Stojící, ležící
Dílo Václava Litvana se na první pohled jeví jako čistě sochařské, respektující hmotu materiálu i tradiční um. Stejně podstatná je pro jeho sochy hravost a nadsázka, pnutí mezi materiální i přenesenou tíží jejich formy a lehkostí nebo jemností otázek, které Litvanovy často monumentální realizace vyvolávají. Instalace vzniklá pro Galerii Kostka je inspirována zkoumáním performativního potenciálu sochy a možností pohybu přirozeně statického objektu.
„Snad každý někdy stěhoval starou skříň, a tak pochopí, že křídla načrtnutá na objektu vytvořeném z jejích částí svůj let jen předstírají,“ podotýká autor k jednomu ze svých děl. Jádrem výstavy je instalace připomínající kolotoč, jejíž ramena se ale taktéž nepohnou ani o píď. K pohybu je naopak donucen divák, který musí obcházet, podlézat či přelézat. Litvanovy sochy nakonec právě díky tomu v galerii ožívají, podobně jako se nám někdy zdá, že se nehýbe vlak, ve kterém sedíme, ale ve skutečnosti někam utíká okolní krajina.
Václav Litvan zároveň citlivě pracuje se siločarami monumentálního prostoru galerie. Navzdory vysokému stropu se instalace drží při zemi, pohrává si s polohou vleže a vestoje, s horizontální a vertikální linií. Tím také upozorňuje na prázdný prostor nad fyzickými objekty, na jejich touhu vzlétnout, změnit směr, obrátit uvažování vzhůru nohama. Gravitace je relativizována a žádná z možností není finální nebo závazná.
Instalace jako celek ale není jen abstraktní hrou s matematickými a energetickými principy. Každý objekt má vlastní tvář a charakter, i když obličeje utíkajících chlapců na velkorysém reliéfu jsou k nám otočeny zády a portrét z objektu připomínajícího zvětšeninu mince autor nakonec strhl, aby nechal divákům možnost projektovat si do prázdného pole libovolnou podobiznu vytaženou z vlastních představ. Socha gorily je inspirována pouťovou atrakcí, v Litvanově instalaci se ale vzdaluje ze středobodu pomyslně se otáčejícího kolotoče. V horizontální poloze evokuje oběť lidské bezohlednosti, ve vertikále naopak hrdě demonstruje vlastní triumf. A tak je to se vším. Horizontála může být bránou k říši snů nebo smrti, vertikála je symbolem života, směřování k vyšším cílům nebo lepším zítřkům. Horizontála je krajinou, vertikála vzduchem. Někdy se ale vzduch drží až nebezpečně blízko při zemi a útesy se tyčí kolmo směrem do nebe. Jedno se mění v druhé. Stojící, ležící, bdící, spící…
Karina Pfeiffer Kottová
- I wanted the installation to look geometrical or abstract at the beginning,00:00:01.189
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- then to pick up figurative and picture moments00:00:08.453
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- and finally to get to almost conceptual attitude to sculpture.00:00:13.546
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- Today we are opening Václav Litvan's exhibition called00:00:20.652
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- "Standing Up, Lying Down" in the Kostka Gallery.00:00:23.643
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- It's a performative potential symbol00:00:27.024
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- arising in a static object or installation.00:00:31.446
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- As a reaction to the last year's00:00:35.455
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- open call of the Kostka Gallery,00:00:38.683
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- Václav sent a project dealing with the theme of movement00:00:41.924
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- or tension between motionlessness and00:00:47.553
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- the potential of moving, flying,00:00:49.415
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- walking, crawling under and over.00:00:54.675
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- During the year he developed the project00:01:01.307
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- into an installation consisting of many parts.00:01:03.840
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- The main theme is a principle of00:01:08.483
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- an abstracted carousel or a fun fair attraction,00:01:10.938
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- which is also depicted in a photograph00:01:15.269
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- which becomes a part of one of the objects.00:01:19.534
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- Originally there was a statue of a gorilla00:01:24.030
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- on the top of the carousel.00:01:25.978
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- The gorilla lifts men into the air00:01:30.933
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- and presents a certain triumph.00:01:35.034
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- In this installation it lies on the floor00:01:37.869
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- and may symbolize death or sleep.00:01:40.771
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- Its horizontal and vertical position00:01:44.769
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- changes the meaning radically00:01:47.450
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- and also the context tension it appears in.00:01:50.452
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- It shows how a specific spatial situation relates00:01:55.621
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- to another objects and the exhibition on the whole.00:02:00.059
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- The whole project is about ambiguous possibilities.00:02:04.433
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- The project has a certain appearance,00:02:09.725
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- the objects are handmade and they are traditional sculptures00:02:12.425
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- but they also play with humour,00:02:21.848
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- exaggeration and they offer the viewers opportunity00:02:25.258
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- to relate to them motionally and at the same time00:02:28.938
