Burn My Tent Till the Rent at Pragovka Gallery Entry / Prague

Burn My Tent Till the Rent / curated by Kristýna
Péčová


Tomáš
Bryscejn and Tania Nikulina



17 July – 10 September, 2019


Pragovka Gallery Entry
Kolbenova 923/34a
190 00 Praha 9
Czech Republic


Photography by Jan
Kolský







Atmosphere outlining an open plot, time to
picnic in the internals of a construction site. Finally wander into a different
structure, behind the shimmering veneer. To be in the place after the ending,
with no action.
Space at the border of the beginning, in the
land of the developing, the stage of crisis. The theater is closed, to intrude
in there, take a rest. To relax while being supervised, contemplation without
content, to mean it. To feel nature in concrete, to feel pomposity from money
transaction.
Central topic of Tania Nikulina and Tomáš Bryscejn’s exhibition Burn
my tent till the rent
is the ambivalence of theatrical stage sets. Every
stage set has two sides. The first side presents an imaginary reality, which
can be used for developing a story. The other one is, in contrast purely
technical and, when revealed, it shows the fictitiousness of the presented
reality. Stage sets are thus a means of escaping to an alternative staging, all
the while carrying within them deception and pretence.
Tania and Tomáš use them to create monumental architectures, newly
defining the gallery premises. The stage sets are monochromatic, thus linking
them with their surroundings, their abstract form opening them up to visitors’
interpretations, the soft quilt spread on the floor inviting one to enter and
take part.
The grandeur of the scene is undermined, however, by the use of randomly
found cheap materials, which disturbs the lavishness of the primary effect.
The versatility of
the stage is given emphasis by the visible constructions on which the smaller
works of both artists are displayed – hidden behind the fanciful facade, yet
sometimes inconspicuously poking through it. The specific method of their
presentation displays the implicit narrative nature of stage sets. This
narration does not lie in the telling of a specific story, but in the
discovery and experiencing of the individual elements of the exhibition, as
well as in the theme of our depiction of a beautiful, yet false reality. The
playfulness of the exhibition is also a play on illusion.

text: Kristýna Péčová