Information

Artists
Cyril Blažo, Lucia Dovičáková, Martin Kochan, Stano Masár, Erik Sikora, Martin Šútovec, Miroslav Trubač

Duration 
25 June – 3 September 2020

Venue 
Bunker

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Press release
Invitation

Funding

With financial support of the Slovak Arts Council public funds. The Council is the leading partner of the project.

Irony is a means of expression that enriches our everyday communication with various additional meanings. It gives our statements different connotations than they seem to have at first glance, adds a pinch of humour and sometimes even offends. Its proper implementation requires a certain set of skills which people also need in order to understand it. 

The Eiron exhibition presents the use of irony in Slovak contemporary art and shows how it is implemented across different media types. These include various types of statements, but what they have in common is that they all alternate the original message. Some of the most common themes include politics, interpersonal relationships, social issues or even art itself.

Seven artists reflect upon these themes in their open and critical manner at the premises of the Bunker. Miroslav Trubač incorporates irony into his sculptures depicting human body and its own little tragedies. Lucia Dovičáková’s black and white paintings talk sarcastically about the position of women in today’s society. Martin Kochan and Cyril Blažo change the meaning of images by adding new objects and figures that are supposed to complete their lost, incomplete points. Many issues of Slovak society and politics are embodied in the sharp satire drawings of a well-known Slovak illustrator and caricaturist Martin „Shooty“ Šútovec. Stano Masár’s minimalistic objects and installations explore the irony of contemporary art and the way it is presented at exhibitions. Finally, a very pure form of irony can be found in the video presentations by Erik Sikora who won the Oskar Čepan Award last year. 

The goal of the exhibition is not just to prove the presence of irony in Slovak contemporary art, but also to entertain the viewer, lighten their mood and position towards art and also to ironise itself a little.

 

Videoinvitation

Exhibition views
photo: Martin Daniš (NG archive)