Prague’s art scene is truly unique as it combines big institutions, private galleries and tiny art spaces in cafe’s and clubs. This post will be about a type of exhibition that is very common in Prague among emerging artists, which is a small solo show in a cafe cellar (solo-cellar-show, as I am going to call these from now on).
Location. The art space of the show is located in cafe Velryba (a “whale” in English), this cafe is situated between Národní Divadlo and Národní Třída, close to the city, but off the usual touristy crowd trails. Opposed to the big and neutral white cube spaces a cafe cellar imposes individuality and intimacy upon the exhibition, it makes the curator work within the given architecture and rarely allows any modification. Velryba’s caller is a small dark red brick space not more than 30 m2 with unusually high ceiling and a couple of supporting columns that divide the space vertically.
Curator. No particular curator was mentioned, I assume the curating was held out by FAMU and the artist herself.
Artist. María Elínardóttir is an Icelandic artist born in Reykjavík. For the past seven years her works have bridged together everything from documentary to social illustration using the medium of photography and literature. After graduating with BcA of photography from FAMU in Prague, 2013 she is currently working on completing her Masters degree of photography in 2015. In recent years she has exhibited her work in numerous group exhibitions around the world, including Iceland, Czech Republic, China and Slovenia.
If you are interested to see some of the works, here is the tumblr: http://mariaelinardottir.tumblr.com
Personal Opinion. The exhibition had a pineapple sized piece of vulcanite (or something resembling lava) and about 6 collages that had photographic sights if Iceland transformed into dark and cold surreal spaces, that are somehow connected to the volcanic land that the country stands on. Unfortunately there was no introductory text, so I assume the concept is connected to the stereotypes about Iceland and limited knowledge about its culture and history (ask yourself what do you know about this mysterious place, not much right?). I can only speculate whether the space was chosen deliberately to emphasize the mystery and alienation of Iceland or not, but a hidden cellar in the back of the cafe was a nice touch.
p.s I feel bad about not taking any pictures myself, the one above is the only provided by the official page of the exhibition.
reshe_prg_artmap 