KRIŠTOF KINTERA
WELCOME TO NEUROPOLIS

The things we usually fail to see, or unconsciously disregard on our hurried passage through buildings and urban landscapes, find a new lease of life in this exhibition – "Welcome to NEUROPOLIS" – by the Czech artist, Krištof Kintera. In his most recent group of works, on view together for the first time, materials that were once part of the infrastructure of our existence but are now discarded, dumped or scrapped are given a new presence.  Paradoxically, this "post obsolescence" takes the form of miniature cities. It's an astute act of inversion in which Kintera, with a good deal of humor as well as a love of detail and material, selects precisely those objects that were so taken for granted before being cast aside and raises them to the level of "Architecture". In doing so, he not only directs us to environmental questions of obsolescence, waste and recycling, but also to our physical relationship with such lowly artefacts. After all, "neuropolis" is a cunning term, combining the Greek word for "city" with that for "nerve". These humble objects, Kintera seems to say, are as much a part of us – our "subcutaneous" existence – as of the urban landscapes we inhabit.

 

In contrast to NEUROPOLIS the exhibition also features Kintera's now iconic DRAWINGS, as well as his most recently created sculptures. Using metaphor, pointed exaggerations and satire, these reflect the most urgent political, social and ecological questions of our time. The sculpture Astra Apocalyptica (2020), for example, an “eschatological plant” of discarded electronic components and building materials, reminds us, in its fascinating beauty, that – despite our intellectual and technological progress – we are still part of the natural world, the destruction of which – driven by economic interests – we continue to advance.

 

The highly dynamic DRAWINGS, also question art’s traditional genre boundaries, putting them up for renegotiation. Searching for the classic characteristics of drawing in these works will bring disappointment: no paper, no pencil strokes, no ink…Instead, Kintera's DRAWINGS are three-dimensional objects, using diverse materials mounted relief-like on plywood panels. Their relationship to traditional drawings might come from their dynamism. Employing materials such as-once liquid foam – the drips and splashes of which are testimony to the creative process – they have the spontaneity and immediacy of drawing, something confirmed by Kintera. “It’s true that most people don’t believe me when I say that these works are drawings. They see their physical elements and think of them more as collages or reliefs. But to me they are drawings because of the way I make them. They are spontaneous and quick. Arranging the objects is like the process of drawing. I have never considered them as anything other than drawings.”

 

Krištof Kintera, who was born in 1973 in Prague, is one of the most significant artists working today. His oeuvre includes sculpture, assemblages and installations, in which he decidedly – and often humorously – gets to grips with contemporary subjects. Switching between the apparently trivial and the deadly serious, his creations contain a lively criticism of hyper-capitalist systems and the ecological questions resulting from them. Kintera’s works are represented in several important collections and have been exhibited throughout the world, including in La Galleria Nazionale in Rome, the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, Museum Tinguely in Basel, Haus der Kunst in Munich and in galleries and museums in New York, Sydney, Prague and Berlin.