Milan Salone 2017: A matter of time

Milan – The Ephemeral_Eternal exhibition examines the importance of time as an aspect of design.

Presented by the Academy of Arts, Architecture & Design in Prague (UMPRUM), the installation features three individual projects by Ondřej Přibyl, Vendula Radostová and Lenka Vacková
Each piece explores the impact of the destructive nature of time on the value of material culture

‘The theme of the exhibition is the semantic counterpoint between various approaches to time – ephemeral or eternal, mobile or stable, fast or last, instantaneous or durable – as a means of questioning the temporality of objects and images,’ explains curator Lada Hubatová-Vacková.

In Entropy of Items from the Royal Dux Factory Radostová submerges classical plaster busts in an aquarium and records their gradual disintegration in a poetic act of destruction.

Lenka Vacková’s Fast or Last examines the vacuous nature of consumerism through an intimate performance. A film playing in the installation space depicts the artist being tattooed with brand logos. The tattoo gun is loaded with the artist’s blood rather than permanent ink to highlight the temporality of material wealth and the futility of the desire among consumers to acquire more things.

Ondřej Přibyl’s collection of daguerreotype images juxtapose the permanent nature of the medium with the ephemeral character of his subjects, which include an incineration plant in Prague.