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By Tony Ozuna
For The Prague Post
May 30th, 2007 issue

Gross Domestic Product

at Prague City Gallery at Municipal Library Ends Aug. 19. Mariánské nám. 1 (entrance on Valentinská), Prague 1–Old Town. Open Tues.–Sun. 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

The carefully watched gross domestic product (GDP) measures the output of a country and is a strong indicator of its economic situation, especially in comparison with other countries. The exhibition “Gross Domestic Product” at the Municipal Library aims to examine the GDP of Czech contemporary art by featuring some of the best works made by younger artists over the past six years or so, with enough recent pieces (from 2006 and 2007) to offer something new even to those who are current to the scene.
The show, built around themes of “the economy, rationality and consumerism,” includes lots of videos — rows of them in private screening rooms — along with low-tech sculptures and installations and a few paintings. There is even some graffiti. Noticeably lacking is new-media experimentation, which could be due to the show’s themes, but is more likely a matter of money. Making use of the latest technology isn’t cheap.
Among the best of the lot is George Hladik’s video Adrenalin (2004), which shows a young driver zooming dangerously through the snow in the woods until he eventually crashes into a tree. He then looks straight into the camera, dazed and scared.
Jiří Černický’s Connections (2006) looks like complex electronic necessities, or the leftover mess from sloppy construction workers. The pieces are cleverly installed throughout the exhibition, conspicuously perched in corners or hanging from the ceiling and walls. With witty and nonsensical remarks written on plastic casings, Connections is a good gag, and one of the best contributions to the show.
Similarly placed in corners of various rooms is Jiří Franta’s Grease (2007), which consists of used pizza boxes with scraps of pizza still in them. But the opened cardboard boxes also contain pictures made from pizza grease — remarkably good images of street-fighting anarchists and other assorted figures.
Dominik Lang’s sculptures, made from socialist-era office furniture, are also distributed throughout several rooms. They include deconstructed wood cabinets, elegant in their rawness, along with site-specific towers carefully cobbled together from chairs, glass cabinets, refrigerators, tables, carpets and couches. It is an aesthetic based on historical cycles and found art.
Marcela Podzemná’s My Sarcophagus (2001) is a coffin-shaped house made of cigarette packages, beer mats and bottle caps. It is a modern Czech man’s gingerbread house of vice, effective for its combination of kitsch and verve.
The art collective Guma Guar, known for always hitting a raw nerve, contributes a “Václav Havel” signature on the gallery wall with a small bomb dropping from the “l” in Havel’s surname. This is done without irony, because Havel has evolved into an undeviating supporter of U.S. President George W. Bush’s foreign policy, including the installation of a U.S. radar system on Czech soil.
The standout of the show is Tomáš Svoboda’s Privacy (2007), which is dedicated to 43-year-old Petr Kellner, the richest Czech citizen, who has a reported net worth of 125 billion Kč ($6 billion) and placed No. 119 on Forbes’ 2007 list of the world’s richest people. The installation has a plaque detailing the story of how Kellner got his riches after 1989, and what he does with his money now. There is also an exclusive invitation to Kellner to enter a good-size room in the middle of the gallery, which was prepared only for him. There is a key to the room, which only Kellner can have (if he visits the gallery).
There are a few non-Czechs in this show, including Silvina Arismendi from Uruguay, Mark Divo from Switzerland via New York City and Berlin, Jan J. Kotík from New York and Slovaks Anetta Mona Chisa and Lucie Tkáčová with their brilliant video lesson titled What Is Capitalism? The point of including these artists, who are long-term residents of the Czech Republic, may be to remind viewers that foreigners are not only good for the economy, but are also good for the arts.
The exhibit does not deliver the type of anti-capitalist rant one might expect from a show with the same theme in, say, Germany, France or Italy. It does, however, provide an indicator of artists’ “performance” in this region over the past few years, and is particularly instructive in comparison with other countries and regions.
Is the domestic art scene’s GDP rising in output or in value, or is it in decline? Based on the works in this exhibit, it appears to be in a healthy state.

Tony Ozuna can be reached at features@praguepost.com


Other articles in Night & Day (30/05/2007):

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