DOX – Press releases

2010/14/1 František Matoušek: De Nimes

Press Release /14. 01. 2010
 
<h2>František Matoušek: de Nîmes </h2>
 
The DOX Centre for Contemporary Art wishes to announce that it will be holding an exhibition of paintings by František Matoušek from 15 January to 15 March 2010. This will be the first extensive show of Matoušek's works, which is surprising in view of the fact that he is one of the most significant Czech painters of the middle generation. 
 
Like his contemporaries at home and abroad, Matoušek frequently tackles the theme of memory. He does so, however, in a way that is strikingly personal and specific, particularly with respect to his choice of material and painting techniques. Matoušek paints on denim: jeans cloth. The name of the fabric betrays its historical origins (denim="de Nîmes" i.e. from the French city of Nîmes). In Matoušek's case, however, the choice of this material is not a reference to the earlier history of Europe but to the recent era of so-called "real socialism", i.e. the period when Matoušek was growing up and when denim symbolised a longing for a freer life.
Matoušek developed a special technique for working with this textile, which is a combination of manipulation of the fabric weave and application of acrylic pigment. Matoušek's style of painting also consists of his approach to the various genres within which he works - portraits, landscapes, urban exteriors or intimate interior scenes of family life. A key element is Matoušek's complex use of photographic and other pictorial sources, which is evident particularly in his portraits. For instance, in a painting based on an old family photograph he dresses the person portrayed in a jeans jacket. 
 
Another of his portraits is reminiscent in its concept to Picasso's Blue Period, although this is not the artist's intention and it is definitely not a quotation of any specific work. Matoušek's method might be described as "iconographic sandwiching", but an apter metaphor to describe his approach are those memory processes where collective and individual experience are linked in ever new and original ways. His works have a unique status on the Czech art scene in terms of their multiplicity of genres, technical innovation and original treatment of the theme of memory. They also beg interesting comparison with the output of his contemporaries in the rest of the world. For that reason Matoušek's oeuvre merits far greater attention from both local and foreign critics than it has received so far.
 
Partners of Centre DOX: City of Prague and TECHO, a.s. 
The Exhibition is supported by Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic. 
Media partner of the exhibition: Hospodářské noviny 
 
Accompanying programs take place on Mondays and Thursdays. For a complete program, please check www.doxprague.org.
 
 
CONTACTS:
DOX Centre for Contemporary Art 
Office 
Vojtěšská 8, 110 00 Praha 1 
T: +420 224 930 927 
E: info@doxprague.org
Exhibitions 
Poupětova 1a, 170 00 Praha 7 
www.doxprague.org
Opening Hours 
Tues: closed 
Wed - Fri: 11 – 19 
Sat - Mon: 10 – 18 
 
Publicity 
Mediareport, s.r.o. 
Terezie Kaslová 
E: kaslova@mediareport.cz 
media@doxprague.org 
T: +420 603 551 372
Hana Pokorná 
E: pokorna@mediareport.cz 
T: +420 728 270 521

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2009/22/10/ Jindřich Chalupecký Award 2009

<h3>PRESS RELEASE - Jindřich Chalupecký Award 2009</h3>
<h3>The 20th Annual Jindřich Chalupecký Award at the Centre for Contemporary Art DOX 
 
 
</h3>
On October 22, the 2009 Jindřich Chalupecký Award finalist exhibition will be opened at Dox, Centre for Contemporary Art in Holešovice, Prague. Forty nine artists or art groups have applied or have been nominated this year. The 2009 exhibition features work by five finalists selected by the jury: Tomáš Džadoň, the art duo of Jiří Franta and David Böhm, Petra Herotová, Alena Kotzmannová, Jiří Skála. Each finalist has created a new project for the exhibition which, in most cases, responds directly to the gallery space. The exhibition will run until January 10, 2010. 
 
