Photo: Documentation of artwork Blue Wash from Benjamin Hao Lap Yan.
International Group Exhibition
Gardening of Soul: Introduction
Opening of the exhibition: December 7, 2022 from 6 pm
Duration of the exhibition: December 8, 2022 – March 11, 2023
Exhibiting artists: Daniela Brasil (AT/BR), Jiří Černický (CZ), Hrvoje Cokarić (CRO), Alexis Dworsky (DE), Hannes Egger (IT), Hafnargarður Community Garden (ICE), Benjamin Hao Lap Yan (HKG), Kristyna and Marek Milde (USA/CZ), Lukas Kühne (UYU/GER), The Trinity Session (SA), Sam Van Aken (USA)
Curator: Michal Koleček
The exhibition Gardening of Soul: Introduction is the first public output of the long-term project of the Faculty of Art and Design at J. E. Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem, which focuses on the issue of artistic reflection on the phenomenon of garden and gardening understood in a broader social, economic, environmental and cultural context. This project, called Gardening of Soul: In Five Chapters, is gradually being built in collaboration with several local and international partners and its basic idea is to strengthen collaboration between artists, art institutions and local communities in the form of jointly realized artworks using various means of artistic research, participatory work and site-specific interventions. At the centre of the project is the theme of gardening, conceived from a metaphorical perspective as an activity determined by an individual’s determination to improve and share a particular space, while at the same time using this space to provide for socio-cultural and existential needs. From this perspective, it is clear that although the phenomenon of gardening naturally changes in different communities and climates, it always has enormous potential to foster the conditions for cooperation, communication and shared production that are vitally linked to the surrounding natural environment and the shared purposeful activity of a particular community.