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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.

Family Matters

The Family Matters exhibition maps the work of artists who are related to each other in one way or another. It reflects upon their relationships and family connections in the context of their creative work. It is a social and psychological probe into interpersonal relationships within specific artistic (multigenerational) families which studies the relationships of a parent (father) and a child (son) and married couples.

A special feature of the exhibition is a video documentary1 providing intimate testimonies of the artists, a kind of an “oral history” which will provide a glimpse into the way they perceive their relationships, how they influence and interact with each other. The authentic narrations capture how they felt about each other’s work, whether they reflected on it or talked about it. To what degree they influenced each other, how they formed each other in respect to their creative work and the actual creative process. Also, if there was a need to distance themselves from each other or rather coexist more harmoniously and create a supporting creative environment for each other. Simply put, how they were able to live and create together in these artistic family constellations. In the case of spouses, we focused on the matters of “work division” and self-realisation of wives/artists after giving birth.

This was the basis for creating live dialogues between married couples: Lucia Papčová – Štefan Papčo, Olja Triaška Stefanović – Ján Triaška and a look into how sons Jozef Srna Jr and Michal Studený recall their deceased fathers – Jozef Srna Sr and František Studený. The relationship between František and Michal Studený is also described by Michal Studený’s wife Danica Studená. In the case of deceased artists, interviews were conducted with associated art theorists or broader family members. The spouses Elvíra Antalová and Eduard Antal are described by their daughter Zuzana Duchoňová (architect), Ján Mudroch and Marián Mudroch are described by Katarína Bajcurová (art theorist, SNG curator), Raimund von Wichera’s relationship with Maximilián Schurmann is described by Július Barczi (art historian, director of Soga Art Auction House).

The full colour bilingual (Slovak-English) catalogue Family Matters has 119 pages featuring an introductory curatorial study, reproductions of the exhibited works, exhibiting artists’ biographies and transcripts of interviews from the video documentary which can be viewed by scanning a QR code provided directly in the catalogue.