House of Arts Brno

Show on the map

• Jaromír Novotný: Other Things held Constant

Programme

• 18:00—24:00 Jaromír Novotný: Other Things held Constant

  Curator: Marika Svobodová
  

  The exhibition of the paintings of Jaromír Novotný will present a selection from the contemporary and earlier creations by the artist. Through minute shifts in abstract monochrome painting his cycles capture a number of themes with the common denominator of examining the fundamental phenomena of a painting. An elementary study of the surface, paint, space, shape, gesture or outline rendered with austere means of painting and non-painting in Novotný’s works carries, simultaneously, an aspect of physicality and an almost existential statement. The intuitive, organic incrementation of the painting by adding or inserting pieces of canvas by sewing, together with the visible seams and pleats, reveals a work in the process of making with its haptic properties and imperfections, thus evoking a physical experience. Reduction, transparency and colour as other important components of paintings lead our attention towards our own way of seeing and an ability to perceive and learn about the world through our senses. Novotný’s oeuvre is loosely connected with cognition theory, specifically with the philosophy of Merleau-Ponty called the phenomenology of perception (corporeity). According to this philosophy the world and things are revealed to us ‘by themselves’ and we perceive them via our senses, through our own body.
  

• 18:00—24:00 Anna Hulačová: Eating Planet

  Curator: Marika Svobodová
  

  The exhibition will showcase the latest works by the sculptor Anna Hulačová, who traditionally approaches her projects as complex installations for the specific exhibition space. For the Procházka Room of the Brno House of Arts she created a group of loosely composed concrete figurative sculptures thematising the motif of collaboration between man and technology, in particular agricultural and various other machines. Compared to her previous work where she was mainly concerned with the subject of collectivisation in relatively recent Czech history, in this case she examines the relationship at a more general level, balancing the utopian vision of a harmonious co-existence of nature and industry with the current situation of a world on the brink of dystopia. References to cultural history, be it ancient tradition, folklore motifs, art brut or inter-war modernism, particularly works by Otto Gutfreund and Ladislav Zívr, constitute the artist’s favourite repertory and form the reference points which enable us to reflect upon our present time. Hulačová's figurative sculptural work, emphasising the properties of the material employed, whether it is concrete, wood or wax, is an example that a traditional sculptural format can speak the language of contemporary art and express through it topical social issues.
  

• 18:00—24:00 Bohuslava Olešová: A Thirst For The Infinite ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

  Curator: Jana Vránová
  

  ​​​​​​​

  The work of Bohuslava Olešová, embracing paintings, spatial installations, site-specific projects and actions is multi-faceted and highly creative, yet compact. It contains several positions which are interrelated and are based on ideologically consistent artistic principles. Olešová creates loose sequences of cycles. The nature of the visual means applied is not just aesthetically significant, but is indicative of the determinants that delimit and impact human life, which we have to abide by and respect. She uses painting as a vehicle to penetrate the very essence of life and the actions that we are part of, she studies the relationships between life on earth, the energies and the position of man in cosmos, man as a unique individuality dependent on the space and time in which one exists. Her work grows from intersecting ideas and beliefs regarding the meaning and values of human life, and knowledge from various scientific disciplines. It can be equally perceived as a meditation on the position of man in the contemporary world and the universe.Painting is a reflection of the artist’s opinions and convictions concerning the meaning and values of human life, while her philosophical and literary contexts suggest a simile related to experiences and cognition, and an imprint of the subconscious.
  

  Works by Bohuslava Olešová radiate an energy that the artist considers one of the prime movers affecting human life. The colourful palette of her paintings and drawings often has both a visual impact and, perhaps more importantly, symbolic significance.
  

• 18:00—21:00 Self-service educational sheets on the history of the House of Arts Brno

  only in Czech
  

• 18:00—19:00 Commented tour of the current exhibitions

  only in Czech

• 19:00—20:00 Commented tour of the current exhibitions

  only in Czech
  

• 20:00—21:00 Commented tour on the history of the space in front of the House of Arts Brno

  only in Czech

• 21:00—24:00 Light installation

  From dusk to midnight. The site of the fountain in front of the House of Arts Brno will be enlivened with an original light installation by Tomáš Plachký with illustrations by Romana Horáková
  

House of Arts Brno on the map