The works of Marie Lukáčová can be seen at the exhibition “un/mute”, which is part of an international project that opened in ACF NYC on September 23rd and in Undercurrent on September 24th.
The project un/mute was launched in 2020 with the aim of providing artists from New York and Europe an opportunity for cooperation during the global Corona virus pandemic. The goal of the project was to show the impact of the move to online on the artistic process. The project features the Czech artist, Marie Lukáčová from Prague, who worked together with New York-based Emily Shanahan in a team titled Stream. Together they exchanged inspirations from the pandemic while developing their collaboration.
The international group exhibition features collaborative works by 28 artists from ten countries across multiple disciplines and is the culmination of an 18-month-long project that was launched in 2020 to provide European and NYC-based artists an opportunity for critical exchange and collaboration during the COVID-19 global pandemic.
The project, as well as the exhibition, were co-sponsored by the Czech Center New York and the New York cluster of EUNIC, which brings together around 40 cultural missions from the European Union and is working in partnership to strengthen transatlantic dialogue and cultural cooperation. It was created in 2007 and its aim is to showcase European values and creativity.
Czech participation in the project was possible thanks to collaboration with and financial support from the Jindřich Chalupecký Society and the Hope Recycling Station platform.
“What do communication and collaboration mean in a time of uncertainty and isolation? How is the artistic process impacted by going “fully remote“? In un/mute, artists from 10 countries were paired to explore these questions. We recognize that effective communication requires active engagement of all the senses and an openness to diversity, interpretation and digitalization. But what does that look like in practice? The project challenged teams to overcome the limitations of lockdowns as they connected across artistic mediums, language, culture, generations and time zones to find new forms of expression and meaning within art.“ (Press release to the exhibition opening)
Marie Lukáčová graduated from the Academy of Arts, Architecture, and Design in Prague. She also studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Brno University of Technology and at Kunstakademie Mainz in Germany. She teaches at the Center of Audiovisual Studies at Prague’s Film School of Academy of Arts, and multimedia creative process at Arcus high school in Prague. She was a member of Socialistic Solidarity group and of Studio without a Head. She is the co-founders of the Fourth Wave feminist group which initiated a public debate on sexism at universities in 2017. She was born in Opava and lives in Prague.
She works primarily in the media of illustration and animation, but also video and video installation; her films transform symbols borrowed from the fields of politics, mythology, geology, and science. They move across various time levels and locations, addressing the questions of uncertain future through specific narratives and poetics. Lukáčová has introduced her work primarily on the Czech independent gallery scene as well as in Wrocław, Ljubljana, and Stuttgart. Her most recent exhibition in Prague in 2021 was called Vagina Fantasy.
She is one of the finalist of Jindřich Chalupecký Award in 2019.
“The films of Marie Lukáčová stick out thanks to their strong authenticity and by the way they trigger our imagination as well as make our inner body organs vibrate. The mix of references to politics, mythology, science and pop culture, which interconnect in different times, narratives and by various storytellers, create a mosaic of a connected, but still chaotic contemporary world. We appreciate the ability of Lukáčová to create professional video works produced as DIY, as well as the multi-genre quality of her work.” (The Committee of Jindřich Chalupecký Award)
Where and when:
Austrian Cultural Forum New York 09/22/2021 – 01/07/2022
Undercurrent 09/22/2021 – 11/21/2021
More about Marie Lukáčová:
https://www.artmap.cz/artist/marie-lukacova/
More about the project:
https://new-york.czechcentres.cz/en/program/unmute
https://acfny.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/unmute-Press-Release_2.pdf
https://undercurrent.nyc/exhibitions-and-events/2021/9/24/unmute-artist-talk-public-reception
https://new-york.czechcentres.cz/program/un-mute-10002
