LANDSCAPE, ART AND PHOTOGRAPHY (Contemporary Artworks in the Landscape)

The exhibition is a part of Fotograf Festival: Cultura / Natura

Curators: Radoslava Schmelzová, Dagmar Šubrtová

The exhibition presents photographic artworks based on land art or
public spaces and ecology, therefore they are not to be found in
gallery spaces but need to be sought in the countryside. The
beginnings of the “Czech” land art, unlike the American or British
one, can be traced in so called action art, i.e. in the actions of
artists who from the 1970s could not exhibit their work. Their
artworks were presented only for their close friends in studios or in
the countryside. Contemporary artists defined the time of their
physical existence by connecting to a particular place out-of-doors or
in the country. The works are freely accessible and the subject of
weather conditions, and frequently create a dialog with the particular
place, its history or its natural qualities. The qualities are not
only of the typical geological type of the Czech countryside – its
vegetation and habitation, but its less apparent spiritual qualities.
The photographs present the results of durational projects as well as
pieces aspiring to become landscape formative elements in the long
term; other works exist only in photographic documentation. The
selection of photographs is derived from the book Contemporary
Artworks in the Landscape, by Radoslava Schmelzová, Dagmar Šubrtová
and Radek Mikuláš, published by Academia in 2014, and extended by
several contemporary works.  Rather than creating a comprehensive
overview, the aim of the book was to present a variety of artistic
approaches. The exhibition presents artists across generations, from
the distinguished Czech artistic figures to the members of the
youngest generation.

Translation: Jan Suk