ADÉLA SOUČKOVÁ A ADRIENA ŠIMOTOVÁ: 1+1=1

2. 10.–10. 11. 2024

The exhibition 1 + 1 = 1 connects the visual worlds of two artists from different generations, Adriena Šimotová and Adéla Součková. Both artists work with the sensitive medium of drawing, presenting time as a trace of physical and mental transformation, while revealing constants of human consciousness trat transcend time.

Adriena Šimotová, through the symbolism of the body, reflects on the inner web of relationships, introspectively exploring the fundamental Buberian questions of ‘I and You,’ which underlie any temporal and spatial grounding of a person in the present. In contrast, Adéla Součková moves beyond personal testimony, aiming to capture broader relationships that extend the human experience into the realm of expanded consciousness. While the former creative approach chosen is introverted, the latter extrovertedly reaches beyond the horizons of European cultural frameworks. Šimotová’s work is a quiet message, a solitary pause, a meditation; Součková’s, on the other hand, dynamically activates the context of static media with ritualistic, performative gestures that invite participation.

Šimotová’s stillness is complemented by Součková’s restless dynamism and cultural nomadism. Šimotová’s intuitive frottages, crumpled paper, and delicate drawings, marked by fragility and vulnerability, intertwine with Součková’s processes of ritual rationalization and her search for a configurative language systems (that includes image, drawing, text, video, installation, object-image, and performance). Moreover, Součková integrates archaic symbolism, information codes, and modern expressive techniques. Both artists aim toward meta-narrative strategies, where repetition and the status of the individual are central.

The exhibition title references the metaphorical language and ‘alternative logic’ of mathematics, where the imaginary result is the sum of complementary artistic approaches (1 + 1). This forms a new, singular whole (= 1), where the multi-layered nature of human existence is brought to life in its richness, fullness, and developmental potential. There are no ‘old’ and ‘new’ times; there are only times that are continually re-layered and repeated, revealing their secrets. The combination of different generational experiences highlights the constants of human though and needs across time and cultures. These questions are asked again and again by each generation. Their cyclical formulation blends with their linear fulfilment, where pain and suffering, as well as deities, social conventions, orders, and canons, find their appropriate incarnations or critical residues.

The exhibition is curated by Petr Vaňous.