Milan Grygar: The Visual and the Acoustic at Municipal Library

Location. The Municipal Library of Prague, situated in Mariánské Square, was built between 1925 and 1928 according to the design of architect František Roith, student of the professor of the Vienna Academy and foremost architect, Otto Wagner. The extensive exhibition spaces on the 2nd floor were acquired by Prague City Gallery in 1992.

Curator. Hana Lavrová

Artist. In his work, Milan Grygar has continuously focused on the relationship between image, sound and space. There, his concept is thoroughly original and indeed, unique in the context of contemporary art. Rather than relating to the domestic art scene, it brings his idiom close to the current trends prevailing in European and American art.

The current retrospective shows Grygar’s output on a time-scale ranging from the mid-1960s, when he fi rst linked the realization of an art work with spatial attributes of sound, to the present stage, during which his individual way of combining visual and acoustic aspects of art work has been acquiring new dimensions.

 

The first two exhibition halls are large and dramatically lit by the pale white light. Oversized paintings on the walls initially look like mere decoration. But when one stands between them, he understands why Grygar talks about linking sound, image and space. Milan Grygar’s intention is to evoke the idea that each two-dimensional or three-dimensional object must be set in a particular environment and must also evoke the idea of ​​a certain sound. It does not matter if the tones are real, or is created by our imagination. It is essential to connect all three components into a single percept.

Personal Opinion. This exhibition is a rather volumetric retrospective of Grygar that fully embodies the acoustic, visual and spatial components of his art, providing a dynamic motion from one hall to another, developing the concept of his abstract sound painting not through explanatory text, but through the dialogue between the works of art. It should be noted that Hana has shown some creative approach to the placement of works of art taking advantage of the great empty space of  the Municipal Library gallery: the exhibition has vital powers in it despite the fact that abstract art and minimalism may easily fall into static. The absence of explanatory text for the spectators who are new to modern and contemporary art is compensated by the aesthetic quality of Grygar’s works.

Dalibor Chatrný: Seeing The World Otherwise at Stone Bell House

Location. The Stone Bell House is situated in the center of Prague at the Old Town Square and dates back to the second half of the 13th century. The building has undergone several reconstructions and it was only in 1988 when the City of Prague assigned the house to the Prague City Gallery, which uses it as a space for its significant exhibition projects. The building also houses a bookstore offering a wide range of publications and catalogues, while the café is situated on the rear ground floor of the house.

Curator. Jiří Machalický — an established Czech curator, currently working as a full-time NoD gallery curator apart from freelance.

Artist. Dalibor Chatrný a prominent Czech artist, who worked in different movements (conceptual, minimalism, land art etc.) but never fully identified himself with any specific one.

About the exhibition. A retrospective of Dalibor Chatrný, laid out in several sections, each corresponding to a particular “circle” of the artist’s creative endeavour. From the mid-1960s, he came to draw on the potential offered by the graphic grid. Applying the method of perforation, he presented his own vision of natural processes. His projects dating from the early 1970s were focused on the various relations between artist and environment. Using strings and cords, he dealt with interconnections between elements, and he explored connotations between reality and shadow. He worked with the energy of magnets, as well as with the effect of reflection and mirror image. He found a medium for experimentation in the quality of colour. He drew and painted with both hands simultaneously. In the second half of the 1980s, he explored the method of dyeing and soaking textile fabrics. During the same period he also experimented with obstructed drawing. An extensive chapter of his oeuvre is constituted by compositions of textual elements.

 

 

Personal Opinion. Stone Bell Tower Gallery space may be very tricky as it has its own character that  strictly does not allow too much artistic freedom, it is certainly not a white cube and you are forced to follow its curves and watch the narrow arch doorways, but this retrospective has shown it all working together with a massive amount of diverse works of a single artist. As a retrospective it of course tries to achieve the a;most impossible — cover years and years of productive work of Chatrný, and in for a contemporary art show it has a surprisingly great mass of text explaining particular periods and styles sometimes going into extremes and describing what is right before your eyes, so the amount of information one receives is overwhelming. At the same time the placement is absolutely genius: narrow corridors with small sketches, intimate dark room with film, everything sectioned precisely to the works that are presented, chronological but not too much. I would say both the works and the organization of them are impressive and definitely deserve a visit. I cannot say for sure, by it seems that Chatrný himself who put so much thought into every single piece of art would be satisfied with this retrospective.