Playing has always been a natural human activity. It is closely linked to freedom, spontaneity and thinking. Through play we experience, learn to understand new things, acquire knowledge or find new ways and solutions to explore and think not only about the world around us, but also about ourselves.
In an educational and presentational exhibition entitled How to See Art… 4 we are invited to play the game itself by five contemporary visual artists, some of them awarded the prestigious Oskár Čepan Prize. Most of the presented authorial concepts of individual artists fall into the field of participatory art, in which the visitor steps out of the role of a spectator and becomes a participant, a direct co-creator. In this mutual “dialogue” between the actor and the work itself, it is at the same time about the processes of perceiving, experiencing, but also the ability to embrace, accept and be part of something.
In her interactive installation Discrete Zone, graphic artist and designer Eva Čarnoká (1976) creates an imaginary protective space, even an intimate zone for pausing, deepening, personal meditation, but also for confiding, confessing or leaving a note to a close person.
In the procedural installation Listen to us, be here with us, come back to us again and again…, multimedia artist Simona Gottierová (1991) works with our level of perceptual sensitivity, patience, touch and the ability to accept matter in its elemental essence.
Spontaneous, intuitive movement in the urban environment of Banská Bystrica and its surroundings, connected with the exploration of public space from the perspective of an unbiased child viewer, is recorded by the artist Daniela Krajčová (1983) in her work Embroidered veduta. We have the opportunity to creatively enter into it and mark our own trajectory of movement around our city in the form of embroidery, which is also close to local folk tradition.
Through the authorial project For a Moment by sculptor and multimedia artist Jaroslav Kyša (1981), we are drawn into a generous gallery space for a change. There we can play with the composition of sculptural plinths, place them in different ways and arrange our own objects on them, or work with our bodies and stage live sculptures.
The last of the exhibiting artists, Erik Sikora (1986), encourages us to observe and co-create an extraordinary environment with spaghetti, located in a specific dome-shaped building in the courtyard of the gallery, in an unusual way and with his own humour in his Landscape Under the Lid.
In the presented visually and thematically diverse installations of the exhibiting artists, we are consciously drawn into a creative and thought process in which interaction, the intensity of the lived moment, and direct touch play an important role, which is increasingly absent in today’s technicalized times. And galleries, as strategic platforms in the field of art education, are becoming more and more “living organisms”, where an authentic experience is mediated through personal contact with works of art.
The exhibition How to See Art… 4 is a continuation of a series of so-called educational exhibitions realized by the department of gallery pedagogy of the art history department of the Central Slovak Gallery, which in previous years have won several White Cube Awards by the Galleries Council of the Slovak Republic.
During the exhibition, which will last until March 5th, 2023, we plan to organise various accompanying events in the form of guided tours, thematic lectures and author workshops.
Martina Martincová
Examples of activities prepared for the visitor to the exhibition How to see art… 4:
“choose your spaghetti representative, enter the spaghetti landscape and place it in any location… after a time, return and observe how it has adapted to its environment… how your personal spaghetti has gone wild”
“write a letter, send a text, a photo or an email to a loved one you haven’t made time for yet”
“take us in the palm of your hand… pour water over us… listen”
“draw a route with a pencil on a fabric linocut print to places you’d like to be… stitch it with coloured cotton”
“create your own composition out of plinths, install your own objects on them like a coat or a shoe…”
“be a hero for a moment”
The exhibition and accompanying activities were supported from public resources by Slovak Arts Council and Banská Bystrica Self-Governing Region.
Playing has always been a natural human activity. It is closely linked to freedom, spontaneity and thinking. Through play we experience, learn to understand new things, acquire knowledge or find new ways and solutions to explore and think not only about the world around us, but also about ourselves.
In an educational and presentational exhibition entitled How to See Art… 4 we are invited to play the game itself by five contemporary visual artists, some of them awarded the prestigious Oskár Čepan Prize. Most of the presented authorial concepts of individual artists fall into the field of participatory art, in which the visitor steps out of the role of a spectator and becomes a participant, a direct co-creator. In this mutual “dialogue” between the actor and the work itself, it is at the same time about the processes of perceiving, experiencing, but also the ability to embrace, accept and be part of something.
In her interactive installation Discrete Zone, graphic artist and designer Eva Čarnoká (1976) creates an imaginary protective space, even an intimate zone for pausing, deepening, personal meditation, but also for confiding, confessing or leaving a note to a close person.
In the procedural installation Listen to us, be here with us, come back to us again and again, multimedia artist Simona Gottierová (1991) works with our level of perceptual sensitivity, patience, touch and the ability to accept matter in its elemental essence.
Spontaneous, intuitive movement in the urban environment of Banská Bystrica and its surroundings, connected with the exploration of public space from the perspective of an unbiased child viewer, is recorded by the artist Daniela Krajčová (1983) in her work Embroidered veduta. We have the opportunity to creatively enter into it and mark our own trajectory of movement around our city in the form of embroidery, which is also close to local folk tradition.
Through the authorial project For a Moment by sculptor and multimedia artist Jaroslav Kyša (1981), we are drawn into a generous gallery space for a change. There we can play with the composition of sculptural plinths, place them in different ways and arrange our own objects on them, or work with our bodies and stage live sculptures.
The last of the exhibiting artists, Erik Sikora (1986), encourages us to observe and co-create an extraordinary environment with spaghetti, located in a specific dome-shaped building in the courtyard of the gallery, in an unusual way and with his own humour in his Landscape Under the Lid.
In the presented visually and thematically diverse installations of the exhibiting artists, we are consciously drawn into a creative and thought process in which interaction, the intensity of the lived moment, and direct touch play an important role, which is increasingly absent in today’s technicalized times. And galleries, as strategic platforms in the field of art education, are becoming more and more “living organisms”, where an authentic experience is mediated through personal contact with works of art.
The exhibition How to See Art… 4 is a continuation of a series of so-called educational exhibitions realized by the department of gallery pedagogy of the art history department of the Central Slovak Gallery, which in previous years have won several White Cube Awards by the Galleries Council of the Slovak Republic.
During the exhibition, which will last until March 5th, 2023, we plan to organise various accompanying events in the form of guided tours, thematic lectures and author workshops.
Martina Martincová
Examples of activities prepared for the visitor to the exhibition How to see art… 4:
“choose your spaghetti representative, enter the spaghetti landscape and place it in any location… after a time, return and observe how it has adapted to its environment… how your personal spaghetti has gone wild”
“write a letter, send a text, a photo or an email to a loved one you haven’t made time for yet”
“take us in the palm of your hand… pour water over us… listen”
“draw a route with a pencil on a fabric linocut print to places you’d like to be… stitch it with coloured cotton”
“create your own composition out of plinths, install your own objects on them like a coat or a shoe…”
“be a hero for a moment”
/////////
Title of the exhibition: How to See Art… 4
Invited authors: Eva Čarnoká, Simona Gottierová, Daniela Krajčová, Jaroslav Kyša, Erik Sikora
Venue: Bethlen’s House (courtyard, 1st floor), Dolná 8, Banská Bystrica
Duration: October 7th, 2022 – March 5th, 2023
Opening: October 6th, 2022 at 5 p.m. (Thursday)
Project concept and exhibition curator: Martina Martincová
Professional cooperation: Michal Patarák, Renáta Pondelíková
Graphic design: Patrik Ševčík
Photo: Lukáš Roharik
The exhibition and accompanying activities were supported from public resources by Slovak Arts Council and Banská Bystrica Self-Governing Region.
