(11/29/2013 – 1/12/2014)
Ke sklárně 3213/15, Prague 5, http://www.meetfactory.cz
Meetfactory is a place on the outskirts of Prague in between a highway and a rail track. There are artist’s studios, two exhibition spaces and a large screening/concert hall. It has an industrial feel. It’s another of the places in Prague which is worth a visit, especially when some events are taking place. I stopped by on 12/19 when they had an evening of art performances coupled with an exhibition opening and open studios.
The “After the Future” show of Emmeline de Mooij and Adriann Mellegers, an artist couple from the Netherlands who have been artist-in-residence at Meetfactory has been open for some time already, but during my visit it was further enlivened by a number of performances taking place in the exhibition space. The show itself consisted of rather large size works, a combination of sculptures from extruded plastic and wall-paintings of simple graphic shapes. All was allegedly inspired by shapes and forms observed by the artists during their walks through Prague. At the same time, it had a rather retro-futurist feel to it. This combined seemed to suggest that the artists have been mainly interested in the architecture starting from modernism up to the 60ties and 70ties. As such the show was fine and the concept understandable, but it lacked a direction. I could feel a graphic-design like genealogy of the forms on display and I could imagine how they have been transformed and adjusted on their way from the street to the gallery, but this process was not enough for me as an artistic statement. It lacked something. In this way, it was great to come on the day when performances were taking place in the very space of the exhibition (Emmeline de Mooij did one of the performances). I haven’t seen all of them as I spend time chatting with fellow visitors, but those I saw did enliven the space and it worked well with “After the Future” serving as a backdrop to the performances – the large size of the works in “After the Future” meant they were just right in scale to serve as stage elements. And it was the performers which were able to give direction and meaning to them.