REPORT ON THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE PAST on View 1/29-3/11 at Czech Center New York

Featuring the works of Czech artists Eva Kotatkova and Barbora Klimova and curated by Vit Havranek, Director of tranzit, Report on the Reconstruction of the Past will be presented at Czech Center New York January 29 through March 11, 2014. The installation is presented in connection with the major exhibition Museum as Hub: Report on the Construction of a Spaceship Module on view at the New Museum January 22 through April 13, 2014.

In Report on the Reconstruction of the Past, artists Kotatkova and Klimova use historical images, past events, and conceptual references in a subjective examination of the recent past. Through an archival exploration of former East European artistic practices, the installation reconsiders newly established post-communist identities. In a region that has undergone complex political, social, and economic changes in the last twenty years, the legitimization of these changes came from two sides. On the one hand, the changes were motivated by the engagement of democratic principles and integration into the system of global capitalism. On the other hand, this re-entry into the world of democracy took place in the context of particular historical and national narratives that were often selective and suppressive in regard to the recent past and current realities.

Eva Kotatkova was born in 1982 in Prague and studied at the Prague Academy of Fine Arts, Prague Academy of Applied Arts, San Francisco Art Institute, and Akademie Bildende Kunst Wien from 2002 through 2007. In 2007, at age 25, she became the youngest artist ever to be awarded the Jindrich Chalupecky Award for young artists in the Czech Republic. Kotakov's work includes drawings that are initially created without a set intention and later reveal themselves in the final form, and video or photographed performances that can be characterized as playful explorations of the artist's immediate environment and society. Kotakova's work is included in numerous private and public collections and has been exhibited internationally and in the Czech Republic.

Barbora Klimova is a conceptual artist whose themes straddle time and space. She was born in the Czech Republic in 1977 and attended HISK, Higher Institute for Fine Arts in Antwerp (2004-2006); the Royal Academy of Art (KABK), Den Haag (2003); the Hungarian University of Craft and Design, Budapest (2002); and the Winchester School of Art at the University of Southampton (2001). Klimova was also a faculty member at the University of Technology, Brno, (2004-2006) and is the recipient of the 2007 tranzit Award and the 2006 Jindrich Chalupecky Award. She has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions.

Vit Havranek is a curator and theoretician based in Prague. Since 2002, he has been working as the director of the contemporary art initiative tranzit. He has curated and co-curated numerous exhibitions including Manifesta 8, Spain; Monument to Transformation, Centro Monthermoso; Auditorium, Stage, Backstage, Frankfurter Kunstverein, I, Secession Wein; Jiri Kovanda, Brno; Otto Piene, City Gallery Prague; and action, word, movement, space, City Gallery Prague. He has also edited and co-edited a number of book and catalogues on contemporary art.

tranzit is comprised of a network of autonomous but interconnected groups based in Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia. Participating organizations collaborate with each other to produce art historical research, exhibitions, and new commissions.

Established in 1995, the Czech Center New York (CCNY) is a meeting place for Czech and local culture, a place where artists and professionals, Czech and non-Czech alike, can get to know each other and share their work. While the Center's focus is on contemporary Czech artists, the organization is committed to the support of new international projects and is a welcoming place for all ideas that address current cultural or social issues.