Prague, Krizkovskeho 1288/10, June 22 – July 3, 2021, https://www.avu.cz/category/avu-menu/galerie-avu
Galerie AVU is the gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. The exhibition space was located in the main building of the schoool, but recently it moved out into a “pop-up” space in Prague Zizkov.
The exhibition was a cynical commentary on the idea of utopia or the impossibility thereof. Paintings of mirrors that do not show anything (Tomas Lahoda). Miniature obsessive drawings on yellowish paper, that look like messages from a distant past where utopic ideas were still credible (Skuliak Maniak a.k.a. Hugo Marek). Landscape paintings from Google Earth (Adam Rada). CNC-carved plastic 3D models of I-dont-know what (Viktor Dedek). Everything held together by rolled up posters with text spread across the floor. The exhibition text was also barely readable and just gave me a feeling of loss of orientation and hope.
The installation was clean and well done. While at first sight the exhibited works looked cold and not accessible, it was possible to enter into a dialogue with them upon closer observation. The Skuliak Maniak drawings mounted in the empty space in the middle of a poster hung on the wall, for example, were almost invisible at first sight, but contained great detail that could be explored by those who dared to come close.
It still felt cold and detached, but that was, I guess, the purpose. Similar to the cold and detached but all encompassing eye of Google Earth.
