When the time swirls, when it turns into a black hole at Futura

Artists: O.B.De Alessi, Michael Salerno, Thomas Moore, Dennis Cooper, Laura Gozlan, Radek Brousil, Darja Bajagić

Exhibition title: When the time swirls, when it turns into a black hole

Curated by: Maija Rudovska

Venue: Futura, Prague, The Czech Republic

Date: December 4, 2019 – February 16, 2020

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Futura

The walls are pulsing
Haunting desires of strangers
Bodies start to merge *

The itching, uncomfortable, alien feeling in your body, when it’s carried through a dark tunnel of change, the turbulence the movement creates, the hallucinating vision you attain, the intolerable state that causes pain and misery combined with lucid longing.

I wanted to stage the experience of adolescence, the dreams and nightmares that one experiences when transitioning from one place to another – the awkwardness, the uncanniness and darkness this journey comprises. Adolescence is a season of fast-paced development – moral, social, physical, cognitive, and emotional transformation. Imagine a body, – a distorted body, half of the body, parts of a body, an unpleasant body, a beautiful body, an ugly body… can you tolerate it? It’s both scary and captivating in its strangeness and alienness.

The mindset of a teenager – how does it manifest itself? Is it a grotesque picture of reality? The imagination gone wrong or just wild? Another reality? I wanted to explore the subject of fear and horror during the states of transition and change, – the way they become alternate states for expression, resistance and even healing. What pathway they have and what footprint they leave. The poetics, humour and unpleasantness they entail. A teenager’s mind can be a portrait of a decade or a time, pointing to the power of transformative strength that goes alongside the chaotic dynamics characteristic of the times we live in. It can be also a space and a place for (imagined) language. Futura Gallery’s space, the basement, ofers a body for scenography and dramaturgy to this subject. The presence of a body as real (physical) and symbolic (psychological) is situated there in conversation with the language of architecture, revealing itself in various gestures and appearances.

-Maija Rudovska

*Thomas Moore, When People Die, 2018, published by Kiddiepunk

Thomas Moore, from the book “When People Die” (2018), Wall inscription by Radek Brousil (2019)

Darja Bajagić, Sample XXX Puzzle– Pin-up LandTM Cum-centration, (2013)

Laura Gozlan, Juveniles, Installation, variable dimensions, Metal structures, wax, dye, glassfiber, Acrystal resin, plaster, clamps, video loop on lcd display, stereo, sound piece, stereo (2019)