The exhibition Eyes of the Skin at Bastion in Prague 2 presents sculptural works by AVU students inspired by Juhani Pallasmaay about the perception of space. Here, sculpture resists the visual superstructure of the present and returns attention to corporeality and sensory perception. The works reflect existential and social themes and are exhibited in a beautiful environment overlooking the Nusle Valley. The exhibition will last until May 2026.
The exhibition of sculptural studios of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague is inspired by the book of the same name by the architect and theorist Juhani Pallasmaay, who deals with the perception of space in connection with our corporeality. The turn to the corporeality and sensory perception in its entirety is one of the current and at the same time the most natural ways to start orientate again in the space of the contemporary world.
The absolute predominance of the visuality, which has completely conquered Western culture over the centuries at the expense of other senses, has caused disruption to the relationship with the world in which we live. Our mind is almost continuously plunged into the illusory virtual worlds controlled by marketing strategies with superficial slogans whose aggressively attractive visual is designed just so that it cannot be resisted. The flood of endless visual stimuli demands all of our attention and pulls us so deep that we stop perceiving the sounds and smells around us or the humidity and air flow.
The loss of complex sensitivity to the world around us has far -reaching consequences not only for the perception of our own identity and relationships with other beings, but also for the whole ecosystem, which we are an inherent part. The accelerated pace of the present stubbornly defies sculpture that returns us back to matter, body and spatial ties without losing the ability to reflect current events. It takes a long time to create a statue and, in addition to the specific sensitivity and knowledge of craft procedures and technological patterns, requires direct mental and physical participation of the author or author who kneads, scares, cut, cast, casts or define shape in any other way.
According to Pallasmaay, the tactile and unhappy vision with the amount of peripheral stimuli that surround us in space are essential for understanding the world. All our contact with the world naturally takes place through our body, respectively. through the skin as one of the most sensitive organs. At the same time, it considers all senses, including sight, as a certain expansion of touch, as they have evolved as a specialization of skin tissue, so the world around us “felt”.
The relationship to corporeality and sensuality combines the work of contemporary authors and authors across generations and sculptural studios of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague in a wide range of individual manifestations. The impressive Bastion area with an open horizon above the Nusle valley was chosen by works that relate not only through the figure, but also through plasticity, proportional relationships, sensitivity to the material or organicity of matter transformation.
There are several stories on the terraces of the Bastion that touch the existential, social and environmental themes. The semantic layers of individual works with memory, fictitious history, personal mythology, archetype or emblem acquire special intensity and severity in the historically burdened Bastion environment, renewing a sense of root in continuity of time and space.
Exhibiting:
Jakub Brázda, Michael Jan Bublík, Matyáš Fiala, Ondřej Filípek, Ekaterina Gordeladze, Matouš Háša, Monika Immrová, Jindriska Jabůrková, Aneta Juklíčková, Ema Kissová, Kateřina Komm, Matyáš Kořínek, Pavlína Kvita, Matouš Lipus, Vojtěch Míča Ryšavá, Eduard Seják, Sára Skoczková, Tereza Šrámková, Jáchym Šimek, David Tureček, Erika Velicka, Vavřinec Vyoral, Tereza Kalousová
Curator of the exhibition: Martina Mrázová The guarantor of the exhibition is doc. Akad. Sculptor Vojtěch Míča, head of the studio of figural sculpture and medals at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague.
