Oskár Čepan

EDUCATION: 2016 - Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Bratislava, Doctor of Fine Arts in Intermedia, Studio vvv (Martin Piacek) 2008 - 2014; Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Bratislava, Master of Fine Arts in Intermedia, Studio IN (Ilona Nemeth);

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITION: 2019 – Monument Of Possible Fall - At home Gallery, Samorin /SK/, curator: Michal Stolarik; No Balance - Schemnitz Gallery, Banska Stiavnica /SK/, curator: Michal Stolarik; Vatican Archives - Nova Cvernovka, Bratislava /SK/, curator: Marek Kuchar; 2018 Separation Of Trust - In/OuT Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia /SK/, curator: Lubos Lehocky; The Very First Time - ABC Gallery, Bratislava, SLovakia /SK/, curator: Gabriela Smetanova; 2017 Crack - Youth Gallery, Nitra /SK/, curator: Lubos Lehocky; In The Name. - Sopa Gallery, Kosice /SK/, curator: Miroslav Kleban; No Beginning No End - At home Gallery, Samorin /SK/, curator: Lubos Lehocky; 2016 In The Name. - HotDock Gallery, Bratislava /SK/, curator: Lubos Lehocky; 2015 Fragile - At home Gallery, Samorin /SK/, curator: Lubos Lehocky 2012 Fragility Of Being - Enter Gallery, Bratislava /SK/; 2010 Coming Out? - Soda Gallery, Bratislava /SK/;

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITION: 2019 Thessaloniki Queer Arts Festival - Lab’Attoir, Thessaloniki /GR/, curator: Thomas Diafas, Maria Juliana Byck; Reflect What You Are - Czech Center New York, New York /USA/, curator: Thomas Beachdel, Marie Tomanova; 2018 New Members of Syaa Part 2 - Studio Gallery, Budapest /HU/; 2017 6th Thessaloniki Biennale Of Contemporary Art - Contemporary Art Center of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki /GR/; Spline Festival 2017 - Spline Festival, Kosice /SK/; Open Day - Kiefer Quarry Furstenbrunn, Salzburg /AT/, curator: Andreas Lolis; The Ephemeral State Of Mind - HotDock gallery, Bratislava /SK/; Fear Of The Unknown - NTK Gallery, Praha /CZ/, curator: Lenka Kukurova; 2016 Spline Festival 2016 - Spline Festival, Kosice /SR/; Expressions Of Love - Open Gallery, Bratislava /SR/, curator: Lydia Petrusova; Subtleties - Dot Gallery, Bratislava /SR/, curator: Lubos Lehocky; Art Laguna Prize - Arsenal, Venice /IT/, curator: Igor Zanti; Fear Of The Unknown - Kunsthalle, Bratislava /SR/, curator: Lenka Kukurova; Dead Darlings - Bunker, Nitra /SR/, curator: Vanda Sepova; 2015 Diversity Of Voices - Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg /AT/, curator: Viktoria Calvo-Tomek, Clara Brandstätter; Ilona Németh - Gandy gallery, Bratislava /SR/; Essl Award - Medium gallery, Bratislava /SR/, curator: Lucia G. Stachova; Living Room Exhibition - Apartman 6, Helsinki /FI/, curator: Hanna Hirn; 2014 Off Festival - Pisztory Palace, Bratislava /SR/, curator: Duaan Kochol; 4th Moscow Biennale For Young Art - Museum of Moscow, Moscow /RU/, curator: David Elliott; 3PLUS3 - Ponava Hall, Brno /CZ/, curator: Pavlina Komonova; Diversity Required - Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava /SR/, curator: Lucia G. Stachova, Viera Kleinova, Alexandra Tamasova; Tutti Frutti Festival - New Marketplace, Bratislava /SR/, curator: Adam Novota; 2013 Bramer Mansion - Bramer Mansion, Bratislava /SR/; 2011 Water And Blood - Nador gallery, Pecs /HU/;

AWARDS: 2016 Art Laguna Prize Nominee - Art Laguna Prize, Venice /IT/; 2015 Essl Award 1st Prize - Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg /AT/; 2009 People’s Choice Award – International Film Festival, Bratislava /SR/;

FELLOWSHIP: 2017 Salzburg Summer Academy

Statement

In my work, I repeatedly focus mainly on the reflection and criticism of the Christian Church that functions in the conditions of 21st century democracy; on its inner mechanisms and paradoxes, its secretiveness, unconfessed sins of the ones that officially represent it and the state of injustice of the ones affected by these actions.

Through the reflections of my own experiences with the criticised institution, I head towards ideological abstraction and generalisation. By the use of various media (photography, video, object, installation, performance), I thematise a flexion/deformation of the Christian/Church (or, more generally, democratic) principles in a free society and its impact on various “objects” (bodies, individual and collective thinking, actions, relationships, institutional practices, etc.) affected be this action.

My aim is to formally, expressively and ideologically reflect the complexity of the main theme by the use of concise, efficient and subtle representations, while avoiding ideological simplification. The resulting disturbing statements are relieved of escalated expressivity, while forming a space for a dialogue without anger and a desire to humiliate an opponent; a dialogue based on a sensitive but critical perception of the reflected phenomena. With the current situation in Slovakia in which strong, almost fundamental Christian entities won seats in the Parliament, the topic I deal with is still valid (maybe even more than in the past). The relationship among the state, society and Church lacks constructive criticism that would lead to constructive dialogue.

Curatorial statement

The ambiguity between the refined aesthetic of the form and the dark backdrop of the topics reflected is something that can probably be seen as a hallmark of Kristián Németh’s (1983) oeuvre. His works form a continuation of the conceptual tradition of Institutional Critique, something he places in relation to an issue that is very current specifically in the Slovak environment, that of the values and problems of the local society. His installations, videos, and staged performative events are often based on instances of personal or family experience. These are then however transposed into more general social parables, dominated by the relation between the Catholic Church, the Slovak public, and the political system. In the gallery, an effort on part of the artist to investigate the situation in a somewhat objective manner is ultimately replaced a sensual immersion in each given case, conceived with meticulous sensitivity. Instead of a mere corpus delicti, Németh appeals more to the spectator’s sense of empathy with the traumatic situations in which individuals encounter the deformed system.

Viktor Čech