Photo: András ZOMBORI © Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art
Ludwig Múzeum, Budapest
—
Denisa Lehocká
Reversed Objects
The exhibition Reversed Objects raises a number of questions ranging from the status of objects as either mere things or artworks to the functioning of art institutions, while touching on various themes and disciplines. Some of these questions may sound rather banal. American art philosopher Arthur C. Danto analyses the following problem: if one enters a room full of objects, can one tell at a glance which are works of art and which are mere real things? Danto argues that even if we do not necessarily have a precise definition of what art is, we are able to tell artworks from everyday objects.
The exhibition Reversed Objects explores the reasons for the presence, and the various meanings, of traditional craft techniques, which have become increasingly prevalent in contemporary art over the last 10–15 years. This change in the concept of art seems to have been brought about not only by the transformation of artistic practices, but also by a rethinking of the principles of the institutional system. Artists are constantly discovering and appropriating new techniques and processes for themselves, incorporating the contextual content of these into the meaning of their work. Of course, for a very long time now, not only works created using the techniques of painting and sculpture are considered fine art, nor is a degree in art a criterion for someone to be considered an artist. Even so, certain techniques, processes and methods are still considered marginal within visual art, even though the creation of an artwork has long ceased to be associated with the artist’s manual labour.
The somewhat mythical and romanticised idea of “the artist’s handprint”, despite the emergence of craft techniques, is not motivated by a desire to revert the artist’s own situation or the perception of the artist to a bygone era. When visual artists turn to these techniques and methods, they are not always seeking to completely eradicate the prevailing canonical system of the day, but rather to reinterpret existing concepts and practices and examine their present-day usefulness. The artist, by virtue of his or her position, is capable of – even indirectly – rejecting existing frameworks and boundaries in a kind of “epistemic disobedience” (Walter Mignolo).
The institutional system and the artistic canon, for its part, reacts to the specificities of contemporary artistic production, to the ever-new and ever-changing means of expression, while also constantly rethinking its own scientific and epistemological boundaries. The latter can currently be witnessed in the separation of collections of art, ethnography and, to some extent, applied art. However, this Eurocentric approach to the current concept of art and its institutional structure is increasingly difficult to reconcile with the long-standing globalism of the art world. It is precisely these ideas and the critical overriding of them that are at the heart of the so-called “decolonialisation” efforts, theoretically represented in the exhibition in the interpretative field of a local context. The exhibition’s layout reflects this institutional separation by reversing the aesthetics and logic of the display mode familiar from contemporary art exhibitions.
The title of the exhibition refers to the title of Zoltán Fejős’s book of essays, Tárgyfordítások (“Object Reversals”, 2003), “reversing” it, which is not only a tribute to Fejős’s academic work, but also a reference to the interplay between different perspectives and the different approaches of disciplines.
EXHIBITING ARTISTS
ALBERT Ádám, BAKOS Gábor, Julie BÉNA, BP. SZABÓ György, BRÜCKNER János, BUCZKÓ Bence, BUKTA Imre, Tony CRAGG, CSUTOROS Sándor, Anna DAUČÍKOVÁ, EL-HASSAN Róza, EMBER Sári, FEKETE Balázs, Jakup FERRI, GÁDOR Magda, GRÓF Ferenc, GRUPPO TÖKMAG, GYENES Zsófia, HARIS László, HARSÁNY Patrícia, HAVADTŐY Sámuel, JAKAB Tibor Perkins, JOVÁNOVICS György, KANEUJI Teppei, KEMÉNY György, KESERÜ Ilona, KINDER ALBUM, Krištof KINTERA, KIRÁLY Tamás, KOMÁR Sabrina, KOKESCH Ádám, Denisa LEHOCKÁ, LŐRINCZ Réka, Kim MACCONNEL, Goshka MACUGA, Petra MAITZ, Matthias MEGYERI, Rosalind NASHASHIBI, Anna PERACH, Grayson PERRY, Pablo PICASSO, POLGÁR Rózsa, Laure PROUVOST, PUKLUS Péter, RÁCZ Rebeka, RANDOMROUTINES, Erin M. RILEY, ROSKÓ Gábor, Selma SELMAN, Katarina ŠEVIĆ, Nedko SOLAKOV/Slava NAKOVSKA, Daniel SPOERRI, SUGÁR János, SZABÓ Eszter Ágnes, SZALAY Péter, SZILVITZKY Margit, TARR Hajnalka, THIESZ Angéla és a Retextil Alapítvány Műhely, TÓTH Márton Emil, Rosemarie TROCKEL, ULBERT Ádám, VÁRNAI Gyula, Marion VERBOOM, VESZELY Beáta, Erwin WURM
Curator: TIMÁR Katalin
Biography
Born 1971 in Trenčin, lives and works in Bratislava, SK
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2025
Untitled 2025, Lombardi—Kargl, Vienna
2023
Lehocká for National Gallery, Tatra banka Donation for SNG Collections, Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava
