ANTHROPOLOGY OF ICE
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Start: 2. 9. 2021
How would you find out what the composition of the atmosphere was like fifteen thousand years ago? There is no one to ask, although there were certainly humans living on the planet at the time. They did not, however, keep records of the levels of CO2 and other components of the atmosphere. The only things that have survived are paintings of flora and fauna and ornaments and symbols on bones and everyday items. Perhaps you could think about the fact that particular values of carbon dioxide or nitrogen oxide lead to a particular atmospheric temperature, and therefore a particular climate which benefits particular types of organism we can then recognize on human artifacts made at the time (or are directly composed of parts of these organisms, as is the case with mammoth tusks). This is, however, a long chain of thought that demands a certain level of speculation – an approach rarely present in science.
Of Walking in Ice
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Curator: Jen Kratochvil
A city is a fragile organism, defined by a system of diversely situated streets, squares, residential areas, public spaces and private properties. Its inhabitants are moving around according to their daily tasks, organized in relation to their position in the highly stratified social structure, assuming roles in the complexly managed arrangement of care for the wellbeing and maintenance of the bare existence of the organism.
All the elements of a city are inseparably intertwined and keeping them running requires an intentionally or even unconsciously controlled effort of countless actors: the climate, both political and natural; an infrastructure of pipes distributing water, gas or shit; cables providing Internet connection; visionary thoughts of improvement; hardly stable, yet seemingly inviolable rules and regulations keeping all in its pre-defined place; historical circumstances and context – continuously reconstructed – to complement the current needs… Such a list could keep growing almost indefinitely.
Artists: Liam Gillick, Eva Koťátková, Wendelien van Oldenborgh, Katja Pratschke & Gusztáv Hámos, Max Vajt
A Short History of Camera Traps
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Kurátoři: Vojtěch Märc, Tereza Rudolf
A Short History of Camera Traps is an exhibition focusing on the interaction of human and non-human animals and the role played by photographic (and other) technology. It is founded on the ideas of the English anthropologist Alfred Gell, who drew attention to the internal similarities between camera traps and works of art. In a broadened (rather than figurative) sense, the exhibited works function as camera traps by making visible certain patterns of behavior in various environments. The exhibition itself also has a similar ambition on another level. Its shop-window mutation marks another attempt to adjust to the changing conditions of current exhibition practice. It also asks how art itself, as a form of life, adapts: not only in its forms but also in our needs. Following the example of patient photographic equipment, the exhibition thus sets a trap for the gazes of possible passers-by in order to attempt to extricate itself, along with them, from the trap of the present.
Support
Fotograf Gallery is supported by the Czech Ministry of Culture and during the year 2021 by a grant from the City of Prague amounting to 630 000 CZK.