This year's winner of the prize will be decided and later announced during a ceremony on November 12, 2009. The ceremony will take place as a staged theatre play written especially for this occasion by Michal Pěchouček, the 2003 Jindřich Chalupecký Award winner The 2009 prize winner will receive: 100.000 CZK to realize an exhibition, project or a catalogue (during the year 2010); six-week scholarship in New York (spring or autumn 2010) and 50,000 CZK cheque to support the artist’s future artistic development. A catalogue has been prepared to accompany the exhibition.
Finalists 
Tomáš Džadoň 
Playful installations by Tomáš Džadoň (born 1981) combine elements of folk architecture and socialist modernism with the spirit of the modern times. He mixes these contradictory but personally experienced aspects of the tradition into absurd collages. His works often confuse the audience. On the 4th floor of the gallery, Džadoň created a fictional space of a disassembled prefab flat where he had spent his childhood. The scale of the aesthetic kit corresponds to real proportions including details of the windows and the balcony. The installation includes a video of the infinite, bi-directional flow of a river.
Jiří Franta a David Böhm 
The art duo of Jiří Franta (born 1978) and David Böhm (born 1982) has already for some years worked with wall paintings. They have a feeling for monumental expression and a talent for the smallest detail. They shift the possibilities of painting presentation by combining painting and installations or texts. 
For Finalists 09 exhibition they created a wall painting on the 3rd floor of the Dox's tower. Part of it is is visible and part of it can be read only if lit up with a special flashlight.
Petra Herotová 
Drawing and video represent the basic means of artistic expression of Petra Herotová (born 1980). It is with the help of these techniques that she searches for the meaning of personal identity. In her art, contemporary conceptual strategies are applied on family problems and everyday life. In Dox she will exhibit an installation called Petra Herotová based on a peculiar research by the artist related to an identity of a person with the same name.
Alena Kotzmannová 
Photographs by Alena Kotzmannová (born 1974) are characteristic for their elegance, delicacy and narrative charge. Their resemblance to paintings alludes to the classics of the Czech photography school. Their sophisticated installation is used as independent artistic means of expression. 
The artist's installation will most likely be a surprise for the audience. Her new project is represented by a monumental rusty boat with a curious modern building on the terrace of the gallery. "Brothels and colonies are two extreme types of heterotopia, and if we think, after all, that the boat is a floating piece of space, a place without a place, that exists by itself, that is closed in on itself and at the same time is given over to the infinity of the sea and that, from port to port, from tack to tack, from brothel to brothel, it goes as far as the colonies in search of the most precious treasures they conceal in their gardens, you will understand why the boat has not only been for our civilization, from the sixteenth century until the present, the great instrument of economic development (I have not been speaking of that today), but has been simultaneously the greatest reserve of the imagination. The ship is the heterotopia par excellence. In civilizations without boats, dreams dry up, espionage takes the place of adventure, and the police take the place of pirates". Michel Foucault. Of Other Spaces (1967), Heterotopias.
Jiří Skála 
Jiří Skála (born 1976) is not afraid to experiment and embark on incalculable adventures. Compared to last year, when he was also a finalist, Skála has freed himself even more radically from the language of visual art to embrace experimental forms of literature. In his installation on the first floor of the Dox's tower he combines video and literary texts and gives a summary of his last year's linguistic, philosophico-artistic experiments.
 
Members of the 2009 jury are: 
Suzanne Altmann, independent curator, Germany, jury chair 
Ondřej Chrobák, curator, GASK Gallery/The Central Bohemian Gallery, Czech Republic 
Mira Keratová, curator a art theoretician, Slovakia 
Pavel Liška, chancellor of the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design, Czech Republic 
Jan Merta, artist, Czech Republic 
Joanna Mytkowska, director of the Warsaw Museum of Modern Art, Poland
 
Exhibition co-ordination: Lenka Lindaurová, Dan Merta, Tomáš Pospiszyl, Irena Šorfová and Dana Tomášová. 
Graphic design: Jan Šerých 
 
Partners and media partners of Jindřich Chalupecký Award: 
Ministerstvo kultury České republiky, Reflex, The Foundation for a Civil Society, Trust for Mutual Understanding, Taprint, Meetfactory, E15, Flash Art, artyčok.tv and Art&antiques. 
 
Special thanks to: Gema Art, Neue Galerie Graz, Universalmuseum Joanneum, Galerie města Blanska, tranzitdisplay , ENIAC digital cinema Jiří Staněk, Monogramista T.D., Jozef Sekula PISA, Aleš Uherka and CIDEM Hranice 
 
Partners of DOX: The City of Prague and TECHO, a.s. Financial support od Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.
Contact 
DOX Centre for Contemporary Art 
Office 
Vojtěšská 8, 110 00 Praha 1 
E: media@doxprague.org 
Tel: +420 224 930 927 
Exhibitions 
Poupětova 1a, 170 00 Praha 7 
www.doxprague.org 
 
Side programs take place on Mondays and Thursdays. For a complete program, please check www.doxprague.org
Publicity: 
Terezie Kaslová 
E: kaslova@mediareport.cz 
T: +420 603 551 372 
or: media@doxprague.org
Mediareport, s.r.o.
Kontakt Jindřich Chalupecký Award: 
Lenka Lindaurová 
E: lenkalindaurova@seznam.cz 
T: 777 553 652
www.jchalupecky.cz

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2009/20/08/ The exciting Fall Season at the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art

Press Release August 20, 2009 
 
This Fall, visitors to the DOX centre in Prague-Holesovice will be able to see an impressive exhibition of Douglas Gordon and the contraversial sculpture Entropa by David Cerny, as well as seven new exhibition projects. They can also attend lectures, participate in discussions, and generally enjoy themselves on the premises.
One of the most respected living multimedia artists, Douglas Gordon creates works in film, video, photography, text, and sound installations. Produced by DOX, the Douglas Gordon exhibition Blood, Sweat, Tears is on display until September 27., accompanied by a series of lectures on the subject of memory and its representation in the visual arts, and on the complex relations between film and art. There is also a mini-festival of films selected by the artist to be held at the Ponrepo Cinema on September 13 and 14. 
 
In collaboration with The Fifth International Biennale Industrial Traces 2009, DOX will present the third annual exhibition of projects on the subject of the conversion industrial architecture landmarks, by students of Czech art and architectural schools (October 1 – November 1). 
 
The exhibition My Europe features works by 40 contemporary Czech artists from the fields of architecture, design, and art, each of whom utilized different media to express their personal take on the notion of Europe and the European Community (October 6 – November 18). 
 
Czech artist David Cerny‘s multimedia kinetic sculpture Entropa, on view until January 4, 2010, presents a sardonic reflection on stereotypes associated with individual European countries. It also allows DOX visitors to give the thumbs-up or thumbs-down to this controversial work by using ballots available at the Centre or by casting a vote online at www.tyden.cz. 
 
