Club of Opportunities: The Garden of Problems

Annotation: The book uncovers the themes addressed in the Club of Opportunities, an episodic project created by artist Jakub Jansa, starring hybrid human-vegetable creatures who question authority and cultural and class relationships. Through the texts of the invited authors (Michal Novotný, Julie Béna, Kamil Nábělek, Noemi Purkrábková, Jozef Mrva Jr., Ernestyna Orlowska, Klára Vlasáková, Jan Bělíček), we get to the bottom of multiple problems – with celeriac ontology, black magic, humour, losing vision of the future and especially with taking root. Jakub Jansa works in various media ranging from film to sculptural elements, installations and live performances. Each of the exhibition events tends to merge with the architecture of the space they inhabit. They are reminiscent of film or TV sets where the narrative gradually unfolds through a carefully designed dramaturgy of various elements (video, objects, live action) while we – the visitors – move through the space. Jansa has presented his works in Tel Aviv, New York, Basel, Strasbourg, Prague, Zagreb and Ljubljana, among others, and is the recipient of the 2021 Jindřich Chalupecký Award. The latest, eighth episode of the Club, has been commissioned for the Flower Union exhibition organised by the National Gallery in Prague as part of the Czech Presidency of the European Council in 2022.