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- to provide them with some face according to their ideas.00:02:32.109
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- Lately I have been inspired by sculptures in public space,00:02:38.328
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- especially the ones from the socialist realism era.00:02:44.057
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- I am interested in the shift and change of the meaning00:02:47.463
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- when you manipulate it or change the context.00:02:52.306
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- Inspiration for this relief comes from reliefs at Anděl metro station00:02:57.554
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- I was passing by on my way to the MeetFactory.00:03:01.213
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- There are two runners running towards00:03:05.261
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- the illustrious communist future,00:03:08.204
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- they remained there till today00:03:11.500
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- and most probably will stay on unless00:03:14.025
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- someone melts them down.00:03:15.844
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- I made an adapted dark version from tar,00:03:18.318
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- it's a dark ideological relief from a curious era.00:03:24.804
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- The figures aren't running towards us00:03:31.493
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- but they escape from us.00:03:33.564
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- One of the figures runs forward into an emptiness00:03:35.738
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- and the other one remains lying00:03:38.921
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- on the floor or it perhaps fell down.00:03:41.124
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- Part of the installation is a sheet metal object00:03:42.988
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- serving as a mini exhibitional panel for a photograph.00:03:47.329
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- I bent the panel and there is a picture00:03:53.491
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- of the relief, but it's bent.00:03:57.471
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- At the underground station the relief00:04:03.155
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- copies the shape of the tunnel.00:04:04.723
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- Centimetres play a big role there,00:04:07.723
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- if the relief is partly bent,00:04:11.302
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- it may make sense or provide a depth.00:04:13.487
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- I turned the depth into another direction,00:04:16.596
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- made this fold and it should look as if00:04:21.688
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- the figures stood calm at a fire,00:04:23.913
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- there is a fire in the middle...00:04:27.107
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- I am interested in a spatial version changing the meaning.00:04:29.886
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- It has also something to do with King Kong00:04:36.531
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- when the monster becomes a victim.00:04:38.827
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- Man scares himself and then kills animals.00:04:42.907
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- It's about the idea of killing and then erecting something as a bugbear.00:04:49.266
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- Triumphant moment is just a gesture00:04:56.861
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- we consider a triumph but in fact it's not.00:05:00.610
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- Paradoxically we included this object just formally,00:05:08.146
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- it appeared to me that everything circled00:05:11.697
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- around curves and geometric shapes.00:05:13.627
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- It's a sculpture of a coin,00:05:18.224
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- I counted on its performance potential of rolling it.00:05:22.284
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- It's a base for a relief, a huge coin,00:05:26.846
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- it's not finished, I still have been working on it.00:05:31.581
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- I can't decide on the motif and the way of making it.00:05:36.324
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- This is one of many versions I have created00:05:39.557
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- and then rubbed down or cut off.00:05:43.346
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- At this very moment the viewers can00:05:47.778
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- imagine what may go on there...00:05:49.632
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- The wing began the whole project,00:05:58.022
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- I started to discover the theme of movement00:06:01.203
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- in my work through it.00:06:04.192
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- Naturally sculpture depicts movement in static objects,00:06:06.629
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- if we ignore kinetic sculptures...00:06:09.874
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- I concern with the heavy mass idea and00:06:15.133
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- this started off the whole project.00:06:18.092