POINT, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
2021
untitled, Kunsthalle Bratislava, Bratislava
2021, Collective, Bratislava, Bratislava
2018
Futura, Prague
2016
Luno 550, Fait galerie, Brno
Gandy Gallery, Bratislava
2015
Dite, Dům Umění, České Budějovice
2014
Denisa Lehocká and Eva Kotakova, Hunt Kastner, Prague
2013
Denisa Lehocká, Sammlung Friedrichshof, Vienna
2012
Denisa Lehocká 2012, Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava
2011
Try to describe the colour of pure (still) water, my dear., Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe
2010
Denisa Lehocká 1991-2010, GJK, Trnava
2009
no places no frontiers, Dominik art project, Krakow
tranzit, Bratislava
2008
Austrian Cultural Institute, Prague
2005
Moravská galerie, Brno
Landscape, with Boris Ondreička, BAK, Basis voor Actuele Kunst, Utrecht
2001
Galerie MXM, Prague
2000
Múzeum V. Löfflera, Košice
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025
The Neurobiology of Love, Krupa Art Foundation, Wrocław
2024
Reversed Objects, Ludwig Múzeum, Budapest
Body at Play, Georg Kargl BOX, Vienna
2023
Hard/Soft Textil und Keramik in der zeitgenössischen Kunst, MAK, Vienna
2022
I Had a Dog and a Cat, curated by Hana Ostan Ozbolt, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
Twilight Zone / Material Narratives, Kunstverein Eisenstadt, Eisenstadt
2021
The Trafo-Clique. Material Narratives, Kunstverein Eisenstadt, Eisenstadt
2020
_SNÍVAJ!?_ / DREAM!?, Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava
2019
Sleeping with a Vengeance, Dreaming of a Life, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart
Transmediale, Import Projects and HKW, Berlin
2018
Women on paper, Espace de l’art Concret, Mouans-Sartoux
2017
Empire of The Senseless, Meetfactory, Prague
TŘETÍ MYSL. Jiří Kovanda a (Ne)možnost spolupráce, National Gallery Prague, Prague
2015
The school of Kyiv, Kyiv Biennial, Kyiv
Thirtyone, KUG, Priština
Skrytá řeč rostlin, National Gallery Prague, Prague
The Soft Codes, Wroclaw Contemporary Museum, Wroclaw
2014
Report on the Construction of a Spaceship Module, New Museum, NYC
On Generation and Corruption, BWA Contemporary Art Gallery/Galeria Sztuki Wspolczesnej, Katowice
2013
Lapidárium, Galerie Jaroslava Frganera, Prague
2010
...and don't forget the flowers, Moravská galerie, Brno
2009
Gender Check, MUMOK, Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna
2008
Cutting Realities - Gender Strategies in Art, Austrian Cultural Forum, NYC
Mediation Biennale 8, ZAMEK Culture Centre, Poznaň
Family Affairs, Kunstverein Ulm
Re-Reading the Future, International Triennale of Contemporary Art, National Gallery Prague, Prague
Micronarratives, Museum of Modern Art, St. Etienne
2007
Form Follows Risk, Futura, Prague / Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava
48th October Salon - Temptation of small realities – micro-communities, Belgrade Cultural Center, Belgrade
2006
Auditorium, Stage, Backstage, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt am Main
Narratives - 35/65+: Two Generations, Kunsthaus Graz Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz
Kontakt, MUMOK, Stiftung Ludwig Vienna AT & tranzit workshops, Bratislava
2005
The Giving Person, Palazzo delle arti Napoli, Naples
2004
Stadt In Sicht, Kunstlerhaus, Vienna
Anxiety of Influence, Stadtgalerie Bern, Bern
Cordially Invited, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht
2003
Now What? On Hope and Other Misunderstanding, BAK, Basis voor Actuele Kunst, Utrecht
2002
Fragile, Daejeon Museum of Art, Daejeon
Nomad, Brugs Cultuurcentrum, Brugge
Women Of The World, White Columns, NYC
Pass me the Butterfly, DUMBO Art Cener, NYC
2001
Event. Image. Clone, Tallinn Art Hall, Tallinn
2000
Body-Space / Nets and other creations, Kunsthalle Basel, Basel
borderline sydrome / energies of denfence, Manifesta 3, Lublijana
1999
Slovak Art for Free, 48. Biennale di Venezia: Pavilion of Slovak Republic, Venice
1996
60/90, 4th Annual exhibition of SCCA Slovakia, Soros Centers for Contemporary Art, Bratislava
Biblio (Selection)
Denisa Lehocká, Collective, SK, 2022
Denisa Lehocká, Schlebrügge, AT, 2014
Denisa Lehocká, Slovenská národná galéria, SK, 2012
Denisa Lehocká, tranzit.sk, SK, 2009
Collections (Selection)
Kontakt, Erste Bank Group Collection, Vienna
EVN Collection, Vienna
Sammlung Friedrichshof, Vienna, ATEuropean Investment Bank, Luxembourg
Fiorucci Art Trust, Monaco & London
Societé Generale, Paris
The Daniel and Florence Guerlain Collection, Les Mesnuls
Fait, Brno
Artfond, Bratislava
Collective Collection, Bratislava
Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava
NG, Nitra
PGU, Žilina
GJK, Trnava
And private: Slovakia, Czechia, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Germany, France, Monaco, Belgium, Japan, UK, USA
Residencies, Awards, Grants
2021
Startstipendium für Fotografie, Bmkoes
Wojda Residency, Steinbrunn
2019
Moriumius Resideny, Ishinomaki
Landxcapes Visual Art, Bjcem
Inquiry
Please leave your message below.