The core of the DOX Fall Season comprises exhibitions that commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Communist regime through thought-provoking installations that examine the current and communist methods of persuasion. Tomorrow Starts Yesterday highlights an encounter of past and present by juxtaposing found moving and still images. For instance, it brings together two monumental video installations – one using documentary footage of a Communist military parade in Prague in 1955 produced in a &bdquo;Hollywood style“, the other showing the closing sequence of the internationally acclaimed Czech Dream, a 2004 documentary account of a fictitious supermarket. The conjunction of the political and commercial modes of persuasion also appears in the installation by the group Pode Bal, which lays bare different aspects of propaganda and advertising (October 7 – November 23).  
 
The StB Registry of Persons of Interest installation  (the acronym stb stands for Statni bezpecnost, the former State Secret Police) harnesses devices of contemporary art to examine one of the most contentious topics of post-Communist society. It takes on the explosive subject of access to the archives of the Communist Secret Police, while bringing attention to the increasingly ubiquitous phenomenon of surveillance (November 11, 2009 – February 28, 2010). 
 
The DOX centre is proud to host the Chalupecky Award 2009 exhibit, featuring works by six nominated artists (two of them work as a team) and marks the 20th anniversary of the Chalupecky Prize (October 23, 2009 – January 10, 2010). The winner will be announced on November 12. 
 
In December, DOX will launch two exhibitions devoted to the Hotel Chelsea in New York, the legendary home to many important artists, writers, filmmakers, actors, and composers. The hotel became famous as the intersection of different lives, cultural legends, social and artistic developments, weaving together a fascinating story of the modern age. The exhibition Chelsea Hotel: Ghosts of Bohemia highlights three artists who represent three different generations of American bohemia and its development in the late 20th century: Harry Smith, Andy Warhol, and Robert Mapplethorpe. The exhibition also includes films and videos by Jonas Mekas and Michel Auder ( December 4 – March 7, 2010). 
 
Julie Calfee: Inside, The Chelsea Hotel features works by an American photographer who captured the hotel’s unique atmosphere in a series of images that are on display for the first time in an extensive exhibit. Lectures, readings, and screenings organized in conjunction with the two exhibitions will familiarize the public with leading bohemians. It will also address the question of bohemianism today and the role of this lifestyle-cum-ideology in the 20th century (December 4, 2009 – February 15, 2010). 
 
 
Contact 
DOX Centre for Contemporary Art 
Office 
Vojtěšská 8, 110 00 Praha 1 
E: <a href="mailto:media@doxprague.org">media@doxprague.org</a> 
Tel: +420 224 930 927 
 
Exhibitions 
Poupětova 1a, 170 00 Praha 7 
www.doxprague.org 
 
Hours 
Tues: closed 
Wed - Fri: 11 – 19 
Sat - Mon: 10 – 18 
 
Lectures and presentations take place on Mondays and Thursdays. For a complete program, please check <www.doxprague.org></www.doxprague.org> 
 
Publicity: 
Terezie Kaslová 
E: media@doxprague.org 
nebo kaslova@mediareport.cz 
T: +420 603 551 372 
Mediareport, s.r.o.

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2009/07/10/ My Europe

PRESS RELEASE 
My Europe 
Czech Contemporary Art and Design Exhibition in DOX Prague 
 
October 8 – November 2009Text: Eva Eisler, Jiří Rosenkranz 
 
After its successful premiere in Brussels, the My Europe exhibition is on its way to Prague. Eva Eisler and the Czech Centres will present it at the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art from October 7 until November 18, 2009. The participating artists, selected for the project by curator Eva Eisler, have addressed the concept of Europe and the European community with a variety of media and methods. 
 
Individual views of Europe by a wide group of artists fit within the concept of the European Year of Creativity and Innovation as declared for 2009 by the European Union, the exhibition’s original initiator. “When selecting the artists for My Europe, my approach was to create a community of strong personalities active in different areas of art, architecture and design and to get them to treat a joint theme by creating works which might reach outside their customary style both formally and conceptually. At the same time, all of the artists have maintained their unique style of expression and conveyed their personal attitude to Europe and the European project,” says Eva Eisler, the show’s organizer, curator and architect, of the show’s concept. 
 
The artists invited to join the project constitute a wide spectrum, from members of the student generation to world-renowned personalities. From their disparate works, the curator has created a single whole expressing the idea of the European Union as an unfinished puzzle of individual pieces that, together, will slowly form a future European unity. 
The participating architects and designers were able to express their relationship to the Old Continent entirely on their own terms. For example, Petr Nikl created a pair of ‘eyeglasses for dreaming’ while architects Josef Pleskot and Jan Kaplický are represented by delicate jewelry pieces. Among other artists represented are Veronika Bromová, Milan Cais, Václav Cigler, Federico Díaz, Jiří Kovanda, Tomáš Medek, Jakub Nepraš, Rudolf Netík, Jiří Pelcl, Maxim Velčovský, as well as the show‘s curator, Eva Eisler. 
The assignment for each artist was to create an object whose dimensions would not exceed 50 cm in any direction. The works are placed in glass vitrines arranged in a 25 meter-long line to form a kind of stationary train. The choice of artists suggests that inside the train a dynamic dialogue is taking place. The overall effect is that of a surprisingly cohesive collection of individual works that nonetheless testify to the singular approach and views of each artist. 
 
The installation exudes a calm elegance and draws viewers in through its inner harmony. The exhibition also entails an installation of photographs mounted on aluminium panels where each participant is represented by one major work, adding to the dynamics of artistic confrontation. The installation is variable, easily assembled and transportable. 
 
