Druhá část mezinárodní výstavy a festivalu politického umění.
The goal of this exhibition and its accompanying program is to present and further activate the potential of local artists whose work concerns issues of politics. Two of Prague’s contemporary art venues c2c and NoD will become “checkpoints” where various issues are checked and examined, not only those social and political, but also different regimes of art and “real” life. After all, political art often draws its impact from reaching into public spaces to interact directly with unaware and unsuspecting audiences.
Artists invited to participate are going to present their works dealing with various problems of (not exclusively Czech) society. The aim is to confront the upcoming generation of artists with already established artists and to map their choice of political themes which currently gained importance. The range of presented approaches and media is intentionally very wide spanning from painting, photography and objects through video, animation and concept to performances and social interventions.
The project is a loose continuation of the exhibition POLITIK-UM / New Engagement which has been organised by Center for Contemporary Art in Prague in cooperation with Goethe Institute and took place in Theresian wing of the Prague Castle. Controversies that accompanied the opening of this exhibition have revealed problematic issues of the past and present which trigger heated reactions in the majority of the Czech public such as the forced moving of Germans from the Czech border areas after the WWII, the influx of refugees, intolerance toward minorities or corruptibility of officials.
Exhibition CZECHPOINT returns after four years to the sphere of political art, aware of the fact that one doesn’t step twice in the same river. The global political scene has in many respects changed since 2002 and this experience is reflected in the works of young Czech and Slovak artists. Despite the increasing possibilities of interconnecting the local art scene and the global political issues, In Czech republic the art is often seen by both the professional and non-professional public as timeless and therefore strictly apolitical. The CZECHPOINT project is trying to challenge these ideas.
