Ilona Nemeth in Gardening of Soul
On 22 and 23 February, an international conference will be held in the Czech town of Usti nad Labem as part of a multiyear project examining gardening as the means of visual art expression. Entitled Gardening of Soul: In Five Chapters, the event will give the floor to artists not only from the Czech Republic, Austria, France, Hong-Kong, Italy, South Africa and Ukraine but also to the significant Slovak artist Ilona Nemeth.
The conference will discuss „creating artworks in public space with the involvement of local communities”. Mapping the artistic potential of gardens, we will find experts presenting their research, for example, on care as a radical method of community management, spontaneous gardening in public spaces, forest swimming baths, garden as care or as a “real“ Utopia.
The Slovak artist will present her project “The Gardens of the future” in a panel on Friday, 23 February. As she said for the daily Dennik N, environmentalists and climate scientists see the future in a sustainable garden made up of plants that are extremely hardy, easily adapt to rapidly changing conditions and improve soil quality in places where it is polluted for some reason. Ilona Nemeth presented this project in 2022 at the prestigious forum for contemporary art in the German city of Kassel – the documenta 15.
World’s best cartoonists on display in Presov
Salto Mortale and Humorotherapy. That’s the title of the international display of funny cartoons that opened in Presov, eastern Slovakia, last week. Organised by the Brain Sneezing Gallery in cooperation with the Novum centre Gallery it presents works by the world's leading artists until April 2024.
Mozart in Bratislava
Up until Sunday, 25 February, the winter part of the Convergence festival of chamber music is being held in the Slovak capital, Bratislava. The key figure of the year 2024 is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The star guest of the festival is the Finnish pianist, conductor and composer Olli Mustonen. On Saturday, it will be possible to see a performance by the Chaos String Quartet from Vienna that has become one of the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists. The festival will close on Sunday with the Quintet in E flat major for piano, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon, which Mozart wrote about in a letter to his father Leopold: "I consider it the best piece I have written so far."
Marko Blažo in Slovak National Gallery
On Thursday, 16 February, the grand display of works by the late artist Marko Blažo opened as the first solo show held in the reconstructed premises of the Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava. Entitled Marko Blažo: The Whole Human, it presents iconic pieces as well as artworks from private collections and his never exhibited childhood paintings, drawings and objects that reveal the constant motives explored until his death: cathedrals, butterflies, ants, cabbages and the wave by Japanese master Hokusai:
Asian businessman at Marko Blažo exhibition
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On Thursday, 22 February, it is possible to experience the exhibition as part of the first guided tour. Learn more in our show next week. We will take you to the world of Marko Blazo as recorded at the opening of his solo exhibition. Tune in to Slovakia Today on 29 February.
