VICE VERSA: Our Earth is their Moon, our Moon is their Earth

Participating artists: Hynek Alt, Matyáš Chochola, Jasmina Cibic, Viktor Dedek, Deniz Eroglu, Feld72, Liam Gillick, Anna Hulačová, Christian Jankowski, Barbara Kapusta, David Maljkovic, Christoph Meier, Ute Müller, Antonis Pittas, Boris Ondreička, Lisa Reitmeier, Sofie Thorsen

Curated by Significant Other: Laura Amann & Jen Kratochvil

Organized by Studio Bubec

Civilization’s most essential element…
The quota of absolute necessities…
Having been reduced to almost nothing…
The quota of extra things…
Has been extended to include almost everything…

VICE VERSA: Our Earth is Their Moon, Our Moon is Their Earth, is the title of this year’s m3 festival: Art in Space and a phrase borrowed from Ursula Le Guin’s 1974 utopian Sci-Fi novel The Dispossessed; it underlines the dual coexistence of two opposite, yet mutually dependent and intertwined civilisations.

In the context of a festival of art in public space, it relates to issues of wide discrepancy between the general public and the professional art audience, questions regarding the various levels of social hierarchy in the population inhabiting the city, same as the peculiar relationship between local residents and short-term visitors.

VICE VERSA focuses on the heart of the city of Prague and specifically gives attention to those things that usually go unnoticed in the spotlight. Dealing with issues of inclusion and exclusion, gentrification, visual pollution, the economy of tourism and therefore also the living conditions of the local inhabitants of Prague, a selected group of internationally active artists has been invited to develop and present new context-specific works, deploying practices which transcend traditional sculptural positions and encompass among others performance, moving image, photography and installation in an attempt to realign Moon and Earth.

The mental space left by the reduction of our needs…
Is taken up by those talents – artistic, poetic and scientific…
Which multiply and take deep root…
They spring from a necessity to produce and not from a necessity to consume…  

Organised in partnership with Kunsthalle Praha; Academy of Arts, Architecture & Design in Prague; Academy of Fine Arts in Prague; Prague City Gallery and Institute of Urban Development and Planning in Prague.

m3 festival/ Art in Space was established in 2017. The goal of the festival is to enrich the city based on interventions by selected artists and to mediate direct contact with contemporary art outside of institutional grounds for visitors and residents alike. Furthermore, the festival aims to cultivate public spaces, to analyse and disrupt social and local stereotypes and engage in a broader public discussion in relation to topics relevant to each iteration, while focusing on one specific quarter of the city in order to achieve a condensed and correlated experience.
www.bubec.cz

Significant Other is a curatorial platform and exhibition space currently based in Vienna proposing a format alternating between exhibited, written and programmed positions. SO’s interests lie in the mutually influential relations of Art and Architecture, geographies as well as collaborative practices amongst individuals and institutions. The current cycle focuses on research-based practices of visual artists manoeuvring on the edge of architectural practice and explores mechanisms of co-production across institutional hierarchies while dealing with the politics of space ranging from display, monuments and representative architecture to urban design. More info

Kunsthalle Praha is a new space for art and culture in the historical center of Prague. It will offer a dynamic range of art exhibitions, education programs, cultural events and social activities. Kunsthalle Praha‘s mission is to engage diverse audiences in a deeper understanding and appreciation of Czech and international art of the 20th and 21st century and to explore innovative ways of bringing art to the public. Kunsthalle Praha is a non-profit organisation established by The Pudil Family Foundation. It is scheduled to open to visitors in 2020 after completion of the building’s reconstruction designed by Schindler Seko Architects. More info