30/8 – 29/9/2019
Visual artist Juliana Höschlová regularly combines and disrupts traditional artistic forms such as painting, drawing, and installation art. Nevertheless, an important factor in her art is authenticity and a presence that attacks the viewer. Höschlová studied under Vladimír Skrepl at the Academy of Fine Art and at TNUA in Taipei, Taiwan. In addition, she has participated in residency programs in Budapest and Graz, at Prague’s Meetfactory, and in Asia.
Höschlová’s exhibition at Galerie 35m2 follows in the footsteps of her most recent performance projects, in which she focused on karaoke as a means of social bonding. She previously addressed karaoke and the phenomenon of group singing while at the Academy, and is now intensively revisiting the topic. Her art has recently undergone a certain catharsis, transformed by her personal experiences within the context of her perception of the world around her and her response to contemporary global issues. Panic, anxiety, resignation, and the subject of caring for oneself and one’s surroundings are a sequence of interrelated phases in her work that reflect her relationship to the environmental crisis.
The exhibition explores the division between reason and emotion in which the cold, pragmatic approach of Western thinking prevails even though we are bombarded by feelings and emotions all around us in the form of lifestyle magazines, movies, and television series. We are especially attracted to those shows that approach this “issue,” so that we can ignore what is most important – looking directly at inner, unconditional love.
I am twenty-five, thirty, and also forty. And I have to start from the beginning. Again. But with what? I put on my favorite heart-rending hits, and the past is just a changed veil. I can barely see YouTube through the stream of tears.
I am alone. I grapple with feelings of rage, anxiety, and a world that is falling apart. I must be going through a personal crisis. It is dark out there. I float through an atmosphere of strange feelings. I remember the motion of my body. In the shower, I screamed into a microphone in order to get it out. Underneath the stream of water that I casually wasted, I felt happy and satisfied. I was hidden and safe behind the plastic curtain. A lot of therapists say, “Begin with yourself by loving yourself” But what do they mean by that? I don’t know. Everybody sees it differently. Reason or emotion. But few people can afford that today, let alone talk about it…
I am the one who closed the door behind myself, thanks to which the world out there has come to an end. It is divided between me, the wall, the window and the mountain of things that I collect. It is my history, for now. And so I constantly stick it in front of myself, to have things be “like” more difficult. But what for?
Naturalness is disappearing. A wave of falsehood is coming. A new story is being written. I use an app to mark how I feel today… But it’s somehow strange. I feel the exact opposite. Love, falling in love, making love. I go wild with it and it makes sense. And then the hard impact. I don’t want to exist, but everyone is saying that it will pass. Screw them. I want to shout at the world. And cry into the pillow, feed it with another song. It’s my right. Just don’t say it too much. Reason rules over all; it is the best indicator.
I’ll have them deliver that corpse from afar directly to you, out of love. It is beautiful and gentle, and I gift it to you. I know how much it means to you. A flower. My love is endless. My love takes on many forms. It is, was, and always will be faithful.
They split up on the day after tomorrow. Didn’t he say that his love was endless? Perhaps it is, but maybe I misunderstood. Not to possess. And so I go to listen to the past. And it reminds me of scents. All that was left of the fresh blossom was a dried leaf, but it still smelled… only differently. I am a bit afraid, anxious regarding the future of my life. Perhaps I should have taken fewer showers and danced more. Just let it live. It is liberating. And absolutely essential.
curated by Tereza Záchová
