Dominikánská 8
Barock Refectory of the St. Giles Dominican Priory in Prague
Praha, Jilská 7a
15. october – 30. december 2012
DEBATING EVENING ROMA, GOD AND CHURCH
My dream – My Avatar’ is more than just a work of art but a Project that opens the question on what it means to be an artist, a curator and an audience in the ecology of contemporary art. Overall, what is the role or function of contemporary art in the era we live in.
It is composed of the intensive engagement with children in Korea who are from multi-cultural background and the Gypsy Community from the Czech Republic and certainly is one of the most important components of this Project.
The children were asked by the artist to draw their own avatar, that is a figure they would want to be or a self that exists in their unconsciousness. An avatar here is a metaphor that describes another being of the children participating in this Project. HONG photographed each one of the actual children and overlapped the two images the actual one and the one from the avatar together.
The avatar drawings ranged from a face of a blond rincess with blue eyes to a face on fire. These poignant figures will be reflected on the beautiful Baroque-style shaped windows of the Refectory at St. Giles Dominican Priory in Prague.
Preachers from the Dominicans Order used to live in cities, very close to people, in order to be able to understand people’s needs and thoughts and listen to their joy and grief. During the Baroque period, the Refectory was used not only for spiritual readings during dinners but also as a spot for sharing with the people on special occasions.
These functions were the focal point for spiritual, humanistic and intercultural gatherings with the people and still are with contemporary people: us.
‘MY DREAM – My Avatar’ is perfectly suited for the environment and resonance of the Refectory, enhancing the concept of ‘우리 [WOO:RI]’.
JW Stella & Norbert Schmidt
The coorganiser and host is the Cultural Centre Dominikánská 8 by the St. Giles Dominican Priory in Prague led by Benedikt Mohelník OP. Special Thanks to Jana Tomášková and Ondřej Funda (TINA B.).
foto © archiv D8
foto © archiv OP
foto © Petr Neubert
foto © Hong Soun
Hong Soun: The Right to Dream, Exhibition (7.11. – 9.12. 2012)
Savina Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea
foto © Hong Soun