“My Europe is a project which cultivates within itself the views of personalities from the fields of architecture, design, and contemporary art. This concept ideally corresponds with the mission of DOX, namely crossing the borders between individual disciplines,” says Leoš Válka, director of the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art. 
 
To complement the exhibition, the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art will stage a public Q&A with Eva Eisler on November 18, 2009, starting at 6 p.m.; the Q&A is part of an ongoing series on Czech design. The exhibition’s premiere in Brussels and its Prague installation are achieved with financial support from the Czech Centres and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, who are also the project’s official partners. 
 
 
For more information contact: 
 
Oddělení komunikace Českých center 
Česká centra 
Václavské nám. 816/49 
110 00 Praha 1 
 
Jiří Rosenkranz M.A. Radka Labendz 
e-mail: komunikace@czech.cz e-mail: komunikace@czech.cz 
tel.: 234 668 253 tel.: 234 668 252 
GSM: 724 722 623 GSM: 606 785 252 
 
A detailed programme of the Czech Centres is available online at www.czechcentres.cz. 
 
------ 
DOX Centre for Contemporary Art 
Office and mailing address 
Vojtěšská 8, 110 00 Praha 1 
Tel: +420 224 930 927 
Exhibition Space address 
Poupětova 1, 170 00 Praha 7, CZ, www.doxprague.org 
 
Press contact: 
Terezie Kaslová 
E: kaslova@mediareport.cz nebo media@doxprague.org 
T: +420 603 551 372 
or 
Hana Pokorná 
E: pokorna@mediareport.cz 
T.: +420 728 279 521 
 
------ 
 
DOX Centre for Contemporary, Architecture and Design 
DOX Centre for Contemporary Art is an independent non-profit institution situated in Prague – Holešovice , Czech Republic presenting international contemporary art, architecture and design. The unique project in the Czech Republic opened in October 2008r. Mission of the centre is to present and advance contemporary art in the context of issues that are changing today´s world. 
 
The Czech Centres 
The Czech Centres’ mission is to advance the dialogue of cultures between the Czech Republic and the international public, and to promote the Czech Republic’s culture, sciences and humanities, education, trade, and tourism. The Czech Centres operate 24 centres located in the world’s major capitals across 21 countries and 3 continents. The Czech Centres are funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. During the six months of the Czech Republic’s EU presidency, the Czech Centres held over 1,500 events that were attended by one million people. 
In 2009 the Czech Centre Tel Aviv began operations under the leadership of director David Stecher. The centre’s gala opening is scheduled for autumn of 2009. 
 
Eva Eisler 
A prominent Czech-American designer and artist active in the areas of jewellery design, interior design, architecture and visual art. Eisler currently heads the metals department at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. Eisler’s work is represented in many international public collections, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum and Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, and Musee des Beaux Arts, Montreal.

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2009/30/09/ Acceptance – Intervention – Destruction in DOX Centre

Acceptance – Intervention – Destruction. Delineation of three approaches to the industrial heritage of the past, but at the same also three thematic lines of a third exhibition of alternative projects by students. The AID Exhibition, presenting the approach of young architects to the values of industrial heritage in the context of contemporary thinking in architecture, will be open from October 1 through November 1 in the Centre for Contemporary Art DOX.Press Release /30. 09. 2009 
 
Acceptance – Intervention – Destruction in DOX Centre 
 
Acceptance – Intervention – Destruction. Delineation of three approaches to the industrial heritage of the past, but at the same also three thematic lines of a third exhibition of alternative projects by students. The AID Exhibition, presenting the approach of young architects to the values of industrial heritage in the context of contemporary thinking in architecture, will be open from October 1 through November 1 in the Centre for Contemporary Art DOX. 
 
“In addition to its true meaning, emphasizing help to and support for the Czech industrial heritage, that has doubtless come to be quite urgent over the past few years, the name AID is an acronym for three strategies and trains of thought most frequently applied in the course of conversion, namely, acceptance, intervention, and destruction,” explains Exhibition Curator Petr Vorlík. Coauthor Tomáš Šenberger notes: “Conversion is almost always associated with intervention in the original building substance, but the extent of intervention ensues from the conditions of conversion, character and form of building protection and by and large also the inner attitude (aggressiveness) of the author.” 
 
The AID Exhibition, a part of the 5th International Biennial, Vestiges of Industry was organized by the Research Centre for Industrial Heritage of the Czech Technical University in Prague (ČVUT) in conjunction with DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, ČVUT Faculties of Architecture and Civil Engineering, the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (VŠUP), FUA TU Liberec, and other organizations. Students have come up with original conversions of many buildings that either await further uses or face demolition. The projects on display include the long-debated Nuselský mlýn, Braník Icehouses, Florian Schmidt Textile Mill in Krnov, railway station in Ústí nad Orlicí, or Český Těšín Malt House. 
 
 
The exhibition of students’ projects to give a new lease on life to industrial heritage marks the peak of the 5th International Biennial, Vestiges of Industry 2009. “The projects raise new challenges inspired by current debates on endangered industrial buildings,” says Benjamin Fragner, one of the chief organizers of the biennial. “They perceive the limit situation of the decaying industrial age that we experience as a spent industrial compound turns into an endangered cultural monument. They attempt to come to terms with the heritage that we have yet to fully understand and that we touch with reluctance. The architectural visions presented should help us understand, grasp and reappraise this heritage.” 
 
