Post written by Jack Summers
Over the past week in Prague I’ve spent a decent amount of my time at the Prague Quadrennial, primarily looking at the exhibitions submitted by different countries. Possibly my favorite that I saw was submitted by Australia, consisting of a ring made of eucalyptus, in a black room with minimal lighting and ambient music/sound. I personally haven’t seen many art pieces like this before, but this had some of the best combinations of lighting and space that I’ve experienced.
Another thing that I went to which happened in association with the Quadrennial, was a series of sound-art pieces put on by Sound Kitchen. All of the pieces that I heard were, in their own way, very interesting to experience and listen to. One of my favorites that I saw was by Mengting Zhuo, and it consisted of them using electrical currents and household objects like a miniature fan to make all sorts of interesting sounds. I loved the idea being pushed by the piece that you can make art out of anything, as well as the emphasis on exploration and improvisation (the artist revealed afterwards that most of what happened was unexpected, and they kind of just rolled with it.) Also, shoutout to Chris Plummer and Libby Meyer for their excellent piece!
A personal cultural experience that I’ve had throughout the trip, not just in Prague but also in Vienna and other places, concerns advertisements. I have been having a wonderful time experiencing advertisements while being divorced from any cultural context, as well as not having a thorough understanding of the language. I saw a movie in a theater while in Prague, and while none of the ads were any weirder than something I would see in the U.S., that lack of context has made them fascinating and sometimes a little bizarre.
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