Cinema Central Europe presents a new film by Habima Fuchs
NEWS: 18 08 2022
Habima Fuchs is the type of artist who draws heavily on lived cultural history and philosophy in her work. She draws on her rich experience of both European and Eastern traditions. She combines the principles of both and by synthesising them she arrives at a new conception of the world, which she also envelops in a similarly complex mythology. The metaphorical way of thinking is reflected in the meaning as well as in its formal or visual side – her way of communication is distinctly aesthetic, each element fulfils its role in the story, yet it can hardly be reduced to a simple interplay of elements. The image of the world she creates is therefore truly finit, complete, almost autonomous, while at the same time not lacking the fragility that every creative gesture possesses. Habima´s work is always personally experienced, it is not an "empty game of art", but at the same time it offers enough space for our own imagination. What she aims at, therefore, is not simple timelessness, she does not offer us an escape from the present situation, on the contrary – if we give it a chance, we will find that her work reveals and re-shapes the so-called present in a very sophisticated way.
The project, prepared by Habima Fuchs for Olomouc and created within the framework of the Year of Home and Abroad, is entitled Equinox. It is a combination of a performance, which took place in the Ecological Centre Sluňákov, and a poetic film, set, among other things, in the spaces of the local Arch – the Garden of Paradise by František Skála and the Solar Mountain by Miloš Šejn. The story of the return to the equilibrium "world of the centre", the world before the flood, Dantes Paradise, is depicted in eleven images, the central role of which is played by the burying of the snake, the planting of the apple tree and the cutting of the hair. The individual images are conceived as self-contained wholes, encompassing a range of familiar objects and gestures, elevated to the level of transcendence within the ritual. The burning candle, the apple, the grazing cattle, and the "marginal" – but in fact monumental – dramatic entries of family members whose kinship is subtly indicated by common features, contribute to a strongly metaphorical vision of the world. Watching the film, we go through a process of personal purification with the author, while being reminded of our own absolute belonging to the community.
Habima Fuchs (* 1977) is a Czech visual artist whose work has long been revising the established mechanisms and traditional existential, philosophical or metaphysical turns that we rely on to understand the world we live in. The symbols and motifs she reflects and materializes in this process come from different cultures and periods, from the framework of Christian iconography and oriental religious contexts. The result is an seductive and subversive, but also deeply self-critical imagery. Habima Fuchs is strongly associated with the German environment and the SVIT gallery in Prague. She has been exhibiting individually and collectively since the beginning of the millennium. Recent exhibitions include participation in the Biennale Gherdeina (2020) or the exhibition Unplugged (Rudolfinum, 2020). She has completed, among others, residencies in Banska St a nica Contemporary (2014) and Stromboli (Fiorucci Art Trust, 2015). In 2015, Habima Fuchs participated in Otwock Season 5 entitled Silvohoriaromatherapy.
