Taking Stock of Memory

Memory frequently appears in the Czech and Slovak art of the young generation in various forms. The exhibition is based on a text by L. Machová, which describes contemporary works of art in relation to the re-constructive component of memory, the dynamics of the memory processes, memories or personal history. The method of viewing these important sources of inspiration to the young generation of artists is founded on the thoughts of the German literary theorist and cultural anthropologist Andreas Huyssen - Present Pasts: Urban Palimpsests and the Politics of Memory (2003). He concentrated on the overloading of memory in the present-day media-saturated world and reflected on the methods of memory transfer and retention. This phenomenon is often connected with the natural response of man to the outside world, whereby he creates his own history based on his memories and endeavours to find his place in the world. Inspiration can also be drawn from Huyssen’s deliberations on some expressions of contemporary art in which we find traces of personal memory and which the author explains using a metaphor of the palimpsest – gradual revelation of text, in relation to literary theory. The exhibiting artists are: Blanka Kirchner (1982, CZ), Štěpánka Bláhovcová (1981, CZ), Romana Horáková (1987, CZ), Magdaléna Kuchtová (1985, SK) Štěpánka Sigmundová (1981, CZ), Katarína Hládeková (1984, SK) , Tereza Sochorová (1982, CZ), Tomáš Šoltýs (1985, SK), Miroslav Hašek (1988, CZ), Jaroslav Varga (1982, SK), Lukáš Machalický (1984, CZ), Rudolf Samohejl (1987, CZ), Jaroslav Kyša (1981, SK), Zuzana Kmeťová (1987, SK), Katarína Poliačiková (1982, SK), Pavla Sceránková (1980, SK), Adéla Babanová (1980, CZ) and others. Curators: Lucie Machová, Anna Vartecká, Terezie Petišková.