One of the side events in Café DOX is a polemical discussion on October 15, anchored by Benjamin Fragner, one of the chief organizers of the Vestiges of Industry Biennial, and Curator Petr Vorlík. To obtain more information on the side events, please visit www.doxprague.org. 
 
The Vestiges of Industry Biennial is jointly organized by the ČVUT Research Centre for Industrial Heritage and the ČKAIT & ČSSI College for Technical Monuments in conjunction with the Czech ICOMOS National Committee, National Monument Institute, and the Ecotechnical Museum. In cooperation with the British Council, we are scheduling a conference under the keynote: Industrial Heritage in Professional-Amateur Vacuum. The 5th International Biennial, Vestiges of Industry is financially supported by the International Visegrad Fund (IVF). Complete information about the program of the Vestiges of Industry Biennial 2009 is available on www.industrialnistopy.cz. 
 
Partners of DOX Centre: Capital City of Prague and TECHO 
DOX Centre programs are financially supported by the Ministry of Culture. 
Media Partner of DOX Centre: Hospodářské noviny 
 
 
CONTACTS: 
DOX Centre for Contemporary Art 
Office Address (mailing address): 
Vojtěšská 8, 110 00 Praha 1 
T: +420 224 930 927 
E: info@doxprague.org or media@doxprague.org 
Exhibition space: 
Poupětova 1a, 170 00 Praha 7 
www.doxprague.org 
(Tram: 5, 12, tram stop Ortenovo náměstí, Metro: Nádraží Holešovice) 
 
Public Relations/ DOX Centre: 
Terezie Kaslová, E: kaslova@mediareport.cz or media@doxprague.org 
T: +420 603 551 372 
Hana Pokorná, E: pokorna@mediareport.cz 
T: +420 728 279 521 
 
Contacts for the Vestiges of Industry Biennial 2002: 
SMART Communication s.r.o. 
Silvie Marková & Lucie Čunderliková 
T/F: +420 272 657 121 
M: +420 733 538 889 / +420 604 748 699 
E: office@s-m-art.com 
www.industrialnistopy.cz

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2009/11/06/ Entropa by David Černý at DOX

Dox is a place, where the unpredictability of art is a value that allows an unexpected contribution. The project Entropa and its story is a clear example„Dox is a place, where the unpredictability of art is a value that allows an unexpected contribution. The project Entropa and its story is a clear example,“ says Leoš Válka, director of DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, where the sculpture of David Černý will be exhibited from June 12 to January 4, 2010. 
 
Famously controversial work, which the sculptor created to mark the Czech presidency of the European Union Council in Brussels, can be finally reviewed by the Czech citizens. 
For the duration of the exhibition at centre DOX, the visitors can here directly vote, whether they like or dislike Entropa. Their views can be expressed also at www.tyden.cz. 
The sculpture, which provocatively addresses the stereotype themes relating to each EU country, aroused many emotional discussions in the Czech Republic and the world as well. It iritated some Bulgarians – the „turkish“ squat toilet „representing“ Bulgaria had to be covered. 
The Public can look forward to a whole array of supporing activities. For example, there will be discussions about what does Europe mean for us. Another theme will be the promotion of Czech culture abroad. Exactly in this area did David Černý do already so much for the Czech Republic. According to the British newspaper The Guardian, the sculpture is, from its marketing point of view, unbelievably successful – not many art works are able to capture the main news all over Europe! 
Černý mystified even the Czech government, since he presented the sculpture as the work of 27 European artists. In reality, Krištof Kintera a Tomáš Pospiszyl helped him create imaginary websites of non-existing fictional colaborators. Černý later apologized and added: „We knew that the truth will be revealed. We just wanted to know before that moment, whether Europe is able to laugh at itself. At the start there was a question, what do we really know about Europe.“ The sculpture Entropa „ is a parody of the socially activistic art, which balances on the edge between would-be controversial attacks on national character and an undisturbing decoration of official spaces“, said the author. 
 
Partners of Centre DOX: City of Prague and TECHO, a.s. 
Media partner of the exhibition: weekly magazine Týden 
The Exhibition is supported by Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic. 
 
 
David Černý 
 
In his work, David Černý often uses grotesque exaggeration and mystification, since he considers them rightfully as authentic tools of (not only) contemporary art. Let us recall the excitement caused by the Pink tank – the painted-over military tank– memorial to the Soviet army in Prague’s Smichov, in pink color (1991). This politically motivated action had a far reaching media coverage. Controversially can be also viewed Viselec- the Hanging man (1996) in Prague‘s Jilska Street or St. Wenceslas in the passage of Lucerna (1999) hanging upside down. More acceptably were viewed the giant Ten Babies placed at Žižkov TV tower (2001). A series of bronze models from the Czech history called Czech nativity scene can be seen at the Automotive Museum in Wolfsburg. Černý‘s works also include the interactive fountain in Prague‘s Herget Brick Mill (Hergetova cihelna), bus stop in Liberec or head accessible from behinds outside the Prague gallery Futura. Many financially-demanding and provocative works remain unrealized. 
And how was the beginning of this famous artist? He studied design and sculpture at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design (Vysoká škola uměleckoprůmyslová) in Prague. With the independent scene at the end of the 80s and the beginning of the 90s he was creating instalations and performances, and participated in the activities of Bullshitfilm. At that time he was exhibiting under the Stalin’s memorial and created Flying dollars for the Museum of Andy Warhol in Medzilaborce. His first greater public reception came with his sculpture Walking Trabant at Staroměstské náměstí (1990). He tried to agitate the public opinion through the mystifying event The Day of Killing in Madrid and London as part of the festival Edge 92. After the exhibition at Špálova galerie in 1993, Černý lived two years in New York (1994 - 1996). He exhibited at the Ronald Feldman gallery and participated in the traveling exhibition Beyond Belief. Upon his return he collaborated even in film projects 
 
 
Other current and planned exhibitions at DOX centre 
 
 
Douglas Gordon: Blood, sweat, tears – until September 27. An extensive exhibition of the work of one of the world’s most respected representatives of contemporary art, Scottish artist Douglas Gordon. 
 
