Have you ever suddenly paused and realized that you can’t remember the last two hours, as if time had just disappeared? In the video Exemplary Defects (Příkladné nedostatky) created specifically for the Gallery of Modern Art in Hradec Králové, artist Tereza Velíková focuses on the theme of time loops as it relates to loss of memory. She draws inspiration from her own experience and the experien-ces of people around her. Although the artist is not exploiting a trend or theme which is in vogue, the video she presents proves that the themes she is working with are relevant today. Being overloaded with work (or other things) has become a phenomenon of recent years, as an increasing number of people have been trying to find a way to replace their, often unnecessary, productivity with something more meaningful. Velíková does not offer an answer to this issue – nor does she want to. She only wishes to employ the brevity of visual expression to capture the feelings many of us have faced lately.
The video is accompanied by an older work, Grandma (Babi, 2009), which the Gallery of Modern Art in Hradec Králové acquired in 2021. This earlier work already explores illogical connections, which the author continues to work with in newer works, including Exemplary Defects. The exhibition is another iteration in a series of installations presented in the Black Box which puts on display new acquisitions to the video collection of the GMU comprising current works of select authors.
