Needle & Balloon | Exhibition at Synagogue-Center of Contemporary Art, curated by Michal Stolárik

Michal Stolárik | Curator, Art Critic And Art Writer

WHO IS MICHAL STOLÁRIK? Michal Stolárik is an independent curator, art critic, and art writer. Born in 1988, Michal lives and works in Bratislava, Slovakia. Since October 2019 he is a curator for the Ján Koniarek Gallery in Trnava, Slovakia. Between 2015 - 2016 he worked in Kunsthalle Bratislava and

Now I am in Your Head | Munchies Art Club MagazineDominique Catherina Foertig

NEEDLE AND BALLOON | GROUP SHOW AT SYNAGOGUE - CENTER OF CONTEMPORARY ART, TRNAVA, SLOVAKIA CURATED BY MICHAL STOLÁRIK

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The international exhibition Needle & Balloon is a response to the issue of fragility and related feeling of borderline tension.

It follows central motifs in the context of contemporary visual arts, emerging on the background of deliberations on economic systems, the alarming ecological situation, the state of our planet, and the impact of today’s decisions on our potential future.

The curator’s project (Michal Stolárik) focuses on a new-age emotionality and inner feelings, following inclinations towards personal mythology and renewed ideas of romanticism.

The exhibition goes hand in hand with the feelings of anxiety, melancholy, and sadness, and intriguing aspects of fiction, mysticism, unsettled reality, and a dystopian and post-apocalyptic atmosphere. 

The current ecological and political situation or state of society, marked by the context of recent period of at least two years, make contemplations on fragility more pressing than ever.

Such slogans as stability, value, and guarantee have lost their meaning.

After all, the impossible and unimaginable seems to be possible and real.

The group exhibition, anchored in the space, history, and the atmosphere of the Trnava Synagogue, is a selection of young and mid generation artists from Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Austria.

Connected to the topic of fragility in multiple layers, the multimedia selection naturally shifts from painting to sculptures, installations, and videos. The narratives of selected artworks, underlining transience of human life, and existence as such form a central motif of the project.

The chosen artworks speak about natural evolution, the end of the world or, alternatively, an impossible and unnatural effort to stop time and preserve the present.

The strong symbolism of motifs and materials used underscores the lyrical facet of the display of works, complemented by their formal aspects, with suggestive use of materials, their stability, durability, and visual representation.

Although the project does not offer a direct reaction to the history associated with the Jewish culture, or unrelenting echoes of global pandemics and wars, their presence remains to a subconscious memento, a warning finger of the exhibition itself. - Text by Michal Stolárik

PARTICIPATING ARTIST ARE:

APART collective, Radek Brousil, András Cséfalvay, Andrej Dúbravský, Ádám Horváth, Šimon Chovan, Yein Lee, Kristián Németh, Céline Struger, Adam Vačkář

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SELECTION OF ARTWORKS BY ARTISTS:

APART COLLECTIVE:

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ARTWORKS BY ANDRÁS CSÉFALVAY :

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SELECTION OF ARTWORKS BY ADAM VAČKÁŘ 

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YEIN LEE INSTALLATION

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VIDEO INSTALLATION BY RADEK BROUSIL

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INSTALLATION VIEW: ANDREJ DÚBRAVSKÝ 

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WORKS BY CÉLINE STRUGER 

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KRISTIÁN NÉMETH – MONUMENT

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ÁDÁM HORVÁTH

ŠIMON CHOVAN – DEAR THEARLINGS