Juraj Carny – Slovakian Perspectives
12. March 2008, 13:04:09 unter: Audio, Bratislava, English, Galleries, Gallery Space, Podcasts, Portraits, SlowakiaJuraj Carny is a gallery owner, curator, and art critic. Since the late ’90s, he has been running the Galerie Priestor in Bratislava, which is also called Gallery Space, and uses the gallery, among other purposes, for the promotion of art from the countries of the Visegrad Group.
Juraj Carny - Slovakian Perspectives, Part 1
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Juraj Carny - Slovakian Perspectives, Part 2
| send feedback It was not only his early commitment to art from and in Eastern Europe that established his standing in the international gallery culture. In particular, Carny made a name for himself through his innovative approaches to the presentation of recent and experimental art. Projects such as Crazycurators, Nomadspace, Billboart Gallery Europe, Gallery Evolution de l’ Art, the release of the Slovakian and Czech versions of Flash Art, RentArt, and his artist-in-residence program through Gallery Space, all show common characteristics of his work: the opening up of contemporary art for a public which is not necessarily familiar with the art world, the preference for art with an experimental character, the promotion of artistic talent in the international market, a transnational, cooperative self-understanding, the willingness to pursue various means and to choose a sustainable path despite a financially secure work situation.
For example, when it comes to the art rental business, RentArt, it is clear that Carny understands that his work is acting in the long-term. In his discussion with CastYourArt, he emphasizes the formative aspect of this project. When it began, there was no art market in Slovakia. RentArt was his reaction to this circumstance. People and institutions would have to be able to come into contact with art in as low-key a manner as possible, interacting with art as something to experience and learn in an ordinary way. In this way, a new clientele for art is developed over the long term, increasing the opportunities for economic success.
From his own experience, Carny understands what it means if artists seize the possibility to financially profit from their work. There was a whole generation of Slovakian artists who, during the communist era, due to their lack of adjustment, were forced to meet the costs of their artistic work while seeing no profit, Carny told us during our tour through the city. Many of them became impoverished and due to their age, can still not find a place in the art market at this time. Carny calls them a lost generation. His father, Ladislav Carny, also belonged to this generation, but he was lucky. Following the communist era, he found international success, and currently serves as the head of the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava. (wh/jn)
