Oskar Čepán Award 2013
The Foundation of the Center of Contemporary Art announced the 18th competition for Slovak artists under 35 years – the prestigious Oskár Čepan Award 2013. An international committee selected four finalists: Radovan Čerevka (1980), Erik Sikora (1986), Martin Vongrej (1986), Zuzana Žabková (1987)
The Oskár Čepan Award is awarded for remarkable art expression, distinctive visual language, specific message and relevant reference within the context of contemporary Slovak art. The aim is to give support to talented young artists, as well as to dynamize the contemporary Slovak art scene and to present their work at home and abroad.
- I guess I'm not responsible for the jury's choice as an individual...00:00:00.951
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- However we selected and decided all the finalists together.00:00:06.397
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- We tried to choose artists who really appealed to us00:00:16.206
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- while presenting their portfolios...00:00:21.899
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- Zuzana Žabková was new to me, I hadn't known her before00:00:25.404
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- and I was captured by the work presented in her portfolio.00:00:30.931
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- I had a certain concern it might be based on the contemporary trendy way of work00:00:37.193
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- referring to modernism, theatre, dance and other performative forms00:00:45.985
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- in media reincarnation, so I was a bit worried,00:00:54.446
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- but it also appeared important to us that someone in Slovakia deals with it00:00:59.520
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- in a purposeful way and not just superficially...00:01:05.440
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- We suspected that Zuzana Žabková's systematic reference system00:01:10.676
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- was just based on a certain arbitrariness, we spoke about it00:01:17.013
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- and I called it "heading for ornament".00:01:24.582
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- Although it has a fixed rational plan, it results rather in an aesthetic whole00:01:27.898
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- which has all the layers, but they aren't sufficiently embodied into the work.00:01:36.685
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- For contemporary artists it would be problematic00:01:45.150
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- as they have to mention all the references in the report.00:01:47.997
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- All the references to modernism, personalities, choreography design etc.00:01:52.406
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- We selected Martin Vongrej with the knowledge of something imperceptible,00:02:02.538
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- his mysterious work is linked with a subjective mental space he deals with00:02:11.351
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- and which always prolapses in his installations...00:02:23.719
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- We find this method fascinating, although the viewers may often feel it far away.00:02:29.045
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- But experiencing something you can't get to the root of00:02:38.097
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- is an inspiring intellectual experience.00:02:46.078
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- His presentation doesn't embrace the way of his thinking00:02:52.736
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- with all the layers and diversifications.00:03:01.260
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- We consider it quite disadvantageous as there are many viewers who00:03:08.158
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- don't know Martin and his preceding work.00:03:15.381
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- Radovan has been a significant part of the art platform for a very long time,00:03:31.965
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- which was an important consideration for us.00:03:40.461
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- We wanted to take note of the fact00:03:44.583
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- we regard his work as complex and systematic.00:03:47.304
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- As for the exhibition we were quite sad00:03:52.699
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- because nobody was a hundred per cent successful00:03:56.831
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- and this also goes for the winner whose work we previously considered00:04:01.217
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- methodological as it pointed out phenomenons of media representation00:04:05.689
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- of certain features but it recently gained a controversial touch00:04:14.088
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- as if he started to express almost infantile fascination.00:04:23.146
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- I don't want to trivialize it but we could notice it00:04:33.351
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- at his recent work and I feel it didn't prove true00:04:37.655
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- in this case and his presentation is very dissociated and goes back to something00:04:41.382
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- Radovan has already rooted and we know he's capable of it.00:04:47.330
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- There still isn't much work by Erik Sikora, however we find his work stratified,00:04:54.721
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- not just funny and popular. It is inspiring as a research00:04:59.235
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- into basic principles of human creativity.00:05:04.812
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- I think he aims for a synthetic way of balancing contrasts00:05:11.600
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- such as banality, ordinariness and kitsch with seriousness, philosophy and pop,00:05:22.161
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- but at the same his work deals with important issues.00:05:29.926
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- As I already told him, I don't think he tried his best here as for the stratification00:05:35.122
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- and I guess his work may appear too funny as it refers00:05:46.517
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- to life and institutions too much, which is derogative00:05:51.181
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- and makes it impossible to catch on the other levels.00:05:54.936
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- I collected the most elegant stones from the lake00:06:01.684
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- and the whole summer I would take them on trips00:06:06.499
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- to different watersides and streams where00:06:09.266
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- I arranged them and took pictures of them...00:06:12.682
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- We were quite confused about the exhibition but we wanted to present the award00:06:16.032
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- and the jury repeatedly voted for two of the candidates,00:06:23.542
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- Radovan and Erik, and in the end we went for Radovan...00:06:30.942
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- In our statement we mentioned qualities such as systematic and00:06:35.521
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- long-lasting presence at the art platform...00:06:43.603