Tania Nikulina: Friend of the Moon: The Feast
Fait Gallery PREVIEW
Ve Vaňkovce 2, Brno
21. 2. – 5. 5. 2018
Curator: Tereza Rudolf Hrušková
The combination of objects – costumes – props with video has become a trademark of Tania Nikulina’s work. The Friend of the Moon exhibition based on an ambiguous, almost schizophrenic relationship between the female protagonists of the video depicts an intimate relationship set against the backdrop of the mundane which the viewer is invited to enter.
Tania Nikulina is basically a sculptor and often employs unconventional materials such as plastic, felt, naturalia, plastic foam and polystyrene combined with textiles. Nonetheless, the basic means of communication for the artist is video through which she presents her soft objects. However, the concept of sculpture and the related materiality enter relation contexts in Nikulina’s work as well. What matters is a touch, a contact, both between the performers and the haptic surfaces of objects and the audience.
In contrast to the artist’s previous work, the video presented at the exhibition in the Fait Gallery is an attempt to test a different format of a story – a more civil and at first sight also more understandable narrative. Its ultimate source of inspiration was Sasha Sokolov’s book A School for Fools introducing a complex narration often shifting between several time levels. At the same time, the exhibition develops the performative aspect of Tania Nikulina’s work: while “act one” of the imaginary story took place in the Jelení Gallery, Prague as an encounter, at the feast the performance changes its rhythm and is intended as an invitation for the audience to feel part of a festive moment, an encounter of several people. This moment is as changeable as the artist’s objects in which the border between a costume and a prop is never quite clear, nor is it clear who is wearing who, whether the actors are wearing the costumes or the costumes are wearing the actors.
Tania Nikulina comes from Irkutsk. She studied in the Bachelor’s programme in the Department of Sculpture at the UMPRUM (AAAD} academy in Prague where she now continues in the Master’s programme. She is currently finishing residence in the studio of Anna Daučíková at the AVU academy. She displayed her work at the collective exhibition Against Nature: The Young Czech Art Scene in the National Gallery, Prague and at the exhibition Threads, Balls, Fabrics. Thoughts are fine threads in the Regional Gallery, Jihlava. She had solo exhibitions in the NIKA Gallery in Prague, the Rampa Gallery in Ústí nad Labem and in the Jelení Gallery, Prague.
The exhibition opens on Wednesday 21 February 2018 at 7 p.m.
Photographic reproductions for the show can be downloaded at https://goo.gl/CrdecQ
Photographic documentation of the installation can be downloaded at https://goo.gl/WuNyjK (c) Lukáš Jasanský.
Media contact
Nela Klajbanová
klajbanova@faitgallery.com
+420 724 349 167
www.faitgallery.com