Apparatus 2.0: The Unreliable Library

May 29—July 29, 2018

Curated by Tereza Jindrová, Meghana Karnik, Michelle Levy

Matěj Al-Ali
Keren Benbenisty
Tyler Coburn
David Court
Sean Fader
Kara Hearn
Zebadiah Keneally
Alena Kotzmannová
Tomáš Moravec
Freya Powell
Markéta Othová
Elisabeth Smolarz
Magda Stanová
Tomáš Svoboda
Dannielle Tegeder
Jiří Thýn

Special thanks to Pavla Sceranková and Dušan Záhoranský

Foundation and Center for Contemporary Arts Prague (FCCA)
Dukelskych hrdinu 500 / 25a
170 00 Praha 7 (Prague)
Czech Republic

Opening Reception: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 6 - 8 PM

What is Art the Solution For? Roundtable discussion by Zebaseana / LaTableRonde
Wednesday, May 30, 6 - 8 PM. By invitation only.

She Is Alone Performance by Michelle Levy
Thursday, May 31, 6 - 8 PM

Presented at the Foundation and Center for Contemporary Art (FCCA) in Prague, Apparatus 2.0: Nespolehlivá knihovna / The Unreliable Library is an exhibition resulting from a multilevel collaboration between artists and organizers from Prague and New York City. Taking place in the reconstructed FCCA library, the exhibition will reflect on how we gather research and build knowledge about culture, and on the library as a space for slow processes of contemplation and discovery. This exhibition expands on its predecessor, Apparatus for a Utopian Image (September 21 – October 29, 2016) at EFA Project Space in New York; initiated by artists Pavla Sceranková and Dušan Zahoranský to encourage a dialogue between artists from Prague and New York City. Apparatus 2.0 deepens the engagement by facilitating long-distance collaborations between the same artists, bringing the New York group to meet their Prague counterparts during opening week. Each working group has been invited to consider their experiences – in different cities, under their respective cultural conditions – to see how these aspects shape the artists understanding of images. Some questions posed by participants are: What sense do we make of a decentralized, unsystematic, and unreliable library? Is art practice an apparatus to distract us from mortality? What does an Eastern-Western diary of the past look like? Is knowledge built (like a tower) or excavated (from a pit)? What is art the solution for?

Apparatus 2.0: The Unreliable Library is co-presented by The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (EFA) in New York, and Foundation and Center for Contemporary Arts (FCCA) in Prague.

Foundation and Center for Contemporary Arts Prague receives support for their exhibition program from the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Prague City Council, the State Fund of Culture of the Czech Republic, and the Municipal District of Prague 7. This project is made possible through the generous support of Trust for Mutual Understanding. Special thanks: Petrohradská kolektiv. Media support: ArtMap, jlbjlt.net and UMA: You Make Art.