DON’T PANIC EXHIBITION

Year of creation

2019

About project

What effect do social networks, conspiracy theories, and fake news have on global culture? These issues are captured in the project Don’t Panic! by student Olga Krykun from the UMPRUM Painting Studio. The video, which is the main part of the exhibition, blends surrealistic film language inspired by Youtube and social networks, bringing into it even the mysticism of the witches’ Sabbath.

Olga Krykun invited her classmates – Jakub Patka from the Studio of Fashion Design, Nela Britaňáková from the Studio of Ceramics and Porcelain, František Jungvirt from the Glass Studio, Miroslava Jadrná from the Fashion Design Studio and jeweler Michaela Bachorová. Their works serve as objects in the video and are also part of the stage design installation, featuring costumes, objects, and paintings. The scene of the film thus extends into the gallery space itself, which incorporates both lighting and olfactory senses.

The project is inspired by the romance novel The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov. The plot is situated in an apartment, where the dance ball is changing into a kind of party – a Sabbath with magic rituals. The Artist here works with an abstract deconstructed storyline and freely combines the theme of the exhibition and uses part of the visual aesthetic of the novel. The film’s handling is closer to the style of a video clip, which carries a special neurosis, emotivity, and convulsiveness.

“The video follows a formal plot-line that Olga Krykun has shown in her previous films (Club doesn’t matter, Glyptodon Expert Interview). It mainly touches on surrealistic aesthetics, in which the artist moves it to a bizarre form inspired by social networks, Instagram, various vlogs and memes, which create a playful mythology of today,” explains Olga Krykun, and curator František Fekete.

An accompanying program is prepared alongside the Don´t Panic! exhibition. Visitors can look forward to a guided tour and lecture by Dita Malečková from the FF UK, and FAMU.

Project creator: Olga Krykun
Curator: Frantisek Fekete
Designers: Nela Britaňáková, Mia Jadrná, Jakub Patka, Michaela Barochová, František Jungvirt

Photos: Peter Fabo

Represented collections:

DECAL VASES, KITTY MURDER VASE

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