“You managed to enchant me despite my knowing you are horrible” says the main character quoting from a love letter in the video by Alžběta Bačíková. Divergences are the strong motive that build a connection between works approaching emotions towards “the Other”, such as love or desire from very different perspectives. Desire once being fulfilled might turn into passion. But if I come too close, I can’t see you anymore… Peter Janáčik’s photographs of young men shot over many years in one and the same apartment are not spoiling this fragile and painful moment of yearning, on the contrary, his boys are captured in the image. Their tender look is frozen and their bodies are isolated from passion and our gaze remains unfulfilled.

The prevailing norms of society regarding social relations and the influence of pop-culture are also reflected by the work of Nina Hoffmann or Kateřina Konvalinová. Both using the imagination and storytelling that might and might not be true to name something ungraspable. The exhibition works on several levels, one being more explanatory, trying to find a “right” answer for “what is love”, the other focusing on mere emotion, border crossing and intimate gestures for which there is no justification.

Press release