The Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, Czech Republic is hosting a large-scale exhibition project from Czech artist Krištof Kintera. The exhibition is called ‘Nervous Trees’ – a reference to probably the most interesting artwork of the exhibition. The exhibition was only due to run until the 26th November 2017, but has been extended to December 27th 2017.

Entrance is free.

The Rudolfinum building also hosts, usually classical music, concerts. It’s pretty impressive from the outside.

The entrance to the gallery is on the left side of the building and you’ll find yourself in a large hall.

The entrance to the exhibition is up the stairs – there was a short queue when we visited, but then it was at the weekend.

What is art? A difficult subject and one that I’m not qualified to answer. I could use the phrase “I don’t know much about art, but I know what I like” and what I like are the paintings of Prague trams by Czech artist Martina Krupičková https://martinakrupickova.com/ – such as this one:

But I didn’t visit this exhibition as an art critic looking for a deep meaning; I was more like the numerous children visiting with parents, who just enjoyed the eclectic and unusual installations for what they were.

The first room contained a large chandelier that had crashed to the ground beside a mountain.

The next, a large sprawling island formed from old electronic circuit boards and other electrical waste.

And a smaller island:

And some wires made to look like a flowering plant:

The next room was a workshop, full of hundreds of pieces of junk, plus another island:

There was also a magical tree, or maybe a representation of DNA:

An attractive wire flower, with a joke Latin botanical name, sat in a glass-covered frame:

The next room was full of random pictures, many of them with funny titles and motifs:

This one I liked because it was a squashed wasp:

The next hall contained some nervous trees:

I’m not surprised the trees were nervous as there was a tower of cement sacks that looked like they could fall at any second:

The next room was a polystyrene block hill with a jukebox on the top of it. Visitors are encouraged to pick away at the polystyrene to create an artificial snow on the floor of the room. I forgot to take a picture of that.

We then entered a room containing a washing machine mountain:

Many of the machines were running:

And that was the end of the exhibition.

I really enjoyed my visit and would definitely recommend that you go there. There is a free booklet available at the venue, written by the curator, that tries to convey the artists thoughts and meaning – but it’s a pretty pompous read. It’s nice to see that the artist isn’t taking things too seriously, adding joke titles to his creations.

Krištof Kintera – Nervous Trees
Galerie Rudolfinum
Alšovo nábřeží 12
110 00 Prague 1
Czech Republic

http://www.galerierudolfinum.cz/en/exhibitions/past-exhibitions/kristof-kintera-nervous-trees/

http://kristofkintera.com/home.htm

Tues, Wed, Fri, Sat, & Sun 10.00–18.00
Thursday: 10.00-20.00
Closed Monday