Movere

The meaning of the Latin word “movere” (to move) is the common denominator of the work of seventeen contemporary artists (Karíma Al-Mukhtarová, Ashley Bell Clark, David Böhm a Jiří Franta, Aleš Čermák, Mira Gáberová, Dominik Gajarský, Antonín Jirát, Petr Krátký, Alice Masters, Jan Pfeiffer, Adéla Součková, Matěj Smetana, Johana Střížková, Zuzana Žabková a Adam Vačkář – Tereza Hradílková) who were approached by the curators Lenka Sýkorová and Viktor Čech.

Although every individual moves in a different direction and with a different speed, the basic element is the regular structure of the movement of the human walk. It is a structure with roots going deep down into our biology, yet in its concrete form it is linked with a number of social as well as economic, political and aesthetic factors. The aesthetic can be found in a toddler’s amiable toddle or in the walk of an individual filled with happiness or one attractive to us, even in a marching soldier. “The repetition of the vectors of movement and the resulting sinuosity of the body in space can also act as a structure that we perceive in a similar way to music in itself”, comment the curators V. Čech and L. Sýkorová on the theme of the exhibition.

Many contemporary artists who frequently work in the video or performance medium, reflect something very similar to the above-described phenomenon in their work. The exhibition accentuates the capturing of movement as an aesthetic structure. The work of some of the selected artists is linked to dance, of which this phenomenon is the very essence. Choreography as a system of the language of movement then becomes a reinterpreted tool in the play of meanings. Other artists use, in contrast, more direct ways of capturing movement, when the movement structure extracted from an ordinary life context balances on the edge of a double-meaning between a gag and an abstracted form. In the above-mentioned cases, these movement structures are presented in their brittle ephemerality through the kinesis of the relevant body. There is also another way where artists record the same structures through their visualization. What is commonly perceived as a phenomenon stretched out in time and its rhythm is then materialized in some of its aspects as a purely visual form.

The exhibition equally emphasizes the position of drawing, which is also a record of the track, that is movement, either of the artist’s hand and charcoal on paper, or a record of the track of a performer. Performance in connection with a drawing became a key for the selection of contemporary artists, for whom a drawing is an important means of expression. The works of David Böhm and Jiří Franta, Jan Pfeiffer and Adéla Součková share an interest in this traditional art technique which is, however, approached with contemporary means of fine art and with reference to its universal communication potential. As part of the Movere exhibition they created site-specific installations which work with the gallery space while simultaneously developing various themes steeped in what is presently happening. The freedom of a creative gesture through a drawing linked with processuality is approached as part of their intermedia work where a drawing is perceived within the boundaries of a line freed from the limited format of paper. Which happened for the first time in the 1960 and 70s under the influence of conceptual art. The exhibition reflects these historical influences with reference to the work of young artists who consciously or subconsciously quote them.