Fourteen S – Fourteen artists present fourteen themes influencing human relations, families, community and systems, which are formally connected with the letter S. Exhibition runs through August 16. 
 
DOXNANO – until July 9, the project represents the colaboration of artists with scientific teams and workplaces in the sphere of new material technologies and at the same time it maps Czech artists who deal with new visual arts discipline, nanoART, and the thought concept of nano. 
 
 
 
Contacts 
 
 
Centre for Contemporary Art DOX 
Address of the office 
Vojtěšská 8, 110 00 Praha 1 
Tel: +420 224 930 927 
E: media@doxprague.org 
 
Address of the exhibition spaces 
Poupětova 1a, 170 00 Praha 7 
www.doxprague.org 
 
Open hours 
Mon: 10 – 18 
Tue: closed 
Wed - Fri: 11 - 19 
Sat - Sun: 10 - 18 
 
Public relations: 
2media.cz, s.r.o. 
Terezie Kaslová 
E: terezie@2media.cz 
T: +420 603 551 372 
www.2media.cz

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2009/03/06/ DOUGLAS GORDON: blood, sweat, tears

Press Release JUNE 03.2009 
 
Douglas Gordon: Blood, Sweat, Tears 
 
 
From the 4th of June to the 27th of September 2009, DOX Centre for Contemporary Art presents an extensive exhibition of Scottish artist Douglas Gordon, one of the world’s most respected representatives of contemporary art. 
 
Gordon’s work was part of the invasion of moving images into galleries and museums, which transformed the white cube of gallery space into a black box in the 1990s. However, Gordon’s use of the moving image has never been driven by technology, but rather by his interest in perception, which he considers his central theme. He often examines the issues of memory and identity by manipulating images through slow motion, splicing, mirroring, and doubling. These methods not only refer to the efforts of contemporary neuroscience, but also bring to mind the work of the most significant Czech scientist of the 19th century, Jan Evangelista Purkinje, who paved the way to the rise of moving images in his studies of apparent movement and other subjective phenomena. In addition to film and video, Gordon uses other media, including audio and text installations or photographs. He frequently links questions of perception and interpretation with moral principles, demonstrating how concepts like truth and falsehood or good and evil are deeply anchored in our perception of time and space. 
 
Gordon’s 24 hours Psycho (1993) is an important example in this respect. It is a take on Hitchcock’s film classic that is both simple and complex. By slowing down the movie projection almost to a halt, Gordon takes the narrative drive away from the movie to reveal stories that were hidden on a subliminal level and that add new dimension to the original narrative. Hitchcock’s masterpiece is deconstructed while new viewings and readings are made possible. Gordon achieved this paradoxical feat by foregrounding the technical and physiological basis of cinema, the fact that our brain transforms a stream of still images into an apparent or virtual moving image. 
 
Like 24 Hour Psycho (1993), its new version 24 hour psycho back and forth and to and fro (2008), presented in Europe for the first time, slows down the projection of Hitchcock’s classic to a duration of 24 hours. This forces the viewer to relate the projected scenes to recollections of the original film and the time of the film to real time. In addition, the artist uses the reverse-projection technique and doubles the narrative as if reflected in a mirror, contradicting the arrow of time. 
 
Feature Film (1999) draws attention to the significance of film score, using the example of Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock (1958). The film’s soundtrack is complemented by the artist’s video of conductor James Conleon, as he directs the Paris Opera Orchestra’s performance of Bernard’s Hermann’s original score. 
 
Play Dead; Real Time (2003) juxtaposes motion with immobility as a symptom of death. The panning camera captures a trained elephant that plays dead and stands up on command within the confines of a white gallery space. 
 
10ms-1 (1994) explores the theme of memory and body motion by appropriating vintage medical footage of a soldier from World War I who repeatedly attempts to stand up, and fails. The title represents the equation that expresses the rate of acceleration of a falling human body. 
 
The most extensive installation in the exhibition is Pretty Much Every Film and Video Work From About 1992 Until Now, to Be Seen on Monitors, Some With Headphones, Otheres Run Silently and All Simultaneously. As the title indicates, the installation presents a concise retrospective of Gordon’s film and video work for the last 17 years, highlighting the artist’s major themes and formal methods. 
 
30 Seconds Text (1996) contains a report by a French doctor written in the first person. It describes an experiment conducted on the head of a criminal decapitated by guillotine. The text is illuminated for 30 seconds, which, according to the doctor, is the amount of time the human brain can continue responding after decapitation. 
 
The exhibition also includes the artist’s numerous text installations. The most complex, Zidane, Portrait of the 21st Century (2006), a documentary feature about the legendary football player, was created in collaboration with Philippe Parreno and presented at the Cannes film festival. For the duration of 90 minutes of the match between Real Madrid and Villarreal, 17 cameras focused on one of the best football players in recent history, Zinedane Zidane, and captured his gestures, emotions and movements. The film is shown at the OKO movie theatre in conjunction with the exhibition. 
 
