Lucia Papčová | Facti Sunt
curator: Silvia Van Espen
2 June – 8 July 2021
ZAHORIAN & VAN ESPEN Prague
My granddaughter Isabelle visited Agnes in New Mexico in the early 1990s. During that visit, Agnes took a rose from a vase and holding it out towards Isabelle asked if the rose was beautiful. “Yes”, Isabelle replied. Agnes then put the rose behind her back and asked if the rose was still beautiful. Again Isabelle said yes to the rose now hidden behind Agnes. Arne Glimcher : Agnes Martin, 2012, p.13
Lucia Papčová uses an authentic event in her video art, while disrupting its narration on purpose. The story is divided, fragmented, its key places (background, environment, the main character) are explicitly absent, deleted or just gentle suggested. This element of deconstruction has also a specific characteristic in the photography. Papčová negates the presence of the material world using specifically positioned cut-outs and achromatic tones that go against the main purpose of photography – to depict. This is the basic concept of her formally minimalistic work. She deletes the landscape in the process of photographing it. She uses it as means or material in order to build an abstract image.
Analogue photography and video are dependent on the physical conditions of our reality which adds another dimension to the artist’s strategy – a performance dimension. The artist often spends several hours in the mountains without any social or cultural interference until the natural elements (light, wind, air, humidity, etc.) are in the perfect constellation. The unpredictable conditions the artist finds herself in give her work a performative dimension. The process of creating the photograph thus becomes main part of the artwork.
In the currently presented video installation 24 hours and 35 years for Mariana at Zahorian & Van Espen Gallery, a runner attempts to achieve a personal goal, a 24-hour run, as a tribute to Mariana, who is disabled since birth. She suffers from cerebral palsy, caused by a problematic preterm delivery, and has remained in home care ever since. He has never met her, but knows about her fate. Through an abstract narrative, the aim is to go beneath the mainstream perceptions of heroic act and achievement, meaning of effort, and inner happiness. Text by: Lucia Papčová, Erik Vilím
Lucia Papčová (1987) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava (2006-2010), at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (2009-2010), at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and obtained her ArtD. at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava. During her ArtD studies she was a visiting student researcher at Central Saint Martins in London. She lives and works in Bratislava, Slovakia.
In 2009 Lucia Papčová was awarded the Essl Award CEE VIG and in 2017 received the Civitella Ranieri Fellowship. She was an artist in residence at the AIR Krems, Austria (2012); Residency Unlimited, New York, USA (2013); Banska St a nica Contemporary, Banska Stiavnica, Slovakia (2013) and CEE Calling Residency at Lendhauer Klagenfurt (2019).
Lucia Papčová’s solo projects include:
Wind! One has heard it a thousand times already, Salon at Nitrianska Galeria, Nitra, Slovakia (2017); I Woke Up In a Valley, Galéria Medium, Bratislava, Slovakia (2017); Gained Spaces, Jozef Kollar Gallery, Banska Stiavnica, Slovakia (2016); Liminality, Galerie TIC, Brno, Czech Republic (2014); Arcadia, Christian Duvernois Gallery, New York City, USA (2014); He who passes trough that country, OPEN Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia (2013); That Country, Projectroom, Cyprian Majernik Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia (2012); John in Love, Photoport Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia (2012); Bright Side of The Horse, 35m2 Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic (2011).
She participated in the following group shows:
Tales from an Old World, Museu d’Història de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain (2020); Das neue Leben, Kunstlerhaus Klagenfurt, Austria (2019); Psycho Vertical (guest artist), Kunsthalle Bratislava, Slovakia (2017); Fascination Photography, Essl Museum – Kunst der Gegenwart, Klosteneuburg, Austria (2015); The World and It’s Things in the Middle of Their Intimacy, Fridman Gallery, New York City, USA (2013); Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine, Parker’s Box Gallery, Brooklyn, New York (2012); All my lovin, Sirius Arts Center, Cork, Ireland (2011); Statement, Paris Photo, Carrousel du Louvre, Paris, France (2010); Kubik 5, Kubik Gallery, Porto, Portugal (2009); Photoport Vol. 1, Ulvilla, Finland (2009).
Annual visual art programme of ZAHORIAN & VAN ESPEN Prague is implemented with financial support of city district of Prague 7
