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| Monika Frycová |
| Útgáfuhóf / book launch |
| 08. 02. 2020 - 08. 02. 2020 |
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Welcome to the BOOK LAUNCH - BOOK SALE on the 8th of February at 6.30pm in Kling & Bang EKPHRASIS / PURE MOBILE vs. DOLCE VITA by Monika Frycová
WARNING! Do not try this at home or abroad: The following book features a journey performed by a professional artist (as stated by the Icelandic customs, s.p. 68) under the supervision of professionals (pagan gods).
Or how should an introduction to the book by Monika Frycová be given? This book should come with advice aimed particularly at those that think of travelling as an all inclusive booking package, featuring flight, hotel and full pension at a beach resort somewhere in a vacation paradise: always the same, always exactly what you expect, just stay in your lifelong doze.
Already the prologue with the dedication on page 3 is an ironic joke in parts. You might not doubt the two individuals mentioned as being close friends of the author, but to find a dedication to AirBnB — seen as the embodiment of an evil travel industry eroding whole cities and cultures — reads like a macabre joke in the context of Frycová’s travelling practice, which is an anachronistic anarchic adventure falling out of time, a one on one encounter with strangers and places as she drives through Europe. To complete the statement the reader finds a direct comment on the following page, with: ”My Apologies, I’m breaking all the rules on my first Round”. Thus the mindset for both travel and writing is stated: no rules apply to her, she will break them all.
That’s why no travel literature a la Huxley or Kerouac and whoever followed will stick to her as a stereotype revelling in nostalgia. Even if all character traces describing the clientel of alternative travel guides — those guides addressing a certain kind of backpacking individual claiming to not follow plans, to not be tied to time, to never think about driving home, to not shy away from inconveniences, to be fluent in the local languages and to a striving for immersion in the foreign culture— apply to Frycová, she still has a plan. Because the back cover of the book reads:
In 2013 Monika Frycová drove by Scooter from Iceland to Portugal and then back again. She brought Icelandic Bacalhau to Portugal and took Portugese Batata-Doce back to Iceland. As Sigurbergur is asked early on in the book, which by the way weighs as heavy as a rock, if it would be possible to go on such a journey by Scooter, he replies: “Maybe, it’s okay, you are artist, you can make everything.” Although, adding a relatively realistic expectation to it: “Only you go very slow and maybe... you come after very looooong time.” To prepare for the journey the vehicle, its raider plus the fish get blessed by the northern gods in a pagan ritual and Frycová receives a document by the Icelandic customs to legally transport a pack of dried cod.
The rest is an astonishing journey on a small overloaded vehicle, described in a poetic diary with hundreds of images and documents plus a fold out roadmap of over 600 pages. So don’t forget your travel insurance and buy the Book!
Sebastian Reuss, Dorothea Schlüter gallery, Hamburg, January 2020 |
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Monika Frycová ( * 1983 Czechoslovakia) is an audiovisual artist, performer, poet based in Seyðisfjörður, Iceland and southern Portugal. Monika holds M.A. diploma in Visual Arts (Video Art -New Media) and unfinished Phd. diploma on thesis "Artist as an Ethnographer". She studied Fine Arts in Favu VUT, Brno Czech Republic and at the Icelandic Art Academy, Iceland.
Beside constant editing and re/writing her unreleased compositions she frequently deals with mixed media, focuses on audio/visual experience, principles of chaos, hiding and showing off - The Here and the Now – the search for the primal source constantly found, only to be deserted again.
Over last decade she has been involved in different collaborative projects with various Icelandic artist, musicians and institutions.
Since 2003 she has been touring her work around the world, such as CERN/ Geneva; 5th ALT SILL Silver Lake /Hollywood; Santa Monica College/LA; Kling & Bang/ Reykjavik;European Pépinières/Luxemburg; ELIA/Amsterdam; SPOR/ Aarhus; Ammassalik/Greenland; Dorothea Schlueter/Hamburg; Okuparte/Huesca;Thorstrasse 111/Berlin; Santra Putra/Bali; Kit/Trondheim; ZDB Negócio/Lisbon; Amorphy/Athens; Egon Schiele c. /Český Krumlov; Essel Award NG/Prague; KUNSTRAUM Düsseldorf; Triangle Network London/Lisbon; PARTAGE/Mauritius; Art Festival Reykjavík;NORD/Oslo- Finnmark; Noise Noise /Porto etc.)
The author wishes to thanks specially to Brotherhood publishing house and East Iceland Development Fund. |
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Grandagarđur 20 - 101 Reykjavík
kob@this.is |
