Tomas Moravec is a multidisciplinary artist from Prague. He graduated from the Academy of Arts. His work can be divided into three different approaches which carry on almost simultaneously. The basic point from which he is reflecting himself is the real situation in public space, architecture and gallery space. He is interested in rebuilding or creating a new situation in immutable spaces, holding attention for the moment of change. The basic meaning in his work implements new worlds and elements which he puts into certain, stable spaces; he creates new situations. It disrupts the question of clarity and immutable space. He uses characters and elements which already exist in the space and are used with their specific function, but he performs them into new form; responding to them or respecting them. Moravec creates a neoplasm which is a reflection of the reality-used fragments that are free and overhanging from altered perspective. We might call it a kind of alteration on conditions or unobtrusive complements for the space by manipulating the real situation; for example, lighting schemes on the street.
The second line of his work is a collaborative project which he is indirectly operating. The situation for the collaboration is not taking a clear definition of meeting two or more authors and putting them into any art group, but it comes like an intuitive process of thinking about the same project like blending the same ideas in the same moment.
In the third line of his work he plays with objects in space and using the architectural situation in which he adds or decreases value. He supplies other information to the current situation by exploring the potential or deformational associations with simple elements. He gives the objects freedom to find their own way on how they will behave in the space; for example, his work with balloons. It is a certain cause of disruption to everyday situations, depending on architecture and our own interpretation. He draws attention to changes in new objects, disturbing everyday situations.
1. You typically work with architecture and space. You mix their functions and meanings by creating new situations in small detail. What does architecture and space mean to you? Why you are fascinated with small changes in everyday life; with the attention paid to them and how meanings are changed? Is it a specific definition of the stereotype in which we are surrounded? Or sometimes is it just a game, making “life” and creating the new situations where people have to start to behave differently?
My intention is to create certain conditions in perceiving routinely neglected sites or situations in a new perspective. Thus, I first gain impulses for the artwork from my closest surroundings, and I mostly react towards architecture, public space or particular elements and details in the architecture of objects. I try to create a new form that would provide an altered situation or scenario for viewers or passersby. Surrounding space is the initial condition for much of my projects, and it often addresses the outcomes.
2. How would you describe, in your work, the relationship between art and architecture?
This is a current topic which I’m exploring. I understand architecture as one of the overarching fields of cultural production, and art as a helping tool when creating architecture. It’s “reverse engineering.” Though I am not an architect by education, my interest in urban planning and functional structures in which we orientate plays a strong role in what I try to articulate through art. I often reflect on things as constructions that could be both material as well as mental. It is more about the question of an idea negotiating with its final form. And these questions are both present in art and architecture. So, I would like to put this question as a “relationship between instrument and monument.”
3. What is the basic impulse for you which gives you the interest about creating or rebuilding new situations in the moment?
Firstly, it’s the possibility of change that I try to accentuate. Regarding some particular structure, place or a room as a field for the “new game” makes me think about what is already present on the site and what could happen alternatively.
MgA. Tomáš Moravec / born: 30. 3. 1985, Prague, Czech Republic
Education:
2010-2012
Master degree (MgA) Academy of Arts in Prague, School of monumental arts, studio of Jiří Příhoda
2005 – 2010
Bachelor degree (BcA) University of West Bohemia – Institute of Arts and Design,
Intermedia – studio of Adéla Matasová / Michal Pěchouček / Dušan Zahoranský / Pilsen
Internships, workshops, residences:
2011 Visegrad artist residency programme / FKSE, Budapest (HU)
2010 Academy of Arts in Prague, hosting profesor studio – Marcus Geiger (AT)
2008 Study stay at Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Bratislava, Studio IN / Szábolcs KissPál (HU)
2008 Sommerakademie, Plauen, Germany – art lecture by Dora Maurer (HU)
2007 Art Camp, Pilsen – intermedia course art lecture by Yummi Roth (USA)
2007 Artist in residence, PAF, animation and new media festival / Olomouc
Awards:
Finalist of Jindřich Chalupecký award
2008 – Reflex magazine readers prize
Art ON! / International film festival Bratislava – viewers prize
selected exhibitions:
2013
Prospect – Plusminusnula Gallery, Žilina [SK]
Non-subjective cinema – Gallery TIC, Brno [CZ]
2012
Use Your Illusion – bb15 (space for contemporary art), Linz [A]
Would you like to play another game? (4+4 days in motion festival) – Former Casino Pařížská, Prague [CZ]
Beds and Folds – Jelení gallery, Prague / together with Matěj Al-Ali [CZ]
Graduates AVU – National Gallery – Veletržní palace, Prague [CZ]
6th Zlín youth salon – Regional Gallery of Fine Arts in Zlín, Zlín [CZ]
Dividing – Vitrína Deniska, Olomouc [CZ]
2011
Spare month – Fotograf gallery, Prague [CZ]
Happiness – 4+4 days in motion festival, Prague / together with Matěj Al-Ali [CZ]
Finally together – Armaturka gallery, Ústí nad Labem [CZ]
Placcc festival – Budapest [HU]
Subject to alterations –FKSE Studio, Budapešť [HU]
Pre-postures – Telep gallery, Budapest [HU]
25.6.2011 – Galerie2 – Prague quadriennale, Prague / together with Matěj Al-Ali [CZ]
Syndrom povlacenja – Salon 77, Niš [SRB]
Raum:selbst – Brno house of arts, Brno [CZ]
Echoes of entropy – Gallery of critics, Prague / together with Matěj Al-Ali and Petr Dub [CZ]
It lasts– 207 gallery, Prague [CZ]
2010
Scherneschnitte 3 – Des Kaisers neue Kleider – Oberhafen Kantine, Hamburg [D]
Exit a.a.O. – Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin [D]
If (training in materials and tools) – Meetfactory, Kostka gallery, Prague /
together with Roman Štetina [CZ]
Accidental deception – Altán Klamovka, Prague /together with Matěj Al-Ali [CZ]
Trial trail – Atelierhaus der Akademie der bildenden Künste, Wien [A]
Puncture tyres – Space gallery, Bratislava /together with Roman Štetina [CZ]
2009
Telescopic studio – Václav Špála gallery, Prague [CZ]
Exit – Armaturka gallery, Ústí nad Labem [CZ]
Sculptures in the streets – Brno Art Open, Brno [CZ]
2008
Jindrich Chalupecký award, Final
2008 / Dům Pánu z Kunštátu, Brno [CZ]
Reserve pair of socks / Entrance gallery, Prague / together with Matěj Al-Ali [CZ]
10+10 / U Bílého jednorožce gallery, Klatovy [CZ]
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