Spirit World Rising

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  SPIRIT WORLD RISING, Kostka (Cube) Gallery, Prague, 2016 / Curator: Jaro Varga | 2016

The accession to the gallery reminds one of entering a sacred arena where a rite is taking place. The artist is the one who commands the whole rite, determines its dynamics and influences the overall atmosphere in the room. The gallery visitors become participants of the rite upon entering the site. An unconscious connection arises between them and the artist – a two-way dialogue in which a ritual full moon occurs. It is the experience of participation and unconscious union – “participation mystique”. The artist initiating the rite activates the archetypal pattern, substitutes a clergyman or a shaman and by means of a performance gets in touch with unconscious contents, which he mediates to the participants by means of visual gestures, images and sounds. If consciousness is the prime principle of being and if our psyche is in reciprocal relationship with the whole existence and the overall cosmic principle, then the unconscious connection activated by the rite can facilitate experience which we find represented in different spiritual and mystical traditions, such as Buddhism, Taoism, Sufism, Christian mysticism, the Quaballa and other spiritual systems. The site-specific installation Spirit World Rising (named after Daniel Johnston’s song) at the Kostka (Cube) Gallery presents a ritual scene, consisting of the visual database of Anežka Hošková and Anders Grønlien, collectors of symbols and spiritually charged motives. It is a gesamtkunstwerk connecting two artists and various media – installation, statue, music, performance and documentation. More so it is a connection between space and time, form and meaning, life and matter or the conscious and the subconscious. Anežka Hošková (Czechia) represents the mystical associational painting and drawing and the post-internet aesthetics. Her psychedelic style compositions are often the outcome of connecting mystical and religious symbols, expressive appearance and strikingly reduced artistic expression. Anežka Hošková is the cofounder and active member of A.M.180 Collective. Anders Grønlien (Norway) often connects and newly interprets selected elements from art history, cinema, mythology, occultism, folklore, archaeology or science fiction. He gives new expression to these motives by means of site-specific installations charged with an unexpected narrative experience and new interpretations of visual culture and symbolism. Curator: Jaro Varga