Will we want to dance tomorrow? Tales for a future / Voudrons-nous encore danser demain ? Contes pour le futur

opening GALERIE 35 : Wednesday 13/9/2023 at 5 pm
projection of short films in KINO 35 : Wednesday 13/9/2023 at 7 pm
adresse : French Institute in Prague, Štěpánská 644/35, Praha 1

The artist’s collective THE CROWN LETTER looks to the future to imagine a desirable world. Yes, there will still be reasons to dance tomorrow; if need be, we’ll invent them. The concept for this exhibition-manifesto of contemporary art was developed in June-July 2023 as part of a residency in Česká Skalice supported by Luxfer Gallery. It has been specially designed to fit in with the unique architecture of the Institut français de Prague.

The exhibition consists of a landscape of almost 150 frames laid out on the floor, original black and white graphic works that form the manifesto itself, and photographs selected from the extensive archives of The Crown Letter website.

This exhibition is the work of an international collective initiated by the French artist Nata-cha Nisic in the spring of 2020, in the early months of the Covid 19 epidemic. At the time, the silence was overwhelming and the solitude immense. Faced with the heightened risk of women artists being stifled and invisible, she quickly set about building a participatory platform, independent of any institution, Around fifty women artists from twenty countries, from Argentina to Japan, as well as the UK, Germany and France, swiftly responded to carry out the project.

THE CROWN LETTER website has been online and on social networks for over three years, and it’s holding firm. Each week it publishes a letter featuring a range of original and previously unreleased works: photographs, videos, drawings and texts. In September 2023, it publishes its Letter No. 160. Its archive amounts nearly a thousand works. The artistic collective has already exhibited on many continents: Photo Days in the streets of Paris, Fondation Fiminco in Romainville (France), BienalSur in Argentina and Uruguay, Institut français in Kyoto (Japan).

To complement the exhibition, on 13 September 2023, Kino35 presents an original programme of short films by artists from THE CROWN LETTER collective. The programme is divided in four sections: « Our Bodies », « Behind the Scenes », « Memories » and « Making Landscapes » (total length 90 minutes).

Artists contributors : Susan E. BARNET, Maithili BAVKAR, Anne BRUNSWIC, Adriana BUSTOS, Michelle DEIGNAN, Liza DIMBLEBY, Anne DUBOS, Cornelia EICHHORN, Dettie FLYNN, Claire-Jeanne JÉZÉQUEL, Kyoko KASUYA, Choi-Ahoi KYUNG-HWA, Saviya LOPES, Ruth MACLENNAN, Ana MENDES, Maricarmen MERINO, Aurelia MIHAI, Manuela MORGAINE, Neringa NAUJOKAITE, Natacha NISIC, Kasia OZGA, Catherine RADOSA, Luise SCHRÖDER, Esther SHALEV-GERZ, Katja STUKE, Catalina SWINBURN, Valeria TRUBINA, Ivana VOLLARO, Emma WOFFENDEN.

Kino35: Maithili BAVKAR, Michelle DEIGNAN, Kyoko KASUYA, Ruth MACLENNAN, Maricarmen MERINO, Aurelia MIHAI, Manuela MORGAINE, Natacha NISIC, Kasia OZGA, Sudha PADMAJA FRANCIS, Catherine RADOSA, Luise SCHRÖDER.

Co-production: Institut français de Prague (Sarah Doignon), Gallery Luxfer in Česká Skalice (Roman Rejhold), THE CROWN LETTER.

Curated by Catherine Radosa