Artist: StonyTellers
Curator: Anežka Januschka Kořínková
Venue: Galerie 35M2, Prague
Title: How to dream from nine to five
Photos: Peter Kolárčik
The exhibition project How to Dream from Nine to Five by the StonyTellers collective is the final contribution to the programme, working with the concept of radial happiness. Following on from the exhibitions devoted to analysing and searching for individualised happiness in the first phase, and the turn towards interpersonal communication and the cultivation thereof in the second, this third event is directed towards activation in the sense of organising public meetings as an integral component of the exhibition.
The members of the collective, which focuses among other factors on the creation of both permanent and temporary spatial installations and environments for experiences and sharing, have decided to construct a backdrop evoking an office, a place of work, also here within the premises of Galerie 35M2. Their artistic installation, comprising a raised table designed by the artists in the shape of petals, together with office furniture, invites visitors to sit down and take part in communal meetings.
The aim of these meetings should be to stimulate and open up a discussion of socio-political, societal and artistic topics, which we need to conduct in order to begin to approach genuine, collective happiness, as referred to by Lynne Segal. In her work she accentuates the essential necessity of seeking and attaining happiness within a collective context, by means of social activity, mutual support and political engagement.
Why the environment of a gallery, and what role can art play herein? In 1998 the theorist Nicolas Bourriaud presented the concept of relational aesthetics, which does not perceive art merely as the outcome of a creative act of an artist, but primarily as a vehicle for creating relationships and interactions within the framework of an arts scene and of society as a whole. Art becomes a tool for creating a community, a dialogue, and for sharing experiences.