Die Aktualität des Schönen

Galerie Die Aktualität des Schönen… and its destinies.

Pro captu lectoris habent sua fata libelli – according to the capabilities of the reader, books have their destiny, as the Latin proverb goes. And not just books, but also galleries have their destinies according to how individuals and society understand their “message.” Jan Stolín, spiritus movens of the Liberec Galerie Die Aktualität des Schönen…, knows this well. He has managed to create a regional gallery with a distinctive and supraregional programme and run it during a period which is still (albeit unintentionally) transitional. His activity is simultaneously a probe, not only into the artistic and cultural sphere, but also into economics and in its own way politics. It is not, then, destiny in any fatal sense, or “the spirit of the age,” which would define the conditions and possibilities of the functioning (or existence itself) of this gallery, but a specific situation changing in place and time, actually by chance, in which ad hoc solutions are mixed up with deliberate work and long-term intentions.

The gallery's activity is played out against this social backdrop. If we focus on it, either on individual projects or on the overall conception, we become aware of the specific attunement and prevailing atmosphere that unifies its programme. The kind of “emptiness” of minimalism and conceptualism creates basso continuo, from which the diverse but supplementary tones of different approaches emerge. Installations, frequently with light or sound, composed in a specific space, form the core of the exhibition's programme. They are almost all by younger and up-and-coming artists who do not yet have their own fixed position on the visual arts scene, “contextualized” by artists who are already well known.

From a historical perspective the gallery's work can be divided into three stages. The first stage is from 1997 – 1999, characterized by a certain type of (albeit unintentional) confrontation – in the centre of Liberec, in practically ideal exhibition space, the gallery appears with a clear and profiled programme. Art which wants to be universal in its expressive forms while exclusive in its quality enters the region. The general cultural-social situation does not resonate with this kind of “message,” and when the Liberec Municipal Authority decides to turn the space it had been letting to the civic association (M. Dräger, J. Stolín, P. Stolín) for the operation of the gallery into offices, the gallery is in effect liquidated. While this conceptually groundless decision by the Municipal Authority provokes an adverse reaction among experts, the “private” activity of a few individuals is something superfluous for the town representatives.

The second stage is limited to 2006 – 2009, when the gallery was run within the framework of the Technical University in Liberec. From the universal space of a modern exhibition hall it moved to the university basement, reminiscent of a former workshop, warehouse or boiler room. However, the industrial space was sufficiently simple and complex simultaneously, enabling the presentation of disparate projects intended for the gallery. As part of a school with artistic study programmes, the gallery could open itself more to students and further accentuate work with so-called new mediums and moving pictures. The gallery did not go unnoticed on university premises, but had to leave the school for economic reasons. Within the framework of financial relations, operating the gallery took up too much of the Art and Architecture Faculty's budget, and was therefore stopped.

The third stage is happening right now. Since the end of 2009 the gallery has been renting space in the Liberec Plaza shopping mall. Galerie Die Aktualität des Schönen… has entered a radically different context. When we enter the shopping gallery, we are aware (or rather we feel) the artificiality of the surroundings, in which everything is commodified and thus evened out and in effect trivialized. Art, however seriously meant and deeply experienced, necessarily changes in this atmosphere of shopping, entertainment and services – the gallery appears like some kind of exclusive boutique or special kind of designer shop. However, at the same time it can be a big challenge for the gallery's further development – alongside minimalist and conceptualist projects, more visually strong projections can come to light, or alternatively, practically invisible sociologically focused projects can emerge.

Whatever happens, it has shown that – in no way paradoxically – running a minimalistic, conceptual and intermedial- focused gallery of modern art is also a peculiar social-economic-political project. Whatever happens, the gallery will have its desired, intended history and an unintended, involuntary inheritance which bears witness to changes in society. And perhaps in the end both spheres of its activity will be as important as each other...

Kamil Nábělek

Kateřina Vincourová

Jan Šerých

Daniel Hanzlík

Tomáš Hlavina

Boris Ondreička

Jiří Černický

František Kowolowski

Tomáš Skalík

Pavel Korbička

Patrik Kovačovský

Zbyněk Baladrám

Michal Škoda

Jáchym Fleig

Lukáš Machalický

Ladislav Jezbera