Galería FORMATO COMODO

The Czech Cabinet brings together six young artists from the Czech Republic working with painting, photography and video, in a collection of selected pieces that combines a taste for the daily ritual and the melancholy, the dismantlement of sexual conventions, and a reflection on lost ideals and political change. The collection exhibits videos of three artists consecrated in the current Czech scene (ONDŘEJ BRODY/KRISTOFER PAETAU; ANETTA MONA CHISA/ LUCIA TKÁČOVÁ and MICHAL PĚCHOUČEK) and three projects in painting and photography, made specifically for Madrid by three young up-and-coming artists (ZDENĚK TUŠEK; JOSEF ACHRER y MARTIN KRAJC).

We'll be introduced to the exhibition with Pechoucek Michal's imposing video projection (1973), which through its image and sound space takes us to a non-place, more mental and imaginary than real. In "Kočárkarna" (2004), taking AS A STARTING POINT the sentimental value of the "pram room" (a room that was commonly seen in homes in the communist era) AS A STARTING POINT the artist, a prominent figure in contemporary Czech art, portrays the disillusionment caused by the political changes in his home country. The work reminds us of an elevator falling slowly to reveal different scenes that blend melancholy and horror, taking us from the portrait of a society, to the well of individual loss of loved ones or even ideals.

Joseph Achrer's (1982) latest paintings, loaded with a fresh ritualistic passion, scream at us from the walls of the gallery, calling for the "fauve" and the colourist in our souls. The exhibition includes photographs by Zdenĕk Tusek (1979), a photographer who moved to Madrid a few years ago. He has selected images from different series that explore the ideas of disparity and contrast, and transport us to a world full of natural and artificial beings... juxtaposed and impure, proceeding from both his real travels and his imagined ones. Anetta Mona Chisa (1975) and Lucia Tkáčová (1977) experiments with performance, video and installations in their projects in order to blend humour and provocation, and bring a strong feminist commitment. In their video performance "Dialectics of Subjection Number 4" (2004) the pair of creators allow us to eavesdrop on a private conversation between them about the sexual attractiveness of the most powerful men in the international political scene. The dialogue, spontaneous and humorous, strikes us as politically incorrect.

The works of Ondřej Brody (1980) and Kristofer Paetau (1972), considered the current Czech Actionist movement's "enfants terribles" for their radical and uncomfortable performances to the world of official art and culture. For this occasion we've rescued two works that question the codification of sexuality in the western world and their relationship with pornography. In the video "Le déjeneur sur l'herbe". We'll also see Ondřej Brody's latest film "Carpe Diem Picture" (2008), in which he boldly takes on the topic of sexuality in old age and the social taboo it represents.