The exhibition in Prague presents the author’s book of the poet and graphic artist about the end of the world
It consists of the author’s book and a set of separate graphic sheets, linocuts, illustrating and developing the original images.
Their subject is the ecological crisis and related processes, some minimal, some taking place on a macroscopic scale. The exhibition takes place on the occasion of the Czech presidency of the Council of the European Union. It will be accessible to the public from Wednesday.
“The book is the cornerstone of human culture. Through it, we grasp not only ourselves, but also the world of which we are a part. It has the ability to fulfill the potential of both of these spheres and to share it,” said art historian and exhibition curator Barbora Kundračíková.
According to her, the book Tribute tells about the experience of a world “which is on the edge of its existence and yet remains infinitely beautiful”. It is a reflection of the personal nature of the relationship to it, anchoring it in a more general framework and reflecting back into it, she said. According to Kundračíková, the book version, the capture of the author’s views on the world, has a completely positive tone.
“If the main theme of the Hold project is the end of the human age as we know it, the application of the most traditional of known technologies represents a possible counterpoint – books, poems and printing are tools as old as humanity itself. But they provide everything necessary to be able to correctly name what ‘was done’, as Ballová writes in other of her poems. This is the first step on the road to correction,” said the curator.
The publication Hold was published as an author’s book in 2018 in a limited edition of 35 pieces measuring 52 by 65 centimeters. Contains 70 colored linocuts with engraved text. The binding is hand-sewn, in canvas, leather or parchment. At the exhibition, it is presented in the original form of individual sheets – as they were exhibited starting in 2015 in Spain, France, Germany, Austria or Japan.
Poet Sally Ball was born in 1968 in New Jersey, USA. She is a professor of English at Arizona State University. He is also significantly involved in the activities of the local publishing house Four Way Books, lives and works in Phoenix, South America. Graphic artist Jan Vičar was born in 1967, graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. He lives and works in the Highlands and in Reims, France.