Almost Nothing

Artist, graphic designer, and doctoral student Barbara Haplová of the Type Design and Typography Studio transforms the exhibition of the gallery space into an environment that allows visitors to place themselves in unorthodox spatial and sound contexts. As such, the exhibition continues the artist's long-standing creative interest in a sharpened imaginative perception of emptiness and absence, which she elaborated on in her post-master's project Empty Space. "Almost Nothing" can be perceived as the next logical step in the artist's dealing with these phenomena in a purely personal way and exploring their potential.

Anyone who enters the exhibition will find themselves in an ad hoc architectural installation created by the artist, in which there is no "right" way, and no single precise route. One can instinctively immerse oneself in it and walk through it, perceiving the sensory qualities of individual objects, touching or simply looking at them, and mentally connecting them with the accompanying textual interventions. However, it is more than desirable to include a sound component in the observer spectator game, consisting of field recordings, sound situations, and spoken word, which extends and enriches the exhibition's message with an additional narrative layer. Audio is reproduced for visitors through walkmans with headphones and the ubiquitous MC cassettes.

For the realization of the exhibition, Barbora Haplová invited a creative team including typographer and doctoral student of the Type Design and Typography Studio Ilya Bazhanov, architect and this year's graduate of the Architecture I Studio Tomáš Račák, musician, performer and researcher Elia Moretti, theatre dramaturge Kateřina Součková, and curator and sound designer Václav Šafka.

Curator Václav Šafka outlines the exhibition concept as follows: 'The name we gave this exhibit in our creative group is "a sound walk through an empty place". The connection between the dramaturgy of sound and the architectural grasp of the gallery are the basic building blocks we all worked on during its preparation. At the same time, we tried to keep in mind at all times that this is a highly personal exhibition. It is imprinted with what Barbara has experienced or is experiencing, as well as how she views the world. "Perhaps more than anything, it is a collective artistic interpretation of a purely subjective experience. Yet, I believe it is through this lens that visitors can reflect on more universal and intrinsic aspects intimately connected to the experience of emptiness—such as sensory stimulation and the physical feeling of being overwhelmed, over-saturation, vulnerability, fatigue, sadness, joy, and, above all, death and the absence of loved ones."

The accompanying program, consisting of three carefully selected events, plays an important role in the exhibition. The first is a minimal yoga workshop with playwright, director, and performer Jana Stárková, who will discuss the possibilities of the human breath in yoga practice. This will be followed by an art workshop exploring the theme of filling, led by illustrator, and student of the Illustration and Graphics Studio Františka Iblová. The last of the planned accompanying events is a performative workshop focusing on exploring the relationship between space and sound, led by the aforementioned musician Elia Moretti.

The artist of the exhibition: Barbora Haplová
Curator: Václav Šafka
Exhibition design: Tomáš Račák
Dramaturgical cooperation: Kateřina Součková
Audio: Elia Moretti, Václav Šafka
Spoken word: Vojtěch Bartoš, and Johana Schmidtmajerová
Graphic design: Ilja Bažanov, and Barbora Haplová
Painting: Dávid Čerťanský

Accompanying programs

Minimal Yoga
Instructor: Jana Stárková
Date: 4.11. 2024, UM Gallery 

Is the air empty? And if so, what are all the parts of the body that can be filled with this emptiness when we simply breathe in and out? How can we make the body larger and smaller again?
A slow yoga walk through our own body, combined with an exploration of its empty spaces.
The yoga class will last approximately one hour. Its capacity is limited by the size of the gallery, so we ask that it is best to register in advance at barbora.haplova@umprum.cz and bring your own yoga mat.

Art workshop creating from nothing
Lecturer: Františka Iblová
Date: 14. 11. 2024, UM Gallery 

What would the void say if it spoke from the palm of your hand? During the art workshop, the exhibition space will become a place of imagination and exploration. We will try to fill the void, color the outline, cover gaps, listen to the nothingness, and transform it into an image. Using our bodies, sounds, and stories we will create a collective body, or almost nothing. The workshop will last two hours, with a short word about the exhibition at the beginning. It is limited by the number of Walkmans, so please register in advance by emailing barbora.haplova@umprum.cz.

To be all ears
Lecturer: Elia Moretti
Date: 23. 11. 2024, UM Gallery 

Emptiness is necessary for sound to exist. Sound is an empty space of relations. The voice, for example, is a trace of a void, a cavity. It has the capacity to challenge and reshape our perceptions of identity, meaning, and subjectivity: listening becomes agency.  "To be all ears" is to engage in the process of making sense of the sounds that surround us, to come after something that is certainly not yet there, but is temporary. The workshop will focus on the transformative possibilities of sound and listening consciousness, will be around 1,5 to 2 hours, facilitated in English, and does not require any specific preparation or background, everyone is welcome.