Up from the underground, 2004, Prague Post, English

<small>Z Kokolia</small>

autor textu: Mimi Fronczak Rogers

Up from the underground
Renewing a transatlantic dialogue after 15 years

týdeník Prague Post, 9.12.2004, vyšlo k výstavě: Certain Traces, Šípkárna Karlín, Praha

The unpolished and unpretentious atmosphere of the disused CKD factory hall in Karlin, into which viewers are welcomed by a hand-scrawled sign on fluttering black plastic, embodies the gregarious grassroots spirit of "Certain Traces: Dialogue Los Angeles/ Prague 2004."

"Fifteen times the leaves have fallen," notes curator and artist Barbara Benish in the poetic title of her catalog essay, since the original "Dialogue" show opened in Prague in 1989, in the months just prior to the revolution. Around 30 artists are exhibiting this time, including a core group from the first exchange, and new artists from both cities representing mainly the younger generation.

Among the new concerns this time around was the taming of the space itself. This was achieved in part by erecting drywall that gives some of the artists a clean background for their works. Other artists, especially among the Czechs, relished the rawness of the space and made brilliant use of the existing environment. (The main show in the Karlin factory is augmented by a smaller selection of works by 10 of the artists at the decidedly more upscale Museum Kampa).

Ivan Kafka colonized a rusty gateway between the exhibition area and a second enormous factory hall. With the addition of a drywall niche, he created an orderly space within a more expansive and chaotic space and installed neat rows of EU blue and yellow plastic bags puffed up with his own breath. Elegantly filling up the space like lop-eared bunnies, the installation wittily comments on the Czech Republic's place within Europe.

Tomas Ruller likewise chose a space that pushes beyond the boundaries of the exhibition area. With neatly piled industrial debris visible just behind his work, there is a sense of controlled chaos added to Plastic Piece of Peace (2004), which consists of cellophane-wrapped bundles of putty-pink Semtex resting on a table and looking somehow wholesome, like a package of candles or modeling clay.

As implied in the title "Certain Traces," a primary curatorial aim was to discover connections among the artists' work. There are plenty of such strands to be found, cross-culturally and cross-generationally — and sometimes literally.

Jitka Havlickova, a young artist from the Czech side, creates delicate drawings by maneuvering individual strands of human hair into intricate arrangements on old bathroom sinks. Sometimes looking like the whorls on a topographical map, other times reminiscent of Art Nouveau curlicues, and elsewhere laid out taut like a bar code, they are obsessive and beautiful objects. The white porcelain sinks and her use of the title Fountain invoke the aesthetic of Duchamp's famous urinal and also the precariousness of art, which in this case could disappear down a drain that connects to nowhere.

A different sensibility but a similar meticulous methodology is behind the elaborate jumble of strands and color-coded poker chips spilling forth from a wall-mounted map of Pasadena. This piece by L.A.-based artist Kim Abeles uses information-gathering techniques to examine the conception of public space.

Junctures in subject matter can be seen in pieces by Czech artist Vladimir Kokolia and California artist Deborah Aschheim. Kokolia's beautiful, meditative painting portrays the complex networks that exist in the natural world, and suggests a deep interconnectedness and vital communication pathways. Aschheim's drawing on display looks like a labyrinth of mutating human organs. It is a study for an intricate sculpture, Neural Architecture, which weaves motion sensors and closed circuit cameras into an intractable and relentless intrusion upon an individual.

There are perhaps as many differences as similarities to be found among works that share some formal approach or subject matter, and it is these points of divergence that make the show most compelling. This anniversary exhibition revitalizes a dialogue established 15 years ago and, at the same time, is refreshed with new voices and new connections.

Certain Traces: Dialogue Los Angeles/Prague 2004

at Sipkarna Ends Dec. 19. Pernerova 47-49 (near Thamova street), Prague 8-Karlin. Open Wed.-Sun. noon-6 p.m.

at Museum Kampa Ends Dec. 31. U Sovovych mlynu 2, Prague 1-Kampa Island. Open daily 10 a.m.-6 p.m.