July 21–October 23, 2022
Public Opening Night#1: July 20, 6–10pm
GHMP—Municipal Library
Public Opening Night #2: July 21, 6–8pm
General University Hospital in Prague
Public Opening Night #3: July 22, 6–8pm
Šaloun Studio
Biennale Matter of Art 2022 will take place across three venues—the Prague City Gallery at the Municipal Library, in a former laundry facility of the General University Hospital in Prague, and the art nouveau landmark Šaloun Studio. The biennale is curated by Rado Ištok, Renan Laru-an, Piotr Sikora, and tranzit.cz. On the occasion of the biennale, tranzit.cz will publish a bilingual anthology of texts that will further develop the thematic anchoring of the project from various artistic, critical, and historical perspectives. The book will be distributed worldwide via Spector Books. Admission to the biennale will be free of charge.
What is life imagined in violence? In other words, how can we let the soft be soft? The second edition of the biennale Matter of Art invites the public to explore diverse artistic positions that reiterate these intertwined questions in various affective registers, media, and outputs. The choir of voices that is at times consonant and at times dissonant seeks know-how for undermining the bold narratives that revolve around heroic, autonomous figures who exert extraordinary power to overcome obstacles. Where does the saying about the events which make us stronger unless they kill us come from, and what is the actual meaning of the word “stronger” anyway? In contrast to this proverb, the art presented in the exhibition weaves together different stories of essentially vulnerable bodies and deficient systems dependent on and inseparable from other bodies, the environment, and infrastructures.
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Participating artists & authors
Hamja Ahsan (UK), Gwendolyn Albert (US/Czech Republic), APART (Slovakia), Michal BarOr (Israel), Anca Benera & Arnold Estefan (Romania), Hera Büyüktaşcıyan (Turkey), Larisa Crunțeanu (Romania), Nolan Oswald Dennis (South Africa), Patricia Domínguez (Chile), Mandy El-Sayegh with Alice Walter (UK), Brenda Fajardo (Philippines), Florin Flueras (Romania), Ramon Guillermo (Philippines), Filip Herza (Czech Republic), Jana Horváthová (Czech Republic), Robin Hartanto (Indonesia), i pack* [Robert Gabris (Austria), Luboš Kotlár (Slovakia) & Cat Jugravu (Germany)], Brigitta Isabella (Indonesia), Hanni Kamaly (Norway/Sweden), Barbora Kleinhamplová (Czech Republic), Alina Kleytman (Ukraine) & Marie Lukáčová (Czech Republic), Jacques de Koning (Netherlands), Jana Krejcarová-Černá (Czech Republic), Tarek Lakhrissi (France), Renz Lee (†) (Philippines), Dorota Jagoda Michalska (Poland), Candice Lin (US), Fathia Mohidin & Adele Marcia Kosman (Sweden), Mara Oláh (†) (Hungary), Linh Valerie Pham (Vietnam) with Rene O. Villanueva’s characters, Alina Popa (†) with Florin Flueras (Romania), Pižmo (Czech Republic), Kolektiv Prádelna / The Laundry Collective (Czech Republic), Ábel Ravasz (Slovakia), Anna Remešová (Czech Republic), Vincent Rumahloine (Indonesia), Charlotte Salomon (†) (Germany), Rudolf Samohejl (Czech Republic), Františka Schormová (Czech Republic), Sina Seifee (Germany/Iran), Jana Shostak (Poland), Sráč Sam (Czech Republic), Ceija Stojka (†) (Austria), Bára Šimková (Czech Republic), Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò (US), Shūji Terayama (†) with Tetsuya Chiba and Ashita no Joe artifacts (Japan), Marie Tučková (Czech Republic), Rene O. Villanueva (†) with Jo Atienza (Philippines), Lenka Vítková (Czech Republic), Zai Xu (Czech Republic)
Curators & editors
Rado Ištok, Renan Laru-an, Piotr Sikora, tranzit.cz
Venues:
Prague City Gallery (GHMP)
Municipal Library of Prague, 2nd floor
Mariánské náměstí 98/1
110 00 Prague
General University Hospital
Karlovo náměstí 502/40
128 00 Prague
Šaloun Studio
Slovenská 2499/4
101 00 Prague
The biennale is organized by the initiative tranzit.cz in cooperation with Prague City Gallery. The main partner of tranzit.cz is the ERSTE Foundation. The biennale is a part of the project “Center and Periphery: Cultural Deserts in Eastern Europe,” which is supported by grants from Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway (EEA Grants) in the scope of the Culture Program.