GIRLFRIEND

 A sense of inappropriateness – a feeling that most of us would have if we happened to find a cove among the cliffs on a walk along the shore, where two young lovers are hiding.    A cold drop of sweat trickled down the inner side of her arm.   The exhibition entitled The Girlfriend operates with a multi-layered sense of inappropriateness; it is somewhat inappropriate in the exhibition cycle itself, which has always presented only a single artist.

        We feel inappropriate whenever we are anywhere we should not be. But what if somebody else undertakes this experience for us? Under usual circumstances, it is not appropriate to watch intimate moments of others – is it not even stranger to watch somebody else in the role of voyeur?

        Even what is absurd is inappropriate, in a way. But when we perform an activity with a seemingly practical purpose, it is obvious that the chosen way of doing it is not effective to achieve a practical goal.    She bit into a sandwich, and as soon as she began to chew, a grain of sand stuck in her teeth.   We tend to see such activity as naïve, foolish or childish. To fill holes on a smooth road is reminiscent of children playing in a sandbox. Just as white gravel before it, nor will yellow sand resolve the problem of an uneven road; it will be scattered all around. But the child does not care if his or her sand pie is going to crumble – they press the sand firmly into the form and as soon as they remove it, it becomes a real castle or real cake for the dolls.

        Of course, it is inappropriate to connect what does not belong together. To fill the holes on a dark road with light sand is conspicuous, but it cannot rival the vanity of the connection of a trowel with caramel. The merger of these two materials is inappropriate, yet similarly (un)coincidental like the famous encounter of the umbrella with a typewriter.

        The process of re-mediation and intermedialization, too, generally bears a certain inappropriateness – media permeate one another, one depicting another. Painting on canvas is replaced with the graphic technique transforming a pattern into a textile design, which is a depiction of an architectural motif also serving as an architectural element in the space.    She removed dirt from behind the nail with the thumb of her other hand.   The movement captured in a video, which could be seen as a performance bordering on daily routine suggests by its title, Road Coloring, that it is not only a parody of the effective solution of a pragmatic task, but also a flirtation with the painting qualities of the resulting pictures.    She heard the buzzing of a mosquito close to her ear and immediately felt an itch all over her body.    The video hidden in one’s pocket, which could be seen through the screen of fabric, is captured in a photograph serving as material for a poster. One medium becomes the theme of another. The video called Transfer seems to show us an artistic installation of objects, drawings and variable foreground and background layers. The alternating scenes and the play of light are reminiscent of theatre stage design.

And, finally, our sensory reactions when we absorb tactile associations through sight and hearing, or when we almost feel a taste in our mouth as we smell something familiar, can also be inappropriate.   The elevator began to move and her stomach jumped.    The work of Nicole Morris and Miroslava Večeřová is similar in using simple, often slightly ironic images, which nevertheless have a powerful sensory and associative potential. Even through abstraction, they evoke physical feelings and emotions, which are often ambivalent and, consequently, also inappropriate – we do not know precisely where they belong.    She felt that a hair had become stuck to the tip of her tongue.   Art is often a deep well of inappropriateness and of many of its shades and facets, which are all the more inappropriate because we do not find fitting names for them, so they are beyond the power of words and therefore also rationality. That is also why so many people feel inappropriate in the presence of contemporary art. But we want to reassure such exhibition visitors – if you feel inappropriate in any way, it is the appropriate feeling. Try to enjoy it.

Where you see the (strongest) connection or similarity between your works?

Nicole Morris: When we were discussing the show we spoke a lot about gesture and how in a framework such as an exhibition, something unnoticed can become visible. Between our works I think there is a common interest in how a gesture can be both performed and found and how this line between the staged and real can become blurred.

Miroslava Večeřová: Formally, there is a shared interest in providing the audience with a specific view on sculptural form through the use of technological devices. Our work aims to retain the physicality and materiality on and out of the screen through handmade processes; interaction with material; gesture and imprint. I think our work oscillates between fictions and reality that are consistently present. I also believe that despite the polemics of certain methods used within the contemporary art world, we share a drive to produce.

What does the medium of video mean for you in the context of your multimedia practice?

NM: I am interested in using video in a non-narrative way, as a means of creating another object in the exhibition space. I'm interested in how moving image could have the same spectatorship as sculpture, which recognises the viewer as both tactile and mobile. The presence of a physical object, in this case the fabric wall, acts as a means to further translate the discourse of touch inherent in the filmic spaces, into real space.

In Transfer I was interested in how involuntary changes of expression for example, reddening of the face to show embarrassment, could be staged or performed. Alongside Kiss, which documents a voluntary action, the brick wall becomes a construction in space.

MV: Beginning with a photograph and thoughts around still image, I began to consider the moving image as an object and despite being located within a screen, to simulate the physical presence of a sculptural form. I am intrigued by the cameras ability to translate what it captures into convincing, yet constructed versions of spaces, reality and objects. Perhaps my fascination could be seen as a need to reengage with the analogue as an act of withdrawal from the digital heavy art world I operate within. In this exhibition I have also contributed a video performance from 2010 that I decided to return to and develop. My body interlocks, allowing my movements and gestures to be archived and reactivated when the video plays.

 
How do you perceive the body and bodily presence in your work?

NM: In the work there is an exploration of objects and their relation to the body. In particular, how a body can activate an object and how this can imprint on the body.

The body appears in the videos as a visceral, sensual object, reacting to objects and actions. This body offers a rhythm to the work as a whole and is both performed and found; close up and distant. The viewer is a second body who activates the work by moving through the exhibition space, piecing each object together. Finally, there is the body of the worker who has laboured over the often time based processes, which in this case was printing.

MV: I have chosen to exhibit three works that each deal with bodily presence but in significantly different ways. First, a poster featuring an image of a figure, or accidental artwork, from my personal archive that we collectively believed it embodied the key thematics of the exhibition. Second, a video performance in which that artist performs actions into the real world. Finally, a work exploring gestures that emulate a sense of labour present within the architecture of the exhibition space.

Tereza Jindrova