The Ritual of Cursed Hearts
13 Apr – 1 Oct 2023
We’re open to all, now also you
DOX Centre for Contemporary Art
Poupětova 1, Prague 7
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We are preparing a comprehensive catalogue for the The Ritual of Cursed Hearts exhibition. Soon on sale in our Bendox bookstore.
Exhibition is extended until 1 October 2023.
The exhibition The Ritual of Cursed Hearts presents the painting work of Jan Vytiska over the last three years. His last solo exhibition in Prague was six years ago. However recognizable and typical his paintings may appear at first sight, their form is undergoing a certain evolution. Vytiska is constantly experimenting, the colours of his paintings are changing, and their formats have gradually increased. Nor does the artist follow only one theme in his content. The exhibition presents almost forty large-scale paintings created by the artist after switching from acrylic to oil paint. Thematically, it is still based on a distinctive mix of Wallachian folklore and pop culture references. However, this is not a return to a tried-and-tested theme, but a new take on it and an expansion of its meaning. Landscapes appear more and more in recent paintings; mountain ranges or flowering meadows contrast with the scene they frame. Vytiska never ceases to mix all kinds of references with his own romantic gesture. In scope, The Ritual of Cursed Hearts exhibition is the artist’s largest project.
Curator: Otto M. Urban
Keep exploring
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The exhibition KAFKAesque focuses on reflections on Kafka’s work and poetics in contemporary visual art offering not a historical perspective of his work, but a view that reflects our present-day situation with all its complexities and ambiguities.
Kamila Ženatá: Everything Like at the Dawn of the World
The exhibition will present large-format abstract canvases by the Czech artist Kamila Ženatá, created over the last few years. A constant in her work is the constant search, the desire for knowledge, the effort to get closer to the mystery of human existence and to understand the order of the world.
Pavel Forman: Transforman
The exhibition will present thirty of the latest works by the painter Pavel Forman. The title of the exhibition can be understood as a play on words, referring of course to the artist’s name and at the same time to his favourite forms and approaches, which are in a sense “trans”, i.e. metamorphosing, transitional or mutating.
Point of View: Identity
Another instalment of the long-term project, which combines the format of an exhibition and a classroom and focuses on the theme of human identity. Who am I? What am I? The human form naturally takes centre stage; the body, its clothing, its behaviour. A person's identity and the different ways of looking at it.
Czech Hero
The premiere of the satirical physical theater production Czech Hero by the theatre ensemble Farm in the Cave, which focuses on the contemporary and pressing topic of disinformation and political marketing. Movement, words, live music, dynamics, energy, exaggeration. All this in the DOX+ hall.
Franz Kafka and contemporary artists: Mat Collishaw
How does literature inspire British artist Mat Collishaw's own creation? How do language and text find their way into his work, and what other artistic genres does he enjoy combining? Otto M. Urban, curator of the KAFKAesque exhibition, will discuss with the British artist on board the airship Gulliver.
Czech Hero
Satirical physical theater production Czech Hero by the theatre ensemble Farm in the Cave, which focuses on the contemporary and pressing topic of disinformation and political marketing. Movement, words, live music, dynamics, energy, exaggeration. All this in the DOX+ hall.
Franz Kafka and contemporary artists: Jan van Oost & Alexander Tinei
How does literature inspire contemporary artist to create their own work? How do language and text find their way into their work, and what other artistic genres does they enjoy combining? Otto M. Urban, curator of the KAFKAesque exhibition, will discuss with artist Jan van Oost and Alexander Tinei on board the airship Gulliver.
Contemporary writer in Europe
How do contemporary authors perceive their position in a Europe that is being transformed under the increasing influence of populists and threatened by the Russian imperial war in Ukraine? What to write about, and how, when facing the diminishing ability of readers to focus on extended texts, as well as decreasing book sales?
