17 Jun 2008

V.M.21 artecontemporanea, Rituals

V.M.21 artecontemporanea is pleased to present Rituals, a joint show of artists Kristof Kintera (CZ) and Ilona Nemeth (SK), in collaboration with the Slovakian Institute and the Czech Cultural Institute, curated by Lydia Pribisova.

The aim of the exhibition is to examine the rites and processes of contemporary society by studying, reflecting and imitating its mechanisms. Indeed, by focusing on stereotypes, aic behavioural responses and manipulation through codified attitudes, the artists explore overproduction, pragmatism and individualism by parodying the fundamental rules of the contemporary status quo. Their perfect recreations of everyday objects have been carefully developed to explore the way in which such objects function.

The work of both Ilona Nemeth and Kristof Kintera is mainly focused onto the analysis of the way in which globalized society functions through the fragmentation, hyperbolization and translocation of objects into other visual contexts. Indeed, although the artists are also attentive to social strategies and civil commitment, they mainly concentrate on the peculiarities of consumer society and the relationships between various social spheres. Emblematic of this approach is Kristof Kintera's Fatal Egoist (an unusable bicycle).

Kintera's other work, also displayed at the gallery, is a monumental lamp entitled My Light is your Light, a sculpture which refers to a series of previous works (Do it Yourself (After Brancusi) 2008, A bigger problem than yours 2008, There is No Way to Go Now 2008, Fatal Egoist 2008, Conflict of Interests 2004, Homegrown 2003). Characteristic of this lamp is its use of recycled industrial objects as artistic materials. Indeed, by shifting objects from their original context into a different reality, Kintera creates a new context of reference endowed with a new logic, new aesthetics and new poetics. The use of disused streetlamps in My Light is your Light creates a series of parallel references regarding both the function of the object per se and the energetic and ecological aspects of recycling.

Ilona Nemeth's Morning reflects on the relationship between the public and the private world by focusing on a simple everyday ritual. The artist is seen having breakfast, reading the newspaper and going shopping, the only strange feature of this morning ritual being that she is followed throughout her activities by two policemen dressed in riot gear. As it is not clear whether the policemen are there to protect her or to threaten her, the excess of security becomes an act of violence against the very subject of the protection.

Finally, combining an IKEA wardrobe with a confessional, Nemeth's Pax Nexus Salvus mixes symbols of the globalized world with elements of private religious rites with a view to exploring the phenomena of confession and forgiveness and the omnipotence of the global, consumerist lifestyle. Based on a prototype drawing of the same name, Pax Nexus Salvus combines various elements of the confessional with a typical IKEA design in such a way as to highlight the divinizing power of the market and the way in which official representatives of the church and great multinational corporations manipulate society.