POINT ZERO

POINT ZERO brings together a broad cross-section of contemporary Czech artistic practice at the opening of KodlContemporary’s new gallery space. Curated by Jan Kudrna, the exhibition takes the idea of the “point zero” as a moment of transition: a position from which something new can begin without severing its relationship to what came before.

Rather than defining contemporary Czech art through a single generation, medium or aesthetic position, the exhibition places different artistic languages alongside one another. Painting, sculpture, photography, glass and new media reveal a field shaped by continuities as much as ruptures, where established positions encounter younger practices and historical references are repeatedly transformed through contemporary experience.

The title refers to the moment inherent in every artistic process when an image, object or idea begins to acquire its own form. Each brushstroke, sculptural gesture or digital intervention can constitute another beginning, while simultaneously carrying the accumulated knowledge of earlier artistic decisions. The “point zero” is therefore not an absence of history, but a temporary threshold between what is already known and what has not yet been articulated.

The exhibition brings together artists including Josef Bolf, Michal Cimala, Louise Frydman, Martin Janecký, Alžběta Jungrová, Jan Kaláb, Adam Kašpar, Martin Krajc, Antonín Kratochvíl, Pavla Malinová, Jakub Matuška, Jan Mikulka, Jakub Nepraš, Lukáš Novák, Jiří Petrbok, Ivan Pinkava, Jan Pištěk, Theodor Pištěk, Rony Plesl, Michael Rittstein, Jaroslav Róna, Jiří Straka, Ira Svobodová, Jakub Špaňhel, Adam Štech, Jakub Tomáš, Lubomír Typlt and others.

Designed by Mark Ther, the exhibition architecture places these different positions into direct proximity, emphasising dialogue rather than chronology. Generational distinctions become porous, allowing recurring questions of figuration, abstraction, materiality and representation to emerge across otherwise distinct practices.

As the inaugural exhibition of KodlContemporary’s new space, POINT ZERO treats the beginning not as a clean break but as a moment of orientation. It asks how a contemporary gallery can position itself within an existing artistic history while creating space for new relationships, encounters and trajectories to develop.