Roger Hiorns: Exploring Civilization Through Challenging Sculptural Installations at Galerie Rudolfinum

Roger Hiorns, a prominent young international artist, presents an exhibition exploring themes of Western civilization's downsides, progress, and self-interest. The exhibition features sculptural installations combining industrial objects, fire, and human elements, alongside significant works like a crushed aircraft engine and a church altar.

Roger Hiorns (born 1975 in Birmingham) is a notable figure on the contemporary international art scene, recognized for his emotionally resonant installations. His exhibition at Galerie Rudolfinum showcases his unique approach, which blends industrial objects with elemental forces and provocative imagery. Works on display include sculptural installations featuring nude models, a military aircraft engine crushed into dust, and a church altar, highlighting Hiorns's 'alchemical' ability to transform materials. A significant new installation, 'Beings,' comprises nearly two hundred 'mutants'—objects made from plastic car parts—that levitate and emit foam, creating an ominous effect. Hiorns's practice increasingly focuses on the ideological underpinnings of his work, mapping the hidden aspects of progress and the self-centeredness of Western civilization. The exhibition invites viewers to question the disparity between the surface appearance of his works and their deeper origins and meanings, positioning Hiorns as an 'enfant terrible' challenging societal complacency. Moving beyond the flashy spectacle often associated with previous generations of British artists, Hiorns creates narratives that unfold with captivating ambiguity. His work resists simplistic interpretations, encouraging a deeper engagement with its complexities. This approach is influenced by conceptual art and a commitment to examining power structures and societal schisms within contemporary Euro-American society. Comparisons have been drawn to the filmic style of Rainer Werner Fassbinder and the literary work 'Mondschein' by Ondřej Štindl and Josef Bolf, both of which critically dissect societal traumas, prejudices, and superficiality. Like Fassbinder, Hiorns probes the surfaces of things, seeking an uncomfortable truth about the present. His work often features an aesthetic of a post-apocalyptic world, revealing the rift between perception and intuition, and challenging the notion of art as purely a source of beauty. Hiorns states, 'I am an artist who makes art, not art about art.' He embraces juxtapositions of the sacred and industrial, youth and destruction, exploring themes of the institutional, sexual, ritualistic, biological, and technical, creating a landscape that is simultaneously desolate and deeply engaged with the materiality of the modern world.

Visitor information regarding entry and timing is provided, including that the last entry is 30 minutes before closing. Visitors are welcome to return if they do not have enough time to see the exhibition, with admission being voluntary. Specific opening hours are listed as closed for Monday, Tuesday-Sunday, and Thursday, which seems to indicate temporary closure for this specific archived exhibition rather than general museum hours.