Usually when artists are asked to create the pieces especially for an
exhibition, they are either given a theme, or the curators envision a
general question of the show. Trying to limit the artist in terms of the
choice of his media can even be seen as disgraceful. This time, we asked
the participants who work mainly with photography, to do a very
particular thing — to place their photographs onto everyday objects.
This way, we limited them in the choice of technique, but gave them a
full freedom of the theme. Preparing this exhibition, we were excited to
see how the participants started from the most obvious objects, but
later moved to the more radical combinations of the photographs and the
objects. Unfortunately, a lot of it stayed at the idea level.
This show is in fact the continuation of the Museum of Applied Arts
itself where everyday objects characterized by either historical or
artistic value are displayed to public. Suddenly they get a lot of
attention, and using them for their intended purpose becomes out of
question.
We stayed with this time-proved exhibition principles and
complemented the power of the exhibition case with the power of
the large space. There is no doubt that the visitor needs to
give every object a lot of attention. |
However, a lot of museum
objects were in use back in times and were lost among other less
successful objects which later were not placed under the museum
glass. This is why in the
catalogue we show the objects
in their natural environments where it will be too difficult to
see them fifty years later. Everyday
objects, of course, can’t be always produces individually.
However, the contemporary commerce has created the way to
individualize them. The only thing you need to do is to bring
your favorite photo to a printing house, and the next day you
will get a unique cup, plate, curtain, or a set of bedsheets.
Such objects are usually made with quite a bad taste but one
can’t leave a whole industry unnoticed without even trying to
play with it. Contemporary photographers, whose works are
usually shown in a much decent environment, let their works be a
part of this industry.
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