Retail price: Eur 3
This publication has been supported using public funds provided by Slovak Arts Council. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Council cannot be held responsible for the information contained therein. The Slovak Arts Council was the main partner of the project.
We would also like to thank the designer of the Veselica typeface, Marek Chmiel, for allowing us to use it in the catalogue free of charge.
FOLK-LORE
The FOLK-LORE exhibition is a critical way of looking at the specific phenomenon of folklore, which has had an impact on the development of our culture. We perceive it as a part of our Slovak identity and it is most commonly affiliated with life in the countryside, traditions, proverbs and sayings. However, the exhibition does not focus on embracing these traditional values, but on offering a different perception of folklore. It takes a critical look at folk traditions and their reflection in broader historical and social contexts, reevaluates the deeply encoded stereotype notions of our traditional folk society and the position of men and women in it using representative pieces by both male and female artists of the 20th and 21st centuries that focus on the present.
The full colour bilingual (Slovak-English) FOLK-LORE catalogue has 160 pages featuring a professional introductory study, interpretations and reproductions of all of the exhibited pieces as well as all of the artists’ biographies. The catalogue and the exhibition itself are divided into ten theme sections whose titles are derived from authentic Slovak proverbs and sayings
The largest section is titled Klára – During Night She Stitches, During Day Looks for Glitches and includes works by five female artists and one art group, all of them incorporating the technique of embroidery, referencing traditional folk embroidery. Multiple sections explore critical interpretations of gender stereotypes and gender inequality. They work with several keywords like the bonnet – criticising the stereotypical perception of the status of women, the wedding and its social aspects and transitional rituals, including the social pressure on young girls, urging them to get married as soon as possible, the bride as an object. Other theme sections present works reflecting upon ceremonies and rituals of traditional folk culture using irony and satire – a log home as a space for artistic intervention; a concrete apartment building as the new log home, but also rural equipment as ready made objects with new functions and also a bizarre combination of traditional folk culture with an iconic comic book and film character – Batman. The selection of both male and female artists was also based on their original reflection of individual, national and ethnic identities presented using various folklore symbols based on different national and ethnic backgrounds as well as the way they coped with our collective memory and traumatic historical events from the war-period Slovak State.
Texts: © Barbora Kurek Geržová
Proofing: © Janka Jurečková
Translation: © Marián Minárik
Graphic Design: © Filip Jurković
Print: Helbich Brno
Edition: 500 pcs
Pages: 160
Typeface: GT Super, GT Zirkon, Veselica (Marek Chmiel)
Publisher: Nitra Gallery
Year: 2021
ISBN 978 – 80 – 85746 – 88 – 4
EAN 9788085746884