The Last Fifty Years
27/11/20–25/02/24

Contemporary art doesn’t have a history, yet. It therefore doesn’t make sense to tell its story in a chronological order. Rather, it makes sense to tell it thematically, with an emphasis on the diversity of approaches by individual artists to their work and to art in general. The exhibition of contemporary art at the Gallery of Modern Art in Hradec Králové is strongly connected to its recent acquisitions. It presents artists from the middle and younger generations, who have been making their way into public collections only recently.

We consider the era of contemporary art to have its beginning in the 1960s and 1970s. An important aspect of its origin was the development of conceptual art and a growing numbers of genres and subject matters. It is impossible to identify a uniform style in contemporary art. Every artist creates his or her own language. They do not express themselves merely through painting or sculpting but, increasingly, through photography, performance, film, video, text, digital technologies, and many other mediums. Besides a lack of unified form, a common sign of contemporary art is the fact that it does not remind one of art in the traditional sense. It tends to be much closer to scientific inquiry, therapy, or social activism.

PARTNERS OF THE EXHIBITION:

The Last Fifty Years gained financial support from, and is under the auspices of, the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.