec, Uncanny field and Rhythmic loop. In her artwork, the artist accentuates the diversity between lies and the truth, between technology and humanity. Hu mixes screenings of a virtual digital world with real situations. The video loop Uncanny field (2017-2018) refers to the digital era of communication, where time zone differences are fading, where dozens and hundreds of kilometres and more characteristics are transformed by software or virtual avatars. The video Uncanny field is not exclusively an adoration or criticism of the situation nowadays. It is more like a reminder of boundaries between reality and fiction. Hu works with the concept of “reproduction of the new reality”, which she evolves through her artworks.

Co-curator of the installation: Veronika Zajačíková

3) Aleš Novák (*1979 Chomutov, CZ)

16. 6. – 22. 6. 2018, 13:00 – 18:00 | nám. Dr. E. Beneše 2/10, Liberec

free entry

from the cycle of Inconstancy of the Heart and of God as the last goal

mixed media, 2018

Aleš Novák´s artworks are specifically divided between his art and architectural experience. Novák graduated from the Faculty of Art and Architecture in Liberec followed by studies at the Academy of Arts, Architecture & Design in Prague. He finished an internship at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and at Israeli Bezalel in Jerusalem. During the modern art festival in Liberec, the artist will present part of his creations that seemingly balance on the border between architectonic visions and sculptural approach. The artist’s objects stretch the spectator’s imagination as much as possible. The distance of the known and the abstract reconnects in an outcome of a specific visual experience.

4) Anastasiia Polishchuk (*1995 Kyjev, UKR)

16. 6. – 22. 6. 2018, 13:00  18:00 | OC Forum Liberec, 1st floor, (next to the Sportisimo) nám. Soukenné 669/2a, Liberec

free entry

Duchamp´s hell

mixed media, site-specific installation, 2018

Anastasiia Polishchuk presents her cycle of objects named Duchamp´s hell, which follows up on famous conceptual artist Marcel Duchamp (1887 – 1968). The concept ready mades, of daily used objects transferred into new art correlations, affected the art history of the 20th century. Polishchuk, in the context of manipulation and new visual and ideological links, connects various objects – old, new, beautiful, ugly… She balances at the edge between the obvious and absurd. Some of the objects are put into tender compositions while others are left to excel on their own. The artist uses performative moments, when she herself becomes a part of the installation and composition. Anastasiia Polishchuk is a student of architecture at the Faculty of Art and Architecture at the Technical University of Liberec.

5) Jaroslav Prokeš (*1977 Frýdlant, CZ)

16. 6. – 22. 6. 2018, 00:00  24:00 | Revoluční 66/2, Liberec

free entry

With regards to interpretation

mixed media, site-specific installation, 2018

Jaroslav Prokeš´s installation With regards to interpretation subjects the shop window, the border and controversial territory of the private and the general to the insight of the artist. The primary function of the shop window – to share, inform and lure passers-by, is fully preserved and yet at the same time denied. in the visually unforgettable projection on the shop window glass, is a tremulous, black & white structure rising from a “grain” known from old TVs. With reference to the realization of the artwork Situation 0 the work unfolds the possibilities of the “screening” – connecting analogue noise with reality/situations. The possibilities of the “shop window” to get in touch without any ambition towards trends, to inform, to lure to buy…

Jaroslav Prokeš graduated from the Academy of Arts, Architecture & Design in Prague and now works at the Department of Fine Arts FUA TUL.

6) Rafani (*2000 Prague, CZ)

16. 6. – 20. 6. 2018 | Cinema Varšava

Frýdlantská 285, Liberec 1
16. 6., 14:00, 15:00, 16:00, 17:00, 18:00
18. 6. − 20. 6., 14:00, 15:00, 17:00, 18:00
free entry
16. 6., 17:30 commented tour with “Rafani” art company

Teaser

HD video, 00:06:06, 2016

Balance of New

HD video, 00:18:00, 2016

The art company Rafani has existed on the Czech art scene since 2000. Since then many artists and theoretic personnel have come through it. Current members are Zuzana Blochová, David Kořínek, Jiří Franta, Marek Meduna and Luděk Rathouský.

The group Rafani is famous for its social and political approach to art. We can include two videos screened in the Cinema Vařsava in this category – Teaser (2016) and Balance of New (2016), which critically comment on the current situation. By appropriating popular formats of music video and TV news, the videos are drawn to dominant visual and communicative media strategies. Dynamically, with a song on their lips, throughout contexts and meanings.