13.10.2014 Milena Dopitová

Milena Dopitová

I Love and Accept

3rd of September - 30th of November 2014

Prague City Gallery

Municipal Library, 2nd floor, Mariánske nám. 1, Praha 1

Curator: Olga Malá

Admission: 120 Kč full (60 Kč reduced)

Open: tue-sun 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Milena Dopitová, who first asserted herself as a major protagonist and actually the first strong female member of the then emerging young generation of artists as early as the 1990s, continues to occupy an exceptional position on the domestic art scene as well as internationally. Her career so far, systematically developed over the last quarter-century and richly structured, might suggest that this current show will be a retrospective. The contrary is true, though: in fact, the exhibition comprises her output from recent years, the earliest work on view here, entitled I´ll Stay a Bit Longer Yet, dating from 2010. The installations displayed at the Municipal Library deal with the passage of time, human yearnings, wishes, and issues of fateful predetermination. One of the show´s keynote concepts sets in relief the role of the male element. This is exemplified for instance by the project Voluntary Hero. Characteristically for this artist, she approaches the theme in a highly individual manner, without pathos, with a sense of intimacy on the one hand and a certain distance on the other, yet invariably with a high degree of personal involvement. Obviously, Milena Dopitová is set to “Stay a Bit Longer Yet,” as she does have ample room for communication which has a definite human dimension and which she Loves and Accepts.

I'll stay a little longer

The Author during a walk trough.

To a gifted city

The collective transfer

Why the clover

Jana Marketa II

Soul of Rose

Golden Times

I love and Accept

I have no bad days 

13.10.2014 Žilvinas Kempinas

Žilvinas Kempinas

Fifth wall

27th of September - 2nd November 2014

Mucsarnok kunsthalle

Dózsa Gyorgy út 37, Budapest

Admission: free

Curator: Lívia Rózsás

Open: tue-sun 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Kempinas uses magnetic tapes from video cassettes in almost all of his installations, which fill the exhibition spaces, take them over in their entirety. Originally a medium to store sequences of images, the tape is objectified inKempinas’ three-dimensional works, becomes a line drawn in space.

Employing a minimalist apparatus, the ephemeral, yet monumental works are so weightless they are almost non-existent, as in the case of the Fifth Wall that is raised in M0. The parallel order of the thin black tapes, originally a recording media for pictures and sound, has a different appearance from every angle; air currents keep changing the installation, lending an impressionistic character to the constantly vibrating work. First presented in Japan in 2011, at the Yokohama Triennial, Fifth Wall has now been adapted by the artist for the space of M0. Fountain, a motor-driven kinetic work can also be seen in Műcsarnok. The bundle of black magnetic tapes is kept in constant motion by an electric fan, gaining the appearance of a living organism.

All of Kempinas’ works are marked by a spatial geometric abstraction and a precise and austere execution, which opens a broad field of interpretation, and makes the pieces accessible for all, without any formal education in art; at the same time, they do reinterpret a number of questions raised throughout the history of art. The two most obvious precedents to his art are two trends from the 1960s and 1970s, minimalism and op art. Employing black and white, and executed typically in two dimensions, op art relies on optical illusions. Kempinas extends the concept when he addresses not only visual perception, but the recipient’s sense of space as well, insisting on her active participation. 

Born in 1969, Žilvinas Kempinas studied and lives in New York. Over the past decade he has presented his works at leading galleries and events of contemporary art. In 2009 he represented his native land at the Venice Biennale. Among other venues, he has had solo exhibitions at the MoMA PS1, New York (2003), the Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2006), the Kunsthalle, Vienna (2009), and theMuseum Tinguely, Basel (2013). In 2007 he was awarded the Calder Prize.