Information

Artist
Jana Mináriková

Curator
Omar Mirza

Venue
Youth Gallery

Duration
March 18 – June 25, 2021

Download

Press release
Invitation

Support

Supported using public funding by Slovak Arts Council.

Special thanks to: the Ponitrianske Museum in Nitra, the Missionary Museum in Nitra, Zoopreparatórium [a taxidermy shop], Pavol Gašparík, Rudolf Minárik – ELVA Servis, Marián Oravec

Hunters and Gatherers is Jana Mináriková’s first solo exhibition at Nitra Gallery. It was originally supposed to be held back in the summer of 2020, but it had to be moved to 2021 due to the first wave of the pandemic. In the meantime, the second wave of the pandemic hit even harder and the opening date had to be moved again, but we are glad it can now open at last. 

Jana Mináriková spent two years going on hunting trips. In the spring, summer, autumn and also winter. She would take pictures of hunting towers all over Slovakia. The strange sheds resembling watch towers or machine gun nests are made of whatever the builders had at hand, but they can also be precisely constructed and comfortably equipped hides. The artist was sometimes lucky enough to catch a bunch of these in the same field, on other occasions, she had to travel across the country and wait patiently with her eye to the scope for the right moment for shooting. Then she would bring her “game” home, apply her taxidermy software on it and pick the best ones for showcasing. 

The exhibition will present large-scale photographs of some of the hides’ interiors and a colourful mosaic showcasing many of their exterior designs. You will also be able to watch a short film documenting the process of taxidermy. Finally, there will be an actual cratch set up in the gallery, so the deer are expected to visit as well. 

A handy map of the photographed hides will be published for the exhibition accompanied with a curatorial text and a professional study of the history of hunting. A passionate collector will be able to pick up a special wall calendar for the hunting season of 2021/2022, featuring the most beautiful hunting towers in Slovakia.

Jana Mináriková (1980, Nitra) studied art and art education at Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, documentary, screenplay writing and dramaturgy at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava and fine art at the Academy of Arts in Banská Bystrica where she obtained her doctoral degree. In 2011, she and Dušan Bustin co-founded a creative studio called Almostar where she works as a director, screenplay writer, documentarist, editor, camerawoman and photographer at various visual projects. Since 2013, she has also been working as an assistant lecturer at the Studio of Photography and Video at the Department of Creative Arts and Art Education at the Faculty of Education at Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra. She usually works on films that are a crossover between feature films and documentaries, creates music videos and enjoys photographing. She has received several Slovak and international awards. She considers herself a filmmaker overlapping into fine arts or perhaps a fine artist overlapping into filmmaking. She collects photographs of hunting towers. She lives and works in the forests under the Zobor Mountain in Nitra.

In cooperation with 3D Real — Virtuálne prehliadky.

Video invitation

Exhibition views
Photo: Martin Daniš

Calendar
Photo – Martin Daniš