The 'fragilités' Exhibition at Rudolfinum Gallery: Art Exploring Strength in Interdependence

The exhibition 'fragilités' explores the concept of fragility as a source of strength and agency, challenging its traditional meaning of weakness. It features works from multiple generations of artists who engage with the complexities of human and ecological conditions, interdependencies, and the mutable nature of bodies.

Fragility has emerged as a pivotal concept for re-examining both human and ecological states, and the exhibition 'fragilités' investigates the concerns, visions, and sensibilities of artists deeply engaged with this theme. Moving beyond the traditional notion of fragility as mere weakness or passivity, the exhibition claims it as a force and an agency that fosters sustaining interdependencies. The exhibition brings together several generations of artists, beginning with a deep exploration of connections within the oeuvres of Louise Bourgeois, Maria Bartuszová, Geta Brătescu, and Alina Szapocznikow. Their sensual and reflective approaches to transformative fragility propose alternatives to the conventional idea of the human body as a fully integrated entity, blurring distinctions between wholeness and fragmentation, sensuality and abjection, male and female through organic fluidity. Their innovative work embraced what could be termed the 'écologie du sensible,' a profound intuitive attention and response to our environments. The spirit of these pioneers resonates with the contemporary artists featured, many presented in the Czech Republic for the first time. Their engagement with fragility speaks directly to our present moment, particularly an heightened awareness of the body's interdependence with the shifting equilibrium of nature. Artists such as Francis Alÿs, Bianca Bondi, Edith Dekyndt, Susanna Fritscher, Kapwani Kiwanga, Anri Sala, and Vivian Suter explore the fragile coexistence of humans and their surrounding world, emphasizing the need to seek connections and commonalities between human and non-human agencies. Through their work with objects, processes, and ecosystems, they envision complex new relationships with our environments, suggesting novel ways to coexist. Additionally, artists like Michael Armitage, William Kentridge, Dominik Lang, Barthélemy Toguo, Luboš Plný, and Anna Zemánková portray the instability of human nature through transfiguration and metamorphosis, considering the body as a fragile, unfinished, transitory, and interdependent vessel. The understanding that all living things rely on their environment and each other has been amplified by current crises. This exhibition invokes fragility as a lens and language, asserting that neither vulnerability nor power appear in expected guises, and that the fragile connections between bodies and the earth constitute a profound strength.

Admission is voluntary. Last entry to the exhibition is strictly 30 minutes before closing time.