Ostrava: Repeated Survey 11. 10. 2024 – 23. 2. 2025
Curators: Martin Netočný, Tomáš Knoflíček, Jakub Král
The 1990s brought change to Ostrava. In addition to the society-wide social events influenced by the transformation of the once purely industrial region, it is also possible to talk about the gradual establishment of local artists on the national and, in some cases, Central European scene. All of this co-created the emergence of one of the most significant local cultural centres and stimulated the transformation of the institutional background and the conditions of the work itself.
A group of artists who were still at the core of a distinctive alternative subculture in the late 1980s began not only to study at academies in Prague with the arrival of the new decade, but also to teach at a newly established university right in the centre of the region. Their work also caught the attention of curators outside of Ostrava, resulting in a number of domestic and international exhibition projects. However, the social mobility, and therefore the personal nature of the scene, also changed. New personalities began to flow into the region, while others left and maintained ties to their home town with varying degrees of intensity.
Repeated Survey is a term used in the social sciences. It is used when there is a suspicion that earlier findings no longer correspond to the nature of the phenomenon under review. From today’s point of view, the exhibition projects that have been realised so far, presenting the Ostrava scene outside the borders of the region, are greatly influenced by the atmosphere of the 1990s. In their dramaturgy, there is a noticeable emphasis on anticipating the North Moravian artistic canon and trying to promote it outside the structure of local institutions. This attempt was, as mentioned above, successful and significantly influenced the events in Ostrava itself. However, this is also the reason why we are returning to its terrain after several decades, conducting a repeated survey and raising the question in place of the original statement: What is Ostrava art?