Modern art exhibition dedicated to 12 Czech artists under the age of 40:

ET CETERA

ET CETERA… is an exhibition dedicated to young Czech artists under the age of 40, which was ceremonially opened on Monday, September 9, at 5:30 p.m. A total of 12 artists were selected from a portfolio of over 600, and these received an opportunity to present their own work in prestigious spaces of the Italian Cultural Institute in Prague. The organizers and conceptual creators of this event are the president of the endowment fund, Mr. Francesco Augusto Razetto, Prof. Genny di Bert and architect Ottaviano Maria Razetto, who is also the creator of the architectural design of the exhibition spaces.

The exhibition was conceived in the context of the Eleutheria endowment fund’s own self-development, which it has undergone in the course of the short but very productive period since its establishment. At the commencement of its activities, the fund concentrated in particular on the period defined as “Socialist Realism”, with the aim of reinstating its incontrovertibly important artistic values, which had been denied by many for a number of years. At present, the foundation is concentrating on the current happenings on the art scene and is trying to capture and document the metamorphoses of artworks over the past almost 25 years since the fall of the Communist regime and the liberation of artistic expression. Works by the following artists will be presented at the exhibition: Hana Babak , Jan Kaláb, Martin Kocourek, Martin Matoušek, Jakub Matuška, Jan Mikulka, Jakub Nepraš, Ondřej Oliva, Tets Ohnari, Matěj Rejl, Zdeněk Trs, Roman Týc.

The exhibition is concentrated in the spaces of a chapel in two adjoining, spacious rooms of the Italian Cultural Institute. The primary intention of the project was to preserve the integrity and beauty of the original chapel. However, the need to exhibit a certain number of works, some of which were large scale, brought with it the necessity of creating a larger exhibition area.

“That is the source of the idea to create smaller, independent exhibition spaces within the spaces of the chapel itself, with heights of 2,60 m and set in front of the original chapel walls, almost as if creating independent side chapels, or better put, confessionals”, explains Ottaviano Maria Razetto, and he adds: “their final form is very close to the initial concept of the project, because from the very start of the project there was an effort to create something more like pieces of furniture than elements similar, albeit distantly, to the architecture of the chapel. In contrast to this, the desire to form these “confessionals” into actual “boxes”, similar to the ones that were used to transport the works from place to place, continued to manifest itself ever more prominently. These boxes were intentionally supposed to create the impression that they’d just been unloaded and arranged according to the main trajectory of the chapel. And someone, in this instance the architect, simply opened these boxes to allow the visitor to peek inside. That is how these drywall divisions along both sides of the chapel came about, with randomly placed lattice cladding, so as to create the impression of rough, forced opening. Inside, statues and paintings were placed on white walls, as if living their own lives outside of time and space. Only in this way was it possible to preserve the sense of the intense religious mission of the chapel and its fulfillment.

The exhibition is accompanied by video projections of interviews with the individual artists, which documents the sensory approach to the works and also provides a glimpse into the personal lives of the artists. A video catalog will also be made available for the visitors containing the biographies of the exhibiting artists and a set of their works.

The exhibition takes place under the auspices of the Embassy of the Italian Republic in Prague, The Italian Cultural Institute in Prague, the city of Prague and the Italian-Czech Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Prague.

Honorable guests will be the ambassador of the Italian Republic in Prague, J.E. Pasquale d´Avino and the director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Prague, Mr. Dott. Giovanni Sciola.

The exhibition will be open to the public until September 30th, during the following opening hours: Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 1 pm. and from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., on Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., and on Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. On Saturdays and Sunday the exhibition will be closed. Entrance is free.

Curators: Genny Di Bert - Francesco Augusto Razetto - Ottaviano Maria Razetto
Architectonical project: Ottaviano Maria Razetto
Production: Eleutheria foundation
PR : Zuzana Halfarova and Sandra Maitahová
Informatic coordinator: Davide Razetto
Graphic design: Andrea Di Piazza, Emilio Merola, Flavio Mirabella and Gianluca Vicini
Music: Eva Slana and Lucie Klasek (femme 2 fatal)
Realizzazione: Ok Advertising s.r.o., Spektrostav s.r.o., IdigiTisk, Alza cz, Cerny Orel, Tablet Media

The exhibition takes place under the auspices of the Embassy of the Italian Republic in Prague, The Italian Cultural Institute in Prague, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, the City of Prague and the Italian-Czech Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Prague.