Artists: Václav Girsa, Jakub Hájek and František Hanousek, Chlorofyl (Nikol Hoangová and Julie Slaba), Tomáš Kocka Jusko and Alex Selmeci, the Mycological Twist (Eloïse Bonneviot and Anne de Boer), Adelaide Ruff, Jitka Tomsová and others. With music by Václav Hálek

Exhibition title: Hairy earthtongue, weeping toothcrust, fairy rings

Curated by: Lukas Hofmann

Venue: Futura, Prague, The Czech Republic

Date: June 12 – July 26, 2020

Photography: Tomáš Souček  / all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Futura, Prague

As spiders weave their webs of decay and renewal, a tumultuous dialogue with a volcano commences. Metallic filaments burst from bricked walls, bulbous sacks buckle under the mass of foraged organic matter, and mushrooms sound their umami symphony. The occult cards were right; arsehole hegemony would one day be overthrown. The garden was now guarded by a sad-looking scarecrow and ivy with a peculiar taste in acid. Butterflies began dancing, drunk with nectar. A hospital for plants was built, overlooking fragrant pillows of greenery as the fungus spored and grew in unexpected shapes.

*

[...]

Again we encounter parts of Fumigator glysis from Jakub Hájek and František Hanousek:

Tobacco glyster, breathe, and bleed.

Keep warm and rub till

you succeed.

And spare no pains for

What you do

May one day be repaid

To you

( Houlston, 24 September 1774)

What a choice to find inspiration in a tobacco rectal colonic, am I right? The objects, covered in shellac and reminiscent at times of swiss knives, little dragon boats, telephones, meat grinders, still remind me of many of the decorative items you find in a cabin in the woods. Still carrying within them the omnipresence of the pipes that they have sometimes been remade from, they surge and spring from the walls and soil from various spots of this journey. Being used rectally, the asses in the garden may perhaps make use of them?

-Lukas Hofmann