CURATOR: VIKTOR ČECH
THE WHITE ROOM, Prague
19 / 1 / 2021 06:00 P.M. – VERNISSAGE
20 / 1 / 2021 – 25 / 2 / 2021 – EXHIBITION
Online exhibition here: https://www.pragovkaonline.com/pul-pool/
The duo exhibition, titled Půl / Pool by Michaela Munzarová and Marcel Rozhoň was created as
site-specific installation and adjusted for The White Room gallery space. The Czech word “půl”
could be translated to “half”, but the title is based only on the similar pronunciation.
The first part of the exhibition will take place in form of a virtual game in the gallery space. The
second part will be physical, created specifically for the space of a former kitchen where The
White Room is now located.
Diving into a swimming pool water. Surrendering to a regular breathing rhythm and swimming
strokes. Smooth slides of the surrounding fluid counterpressure. The time has different qualities
now; its flow thickens and merges into monotonous loops of a swimmer’s tempo. Like in trancesleep, the attention is reduced to a thin bit of one-direction concentration. Water surface reflections
in the darkened space find their echo in the surrounding tiled walls. In the isolation of his liquid
grave, the lone swimmer feels repeatedly reborn at every stroke. The boundaries of his isolated
identity disappear and reappear in resonance with surrounding fluid.
To some, experience like this is a great way to escape from the problems and burdens of the
surrounding world. To others, it is conversely an uncomfortable isolation from the certainties of the
awake regime of everyday social context. Nonetheless, the intensity with which our bodies bounce
and swim back into their essence when swimming is undeniably just as strong physical and mental
experience. The experience is so immersive it equals its contrast – the state of absolute
relaxation. Due to this paradox, it is perhaps analogous to another activity – seemingly a non-
physical one, namely the escape into three-dimensional virtual worlds, such as video games
today. Immersion in the illusory representation of the objective world, usually through some kind of
avatar, brings perceptual confusion to players when they “stay” there long; the state is not so
different from the lucid dreaming associated with mentioned relaxation while swimming. The
visitors of the art gallery sometimes also have the opportunity to escape from everyday reality into
a world of different rules defined by given aesthetic regime.
Breath in, dive under water, beyond everyday reality, a stroke, light resonance with surrounding
flows, breath out, emerge dry, here and now, and dive again. Again and again, as long as
possible.
Viktor Čech
ART HAS NO HISTORY 