Lenka Glisníková & Judita Levitnerová / Dissolving Shadows

29. 11. 2024 – 14. 2. 2024, opening 28. 11. 2024 at 19h

The exhibition is open every week from Thursday to Saturday, always 11 am – 7 pm.

The 1950s and 60s were a time of worldwide optimism with regard to technological progress, which was often interpreted as the path to the liberation of humankind from monotonous labour. Mechanisation was intended to reduce the physical workload, and thanks to automation it was envisaged that society would henceforth concentrate rather on creativity and intellectual advancement. However, in reality this utopian vision of technology as a tool for increasing prosperity and social equality ran up against systemic problems. At present we stand at a crossroads between the promise of technological innovations and the need to deal with conflicts over natural resources, as well as the global ecological crisis. Technology is not only a solution but also a catalyst of these crisis phenomena – from the exhaustion of raw materials to the destabilisation of the environment. Correspondingly this art installation of the work of Judita Levitnerová and Lenka Glisníková attempts to reflect what the ways in which we approach technologies and manufacturing processes say about our present and our future.

Textures, stories and sunrays

Judita Levitnerová’s artistic production focuses on natural and historical manufacturing techniques, which she combines with an environmental message. The textile works she presents here are produced using environmentally friendly processes such as soldering by means of solar energy or experimenting with the fusion of various materials. The resulting artefacts serve not only as aesthetic objects, but are also the bearers of narratives about the methods of their creation – often forgotten or neglected in today’s industrialised world. The smells, vapours and traces of human intervention in the creative process of Levitnerová’s works are a reminder of the fragile balance between technological innovations and our responsibility towards the planet, and at the same time refer to previous factory operation that could not function without negative impacts on human health. 

The fragmented aesthetic of technologies

Lenka Glisníková’s work balances on the boundary between technological speculation and a kind of modern alchemy. The hybrid objects she creates come into being through a combination of serially manufactured objects such as wires, medical instruments or plastic surfaces. These fragments undergo processes of photographing, fusion and layering, which transforms them into indefinite and disturbing forms. They sometimes evoke human remains with implants, at other times they resemble plastic waste from a post-apocalyptic landscape. Upon the background of her works we may sense a questioning of whether the technologies we have developed still serve humankind, or whether they are progressively transforming into empty shells of alienated life and labour. 

Future scenarios in traces of the past

Both artists create works that reflect the complex relationship between technology and society. Through her production, Levitnerová narrates stories of sustainability and seeks ways to connect the past with an ecologically oriented future. By contrast, Glisníková places emphasis on fragmentation, breakdown and transformation, by which she mirrors accelerating technological advance and its inevitable consequences. At a time of conflict over resources and environmental crisis, this installation becomes not only a reflection of the present, but also a speculation about the future. We may interpret it as a warning, a suggestion or perhaps also a guide – what role will technology play in our narrative? Will we be its masters or its victims? This exhibition opens up a space for contemplation of what will remain after we are gone, and the footprint left behind by our manners of production, labour and consumption.

Judita Levitnerová (born 1994) studied at the University of Ostrava and continued in her Master’s studies at the Studio of Intermedia Studio at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Brno University of Technology. At present she is working on her dissertation thesis at the Faculty of Fine Arts; in this she is focusing on the subject of Contemporary Art Informel, while she is also examining feminist issues. Her artistic production is based primarily on the medium of painting, though she also carries over her painting approaches into other art forms, whether these are objects, applied fashion or live visual accompaniment to musical performances. She works repeatedly with the method of imitation, which she views above all as another form of approaching the object under examination and as care for forgotten artistic techniques. She has collaborated with the HaDivadlo theatre and the Studio of Intermedia in Brno on creating the theatre play Sediments Diagnosis Wellness, for which a book of the same name has been published. Since 2019 she has been contributing to the Galerie 209 programme, and has subsequently worked in the Gallery of the Faculty of Fine Arts and the Blansko City Gallery. Her works have also been exhibited as part of group exhibitions in the House of the Lords of Kunštát, in the Pragovka gallery and in the Holešovická Šachta gallery.

Lenka Glisníková (born 1990) is a Czech artist working in Prague. After studying photography in Michal Kalhous’s studio at the Faculty of Arts in Ostrava, she completed her Master’s degree at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague in the studio of Aleksandra Vajd and Martin Kohout. In her artistic production she focuses primarily on the medium of photography, which she materially expands beyond its traditional spaces. Her material and visual qualities shift her conceptual relationship to photography onto a new level. Her works feature in installations and objects highlighting the consequences of unregulated technological progress. Lenka Glisníková is the winner of the Jindřich Chalupecký Award for 2023. Together with Karolína Matušková she forms the photographic duo SHOTBY.US, who won Photographer of the Year at the Czech Grand Design awards in 2020 and 2023. Her work is currently part of the exhibition Repeated Survey: Ostrava in the Prague City Gallery. Glisníková’s recent solo exhibitions include Moment of Seclusion Over the Horizon at the Meetfactory, Prague, 2023. 

exhibitors: Lenka Glisníková & Judita Levitnerová
curator: Anežka Januschka Kořínková

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The project is realised with the financial support of the Capital City of Prague. Prague, the Prague 3 Municipal District, the Ministry of Culture and the State Culture Fund of the Czech Republic. Thank you for your support.