Emergency. Preparing for the Future

The exhibition presents works of art from Central and Eastern Europe that illustrate the shift in perspective necessary in today’s endangered world. The participating artists explore the idea of preparing for the future by cultivating the requisite skills and resilience and also try to find ways of coping with feelings of anxiety.

Art can draw strength from narratives that differ from stories of progress and technocratic solutions implemented by people subjugating nature. It can act as a platform for sharing not only fears but also hope in the possibility of collective problem-solving.

Many people who expect the imminent onset of natural or other disasters engage in practical preparations for such disasters and join prepper or survivalist groups. On the one hand, such people extol the ability to survive in the wilderness, strive to be self-sufficient, and promote DIY solutions. On the other hand, however, they often take an individualistic approach and tend to have given up on the possibility of collective action to prevent future problems. Can one be a prepper and still remain sensitive to the needs of other human and non-human beings that are concerned with more than just their own survival? Is it possible to prepare for future catastrophes and to adopt the positive aspects of survivalism (learning the skills necessary to overcome various obstacles, building support networks, psychological resilience) while still searching for ways of averting disaster?

Many artists respond to the contemporary threats of climate change and escalating global conflict by creating works in which they apply specific forms of perception and sensitivity. The stories they tell acknowledge and name today’s state of emergency while trying to find connections that transcend us and teach us to see ourselves through the eyes of others.

The works in this exhibition explore fears of the impact of military conflict (A[Sv1] nca Benera and Arnold Estefán’s video featuring an audio performance on the Black Sea coast), imagine life after environmental catastrophe (Tamás Kaszás), connect us to the historical layers of nature’s memory with the help of found subfossil trees (Michal Machciník), use ritual experience to encourage us to change our approach to water resources (Martyna Poznańska), help us to process feelings of fear and grief (Pavla Sceranková), or try to see human civilization from a future perspective (Ruta Putramentaite).

ANCA BENERA, ARNOLD ESTEFÁN (RO)
This duo of visual artists, originally from Romania but currently living and working mainly in Vienna, creates complex installations in which they explore power relations and institutional conventions. Most recently, they have addressed the overexploitation of natural resources and the relationship between environmental degradation and militarization. The exhibition shows their new film How to Mend a Broken Sea?, which looks at the Black Sea as a turbulent geopolitical stage.

TAMÁS KASZÁS (HU)
Themes in Kaszás’s work include the possibility of surviving economic, environmental, and social crises. His gallery presentations take the form of large-scale installations, often consisting of wooden structures that combine various objects and materials and explore the themes of folklore and forgotten folk traditions and skills. The exhibition presents an earlier project of his, The Joy of Survival, and a new installation titled Tracking Humanity. A collection of children’s weapons, photographs, drawings, and objects found in the woods function as examples of a “self-anthropological” look at various survival situations.

MICHAL MACHCINÍK (SK)
Originally from Košice, Machciník is a sculptor who works with natural materials while exploring themes such as rituals, fetishism, religion, eremitism, asceticism, the dialogue between technology and nature, and the relationship between the organic and the inorganic. His visually attractive installations are often based on broader research. In one recent installation, he addressed the subfossil turn while drawing on his study of trees in a forest near Bratislava that are in the first stage of fossilization and bear traces of animal processing.

MARTYNA POZNAŃSKA (PL)
Poznańska is primarily a sound artist. Originally from Poland, she is currently based in Berlin. Her audio installations work with sound and material while exploring the climate crisis and people’s relationship to the non-human world. She seeks to establish a new relationship with the natural environment by awakening empathy and engaging in compassionate actions of solidarity. Her contribution to the exhibition, The Holy Water Sanctuary (2023), resembles a participatory ritual that addresses the global crisis of access to water in the form of a sonically immersive and partially participatory installation.

PAVLA SCERANKOVÁ (CZE)
Sceranková creates sculptural objects and installations. Her work often responds to a specific place and situation, addresses changes in meaning in relation to changing contexts, and explores scientific discoveries, personal experience, craft work, and materiality. At the exhibition, she uses minimalist portraits of heads to consider contemporary traumas and doubts regarding the very meaning of artistic work.

RUTA PUTRAMENTAITE (LT)
Putramentaite hails from Vilnius and currently lives in Prague. In her work, she touches on the relationship between people and nature while working with various ways of understanding the passage of time, the relationship between organic and inorganic matter, and the subjects of decay and corporeality. She is a member of the choral ensemble Sbor Družstva Život. Her sculptural installation, composed of recycled pieces of garbage, soil, and papier-mâché and accompanied by a narrative, explores the imaginary remains of human civilization while letting us experience our fears of the future.

MYBAS (May You Be Among the Survivors)