Douglas Gordon has had more than 100 solo exhibitions on almost all continents and has received many prestigious international prizes, including: the Turner Prize (1996), the Venice Biennale Prize (1997), the Hugo Boss Prize (1998) and the Roswitha Haftmann Prize (2008). Beside shows in New York’s MOMA (2006) and the Guggenheim Museum in Berlin (2005), there were exhibitions of his work at the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh and the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg (2007). 
 
DOX has organized a series of lectures on the subjects of memory and perception in conjunction with the exhibition. The film program at the Ponrepo movie theatre is organized in collaboration with the National Film Archives in Prague. 
 
The exhibition is accompanied by a publication with texts by Jaroslav Andel, Artisitic Director at DOX, Keith Hartley, Chief Curator at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Edinburgh, and Israel Rosenfield, Professor of History at the City University of New York. 
 
Partners of DOX Centre: City of Prague and TECHO, a.s. 
Exhibition Partners: AV MEDIA, Hotel Maximilian 
 
 
Present and future exhibitions 
 
David Černý: Entropa – from June 12, 2009 till January 4, 2010. 
 
Fourteen S /sorrow / solitude / sex / superego / concentration /dream 
/centre /connection/shadow/ fear/ meet/ shelter/ context/ death/ - till September 16, 2009. 
 
DOXNANO! – from June 5, 2009 till July 9, 2009 
 
 
Contacts 
 
DOX Centre for Contemporary Art 
Office: 
Vojtěšská 8, 110 00 Praha 1, Czech Republic 
Tel: +420 224 930 927, E: media@doxprague.org 
 
Exhibition space: 
Poupětova 1, 170 00 Praha 7 Holešovice, CZ 
www.doxprague.org 
 
Opening hours 
Mon 10 am- 6 pm 
Tues closed 
Wed-Fri 11 am – 7 pm 
Sat-Sun 10 am – 6 pm 
 
Contact – press servis: 
2media.cz, s.r.o. 
Terezie Kaslová 
E: terezie@2media.cz 
T: +420 603 551 372 
www.2media.cz

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DOXNANO

Press release 
 
10-9 m 
 
DOX NANO! 
 
Centre for Contemporary Art DOX, Holešovice, Prague 
5. 6. – 9. 7. 2009. 
 
Exhibition DOX NANO! is focused on artistic visualization of the nanocosmos, space of the dimension 10-9 m. The works of eighteen artists present nanotechnology, nanostructures and nanosystems as a tool and source of concept ideas as well as new understanding of reality. Focusing the different behavior of matter at the dimension of one billionth of a meter offers an excellent visual language for communication as well as new opportunities to formulate the old questions about the meaning of human existence. 
 
DOXNANO! exhibition is accompanied by: 
a) popularization lectures on nanotechnology and third culture 
b) guided tours of artists participating in the project NANOSKOP 
c) nanoLAB by student David Černý – an art installation of scanning confocal microscope, mechanical nanoSPIDER, Detox COLOR, nanoDOG and other art oddities of the nanocosmos. 
 
 
The exhibition is commencing a series of artistic events developed within the scope of the project NANOSKOP such as METRONANO! – nanoART in Prague Metro, MAKRONANO! – at Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry AS ČR, EASTNANO – at University of Pardubice. 
 
The project NanoSKOP by TESLA Union represents outcome of the workshops between Czech artists and scientists in the form of contemporary artworks dealing with nanoART and broader concepts of the nano dimension. 
 
The nanotechnology inspired artworks point to the present day scientific conferences on nanotechnology in the Czech Republic such as NICOM3, EuroNanoForum2009, Prague Meetings on Macromolecules. Consequently the NanoSKOP project serves also as a genuine artistic and communication outreach of these conferences. 
 
Press conference will be held on the 2nd June 2009 at 11.00 at the Centre for Contemporary Art DOX, cafe 
 
Contact person: Ing. Saša Prokopová, sasaprokop@seznam.cz; MgA.2 Roman Kudlacek gsm: 605742737; MgA Adolf Lachman gsm: 777 661 267, info@adolflachman.cz,; Mgr. Alexandr Prokop gsm: 774 143 458, prokop.alex @ seznam.cz

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14 S

Press Release MAY 22.2009 
 
Fourteen S 
 
This unusual exhibition, titled 14 S, organized by DOX Centre for Contemporary Art in conjunction with the civic group Schrodinger’s Cat along with the Czech Society for Psychoanalytical Psychotherapy and the Czech Centres. Fourteen artists will exhibit work, which affect human relationships, families, societies and systems which are formally connected (in the Czech language) by the letter S. The exhibition will take place between May 23, 2009 and the 16th of August 2009.fourteen S 
/sorrow / solitude / sex / superego / concentration /dream 
/centre /connection/shadow/ fear/ meet/ shelter/ context/ death 
 
Among the participating artists are - Josef Bolf, Václav Buriánek, Jiří Černický, Superego, Ivana Lomová, Michal Nesázal, Petr Nikl, Michal Pěchouček, Viktor Pivovarov, František Skála, Pavel Tichoň, Libuše Vendlová, Kateřina Závodová, Kamila Ženatá – react mainly to their own intimate emotional experiences, which they deal with through a variety of media: painting, video, photography, installation and text. The project is curated by Milena Slavická and Kamila Ženatá. 
 
