Forms of Freedom
Nitra Gallery
In 2016 I collaborated with the international festival Divadelná Nitra
and I put together a show called Newrope
that shared with the festival its subject.
We have decided to collaborate again this year.
They wanted me to put together an exhibition both in Nitra Gallery
and in public space that would, again, address the festival’s topic.
This year it is Forms of Freedom, which is also the title of the show.
The viewers can see in the gallery a lot of artworks
that deal in their own way with the question of freedom.
It offers the artists’ view on freedom in its many forms
and definitions or what it looks like when one lacks it.
The artworks focus their attention, for example, to the Socialist regime
in Slovakia but also other Central and Eastern European countries,
then to personal freedom, creative freedom,
bodily, feminine freedom and so on.
There are artworks by 25 artists
and art collectives coming from 15 countries.
They were selected from 180 projects
that responded to the international open call.
We opted for the open call form so that anyone could – freely – apply.
Of course, we couldn’t show all of them;
not all of them had matched our qualitative criteria.
So the selection I have made shows various views on freedom.
As part of the international festival Divadelná Nitra,
some of the artworks are presented in public space,
like at Svätopluk’s square or by the Andrej Bagar Theatre,
which serves as the main festival venue.
The biggest value of any show that takes place in public space
is that it finds its audience even among people
who do not usually attend exhibitions.
Because one needs purposefully to decide to visit a gallery;
it doesn’t happen often that someone would find herself there inadvertently.
That’s why it is interesting that in the public space
the art can find the viewers who are not prepared to see it
or are not familiar with it or do not seek it out at all.
This way they can learn about the existence of contemporary art,
what does it deal with
and what is it saying.
Of course, the impact is greater since much more people can see it.
It can be controversial, or political,
it can work with the issues that define the current debates in society.
And the passers-by can notice it and be inspired to think about those issues
from a different point of view.