Daniel Vlček

Sludge

January 15, 2025 - April 5, 2025 Curator: David Korecký Photos by: Jiří Gordon Galerie výtvarného umění, náměstí Krále Jiřího z Poděbrad, Cheb 2, Cheb, Czechia

The Sludge exhibition in Cheb presents a different facet of the artist’s work, where he experimentally explores the theme of microorganisms. His study of their life serves as inspiration for understanding the principles of general systems and their capacity for self-development. Vlček’s fascination with timeless abstraction, combined with the epic narrative of evolution as reflected in the behavior of microorganisms, creates a laboratory of experiments in various stages of progress and incompleteness.

The exhibition incorporates sediments embedded in the marble floor of the gallery, residues of dried liquids of diverse organic and inorganic compositions, crystals formed from evaporated marsh samples in Petri dishes, drawings in metal basins of unspecified purpose, mats made of seaweed… Alongside these elements, the exhibition also features Vlček’s latest paintings, drawings, and video material created during his repeated stays in the Venetian lagoon.

In these new forms of cooperation between art, science, and preservation, the artists participate in addressing environmental issues through the prism of art. The project does not seek to expose the negative impacts of human activity; on the contrary, it illuminates the positive adaptive power of nature. The communicated message is not activistic, but rather highly ethical.

The primary impulse for the exhibition was the experimental video documentary by visual artist and musician Daniel Vlček, addressing the Metaphor Island with its own ecosystem, which has recently formed in reaction to a human-made technical structure. Together with biologist Giovanni Cecconi, who helped construct the Mose system protecting the city from seasonal “acqua alta” flooding, Vlček set out to the Venetian Lagoon to map out this project.