The exhibition will take place as part of an important occasion. In May, Prague will play host to the International Conference of the Group Section of the European Federation of Psychoanalytical Psychotherapy (EFPP), attended by European experts and guests from non-European countries. The name, Bridging Identities – Clinical Impact of Groups, indicates the main theme of the conference – finding ways to connect or bridge various entities (professional, clinical or ethnic, social and other groups). It is the first time the conference is taking place in a former East-bloc country. 
 
Fourteen artists, of different generations, will present fourteen themes that are formally connected (in the Czech language) with the letter S. Themes like identity, the search for one’s roots, loss, and the search for the meaning of life -are contemporary topics in today’s world. Parallel universes, virtual worlds, estrangement, damaged personal relationships, the inability of communication and feelings of loneliness are the current social wounds. This group exhibition is comprised of Czech artists who have been dealing with these topics in their work over a long period of time. 
The conference panel, formed by a local organization, Czech Society for Psychoanalytical Psychotherapy, decided to produce this concept, Bridging Identities in real time and space. This project plays witness to an unorthodox connection between the fields of science and art, exploring and describing a creative world, which is capable of reacting to these social themes on a common level, which enriches our lives. This visual project is therefore an integral part of the conference, which aims to reflect a mutual, deep connection between the cultural and psychological processes in our contemporary society. 
Fourteen artists will present fourteen themes, which are formally connected to the consonant S. Kamila Zenata, one of the curators of the project explains why she chose the fourteen S’s, „It’s weird, but many Czech words, which begin with the letter S, are associated with very important themes connected to our experience of the world around us. This theme of identity, the search for ones roots, the inability to communicate and feelings of loss are the very contemporary emotions. Each of the artists received their S word. It wasn’t a difficult choice, as the represented group of artists are already very close in their work to precisely these words.“ 
 
Kamila Zenata along with Milena Slavicka, is not only the curator of the project, but is also a member of the conference preparation panel. She has dedicated many years to working with groups, as she is primarily interested in communication problems, relationships, and groups. „The theme of identity and the inner self is where I draw inspiration for my work from, so the relation of these aspects of human life are a lifelong study,“ explains Zenata. 
Mutual documentation of the conference and the exhibition will be a two-part catalogue/compilation. The catalogue will present profiles of the participating artists, their texts, and reproductions of their work. The compilation will cover conference-related material. The catalogue/compilation will be both in Czech and the English language. 
 
As part of the DOX Accompanying Programs – Café DOX, there will be a lecture series and presentations on two topics: the goals of psychotherapy, and the language of the mute (dreams, images, imagination)... 
 
The inaugural lecture of the International Conference of Group Psychoanalytical Psychotherapy, which is taking place in DOX centre on the 28th of May, is accessible to the public, will be presented by the renown British group therapist, Earl Hooper. Included in the price of conference admission is a catalogue and anthology of lectures in four languages. More info: http://www.efpp2009.cz/cs/registrace.html 
 
Partners of DOX Centre: City of Prague and TECHO, a.s. 
Exhibition Partners: City of Prague, Pražská teplárenská, a.s., Aaron Group, SAN, European Furniture Factory 
 
Kontakty 
 
Občanské sdružení Schrödingerova kočka/Schrödinger´s Cat, www.schrodingerovakocka.cz 
Česká společnost pro psychoanalytickou psychoterapii v Praze, www.cspap.cz 
Česká centra www.czechcentres.cz 
 
DOX Centre for Contemporary Art 
Office: 
Vojtěšská 8, 110 00 Praha 1, Czech Republic 
Tel: +420 224 930 927, E: media@doxprague.org 
 
Exhibition space: 
Poupětova 1, 170 00 Praha 7 Holešovice, CZ 
www.doxprague.org 
 
Opening hours 
Mon 10 am- 6 pm 
Tues closed 
Wed-Fri 11 am – 7 pm 
S 
at-Sun 10 am – 6 pm 
Contact – press service: 
2media.cz, s.r.o. 
Terezie Kaslová 
E: terezie@2media.cz 
T: +420 603 551 372 
www.2media.cz

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Night of Human Rights at DOX Centre of contemporary art

coming soon...

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Meet the Artists in DOX

Following its opening, DOX Centre for Contemporary Art has launched its accompanying programmes Café DOX comprising of lectures, talks, readings, discussions, panels, etc. Its five series are the following: "Meet the Artist", "Meet the Architect / Designer", "Meet the Author"; "Encounters of Art & Science"; and "Public Space". 
They take place every Monday (except State Holidays) at 6PM unless otherwise noted.

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Opening DOX

DOX Centre for Contemporary Art is a newly established independent institution situated in Prague-Holešovice, presenting international contemporary art, architecture and design. A unique project in the Czech Republic, it will open on October 19, 2008, after five years of planning and construction.

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DOX – Centre for Contemporary Art

Press releases

2010/14/1 František Matoušek: De Nimes

2009/22/10/ Jindřich Chalupecký Award 2009

2009/20/08/ The exciting Fall Season at the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art

2009/07/10/ My Europe

2009/30/09/ Acceptance – Intervention – Destruction in DOX Centre

2009/11/06/ Entropa by David Černý at DOX

2009/03/06/ DOUGLAS GORDON: blood, sweat, tears

DOXNANO

14 S

Night of Human Rights at DOX Centre of contemporary art

Meet the Artists in DOX

Opening DOX