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Václav Cigler and Michal Motyčka │ Luminously

April 25 – October 27 2019,

The artistic interventions of Václav Cigler and Michal Motyčka Luminously highlight the ancient environment of Zdík's Palace or the Romanesque tower of St. Barbara in the Olomouc Archdiocesan Museum and follow up on the exhibition of drawings by Václav Cigler in the Olomouc Museum of Modern Art. From June 13, they will be supplemented by another artistic intervention by Václav Cigler and Michal Motyčka Externalization, which will enrich the premises of the Archbishop's Chateau (Picture Gallery) and the Flower Garden in Kroměříž. 

The installation: Luminously, by artists Václav Cigler and Michal Motyčka, visually enters the historically and aesthetically strategic place within the environment of the Olomouc Archdiocesan Museum, referring to specific things – to the consciousness of the place and to various events, creating a dialogical relationship of our way of perceiving the present and the past. An incredible period of more than 340 years has passed since the first formulations of scientific hypotheses focusing on the theories of light speed, and dealing with the movement and measurement of electromagnetic radiation – the basic premise for life on Earth and the unit that measures the universe. During this same period, in Olomouc, a construction transformation of the profane structure of the tower into the sacral space of the chapel took place. An interconnection with light, such as a view from the outer space, suggests not only the visual, but also the spiritual axis of the story, dealing with the search for new content in the chapel of St. Barbara – in the multi-layered space of the Baroque chapel in the round Romanesque tower of the Olomouc Castle. This story is perceived as a shared thought about beauty both in terms of its utility and as an experienced emotion – both in amazement and in making the situation special. As timeless principles or means of visual art transcending the boundaries of established cultural stereotypes, light and water create a new reality and, through the participation of the viewer and the performative nature of the installation, allow us to share the experience of the visible.

On the three floors of the tower of St. Barbara, one artistic unit will create. Through the interconnection of light, a visual and spiritual axis of the story is created, from which the common thought about beauty in the sense of utility and the emotions experienced unfolds. “In the cellar of the tower there will be a water surface, which reflects the vault of the room in mutual spatial symbiosis and in the tension of visually and materially different principles. Upstairs, in the Treasury, is the Center - a sphere of optical glass that creates the center of gravity of the tower. The installation will be completed on the first floor - in St. Barbaras Chapel - Jacobs Ladder, which complements the spiritual space and fills the biblical motif of the transition from earthly to heavenly spheres,” explains curator Miroslav Kindl.

The next three interventions await visitors in Zdík Palace. For example, the Mirror Cross in the Yard of Eden makes the paths between the overflowing beds with herbs and wells more prominent. It creates a homogeneous environment in which the ceremonial central cross varies according to daylight and weather. The glass cross on earth contains a reflection of the visitor and the sky and symbolically crosses the wall through the cloister adjacent to the Cathedral of Sts. Wenceslas as a space for meditation.

Václav Cigler (* 1929) is one of the most important authors of the artistic generation of the early 1960s. In his work he anticipated the emerging concepts of contemporary art expression (constructive tendencies, minimalism, land-art, light and kinetic sculpture). His domain is to work with space, glass, light and water. The work of Václav Cigler is focused on plastic objects made of cut optical glass, design and realization of lighting and jewelry, drawings, projects and compositions for architecture. His works are represented in a number of important private and public collections.

Michal Motyčka (* 1974) is an architect and artist. It deals with the overlap between architecture and contemporary visual art. Since 1999 he has worked with Václav Cigler.

Muzeum umění Olomouc 2011-2024