Listen patiently

Group exhibition
Špejchar Měšice
5. 7. / 5. 9. 2022

Jakub Brázda, Monika Hníková, Matouš Hrbek, Oskar Hořánek, Tomáš Motal, Matěj Pokorný, Marcela Putnová, Anna Ruth, Sára Skocz, Jáchym Šimek, Jan Štulíř, Václav Voleský, Tomáš Pánek, Štěpánka Sigmundová

- Listen patiently.

- We, who are the Last Men, earnestly desire to communicate with you.

- I am speaking to you now

- from a period about two thousand million terrestrial years in your future.

- Astronomers have made a startling discovery,

- which assigns a speedy end to humankind.

- We can help you -

- and we need your help.

Artists freed from the burden of history can create in any way they wish and for any purpose they wish, or even without any purpose at all.

This is what characterizes contemporary art. Unlike modern art (late 19th century - 1970s), there is no such thing as a contemporary style that connects individual works. That is why we must understand paintings, sculptures... as a language in which the artist speaks to us.

In Denis Villeneuve's Arrival, we witness the arrival of twelve monumental objects levitating a few metres above the ground. Every 18 hours, a door in them opens and humanity has the chance to go inside and try to communicate with the crew of the object.

The plot of the film is based on an attempt at communication between the two sides. Once the main character, linguist Louise Banks, fully learns and understands the language of the alien visitor, she is allowed to perceive time in a non-linear way. At the end of the film, she understands that this gift, which will allow her to reverse the impending disaster, was given to her because in the future she will need the help of the opposite counterpart.

John Grundy, a neuroscientist at Iowa State University who specializes in bilingualism and the brain, explains that learning a new language causes extensive mental neuroplasticity. In other words, when you learn a new language, your brain regroups, making new connections and new pathways.

We can think of art as the language the author uses to communicate with us. Someone wants to tell us something about themselves, someone wants to point out a social issue, and someone is just sharing their interest in a topic. Going through an exhibition is like flipping through encrypted books, and by uncovering them we can understand what the artist's intention is. The best works give room for one's own interpretation. We find meanings that the artist might not have thought of.

The paintings have landed in the Spejchar and it is up to you to go inside and try to make first contact.

- But listen patiently.

- This is not our last word.

- The stars have their beginnings and their ends.

- For a few moments, somewhere in between,

- a few, very few, may support thought.

- But humankind is a fair spirit,

- whom a star conceived

- and a star kills.