Matyáš Chochola

Chochola’s work to date could be characterised on a timeline of some ten years. Any description of his work up till now should not fall into the trap of anticipating its continued development.

Short shamanic soirées had their power. A strong ego is partly a necessity for a sensitive dancer who has discerned the absence of spirituality in the modern world, serving as a driver by means of the energy returned by an enchanted public. He changed clothes and began at least momentarily to extinguish the need of technocratic society hungry for the spark of unbridled life. However, the consequence of his movement was the refocus of his energies. Recently this has meant objects in which he combines traditional craftsmanship with a post-internet aesthetic and traces of the 1990s. It is impossible to predict what direction thing will head in.

One of the first projects in which Chochola began to communicate with the public was Houmlesprojekt (2007). This was a spontaneous reaction to Sculpture Grande, an artificial sculpture symposium on Wenceslas Square. Along with some homeless people he created sculptures from garbage and linked them to the symposium. The photo-documentation of this subversive event was exhibited at the Makráč Gallery at the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague.

Finally, he appeared in galleries, the emergence of which is retrospectively perceived as a manifestation of the wave of institutional criticism, albeit sometimes indirectly. These spaces included Jelení, Benzinka, Galerie m.odla, galerie sam83, Altán Klamovka, Trafačka, etc. He also established his own temporary gallery. While studying in Brno he was curator at the Potraviny Gallery (2008–2010) in the window of a traditional store.

An examination of his work reveals that object and performance are the two main forms by which he communicates his themes. Chochola conceives of the object as a specific visuality saturated by a symbolic and expressively self-ironic charge. He extracts objects from their customary contexts and places them within new compositions. What is important for Chochola is the integrity of the installation as a glaze in the form of a personal integrity that confirms the “work”. Equally important is the complete occupancy of space.

Performance is combined with social interaction in the form of an awakening of the senses of a somnolent audience. It has an initiatory atmosphere and the ability at any given moment to create a highly chimerical, temporarily autonomous zone. Easygoing tendencies and a certain formal lightness determine its positive relationship with a wide range of items with which Chochola operates.

From an early age Chochola has unconsciously hewn to the principles of contemporary art as set forth by Bourriaud, be this in the form of the altermodern, relationship aesthetics or postproduction.

curatorial activities.

2014
Questionmarks in Blurred Grid

curatorial cooperation with Alexandr Puškin, Czech Centre berlin (DE)

2013
Metaphysik der Disciplin

curatorial cooperation with Karina Kottova and Alexandr Puškin, Czech Centre Berlin (DE)

Breath of Tradition, Jelení Gallery, Prague

2011
Happiness – Asian Cruelty, Festival 4/4 Days in Motion, Prague

2008–2010
curatorial project Grocery Gallery, Brno