L’Atlas is pleased to announce its new collaboration with Slovakian gallery Zahorian & Van Espen.
The exhibition Eye of the storm, curated by Silvia Van Espen, will bring together ten artists from the contemporary Central European scene: Milan Adamčiak, Adéla Babanová, Jakub Choma, Juraj Kollár, Jaroslav Kyša, Vladimír Ossif, Lucia Papčová, Lucia Sceranková, Kateřina Vincourová and Sara Zahorjanová.

 

“Should artists collapse when the times are changing?”1

 

 

This question, posed in 1967 by Jonas Mekas, a Lithuanian filmmaker and poet in exile in the United States (1922-2018), resonates today in a unique way. It invites us to decipher the present by looking at what is no longer there or at what is passing away; not to worry about it, but to find a paradoxical source of encouragement. Because it is courage we need today, as Mekas has already emphasized in his Film Journal book: “Today it takes so much courage to believe in the future and that good will prevail!”

 

Today, more than ever, we reflect on our place in a world that is very quickly changing, threatened, and sometimes even threatening. It invites us to become more resilient, more effective, sometimes to the point of exhaustion. This world occupies us essentially, keeps us busy, and also worries us. Ultimately, it inhabits us; sometimes it completely overwhelms us, and we can’t move on. We are incentivized to meditate, to be Zen, to relax, to engage in personal development and therapy, to work on ourselves again and again, and to disconnect from the constant flow of online information…

 

Sometimes we feel helpless, disoriented, stuck in a dead end. Nature presents itself as an emergency exit or a possible third way. We go to the mountains, buy organic, tend to the garden, bathe in the sea, and travel to exotic destinations. And so we are increasingly confronted with various contradictions: city or countryside, remote work or local work, throwing away or sorting, buying or exchanging, plane or train, car or bicycle,…? We remain in permanent tension…

 

So should we leave “the world” (city, society, or even civilization)? We know very well it would hardly be possible, at least not for most of us. Perhaps we can move away from it a little, live on its edge, in less disturbed, less agitated areas. We can participate in the creation of oases, gardens, islets, and archipelagos where different societies intersect.

 

And be offline… We who hate emptiness, what kind of world will we live in now? And in what kind of future? Because who can predict what the coming months and years will bring? Who can have a clear vision of the future in these turbulent times? Do we not lack new plans or projects?

 

 

“The creation of works and of oneself refers man in an intimate act to prehistoric infinity, to the nothingness of determination from which man draws radical strength in the dispute and in the creativity that are intertwined.”2

 

Or, on the contrary, we can immerse ourselves in the heart of the city, in the middle of the zone of turbulence, at the confluence of tensions and currents. Stand in the ruptures of a fluctuating world. Perhaps we will be able to find the eye of the storm. As dervish dancers, as peaceful warriors, we will be able to practice the art of balance, calm our fears, forge bonds, and develop solidarity.

 

We can perceive the current situation as a challenge to develop the continuation of the story of our existence, to break free from the history that has always been written by the victors, to break free from the narrative of a system that is running out of breath, and to invent a previously unknown, new, and different logic and paradigms, or to risk other dreams. And this exhibition invites us to do so.

 

 

About Zahorian & Van Espen

 

ZAHORIAN & VAN ESPEN is a contemporary art gallery based in Bratislava. Since its foundation in 2011, it has become one of the leading galleries in the Central European region, representing both established artists and emerging talent. The gallery develops a programme based on a unique curatorial approach, seeking to connect local artists with the European art scene, both in its gallery spaces and at international fairs. The gallery is also dedicated to supporting the production of artworks and publishing catalogues and monographic editions dedicated to its artists.

 

 

 

1 “Les artistes doivent-ils s’effondrer quand les temps changent ? Pour saluer Jonas Mekas (1922-2018)”, in The Conversation, published: January 24, 2019.

2 Damascius le diabolique, Les premiers principes, Paris, ed.Ernest Leroux, 1898.