Krištof Kintera

Krištof Kintera is undoubtedly one of the most popular contemporary Czech multimedia artists. He is the co-founder of the experimental theater group Jednotka, and author of the artistic concept of the annual festival 4+4 Days in Motion.

His work could be characterized as a playful and witty critique of the consumerist, globalized and overtechnicized modern society, which at the same time bears a kind of heavy omen of a bad end. His technically demanding, often monumental, moving artefacts, or raped and completely transformed, even devastated environments of exhibition spaces, have won a large number of supporters, but also die-hard opponents. However, the resulting effect is unmistakable; Kintera’s art evokes extraordinary attention and strong emotions, which was one reason for including his solo exhibition (Nervous Trees, 2017) at the Rudolfinum Gallery as the 100th anniversary exhibition.

The first striking project with which Kintera drew attention to himself was a kind of “household pet” made of lacquered laminate called TO (1996), which became Kintera’s inseparable friend, accompanying him on shopping trips, in the subway, simply everywhere his master visited. Kintera also develops the connection between his own life and a fictional “person” in his other work Plumbař (1995-1998).  This is again a complex work including an event, its documentation, individual objects, but also the overall installation. Other works that have attracted attention for their uniqueness undoubtedly include Spotřebiče (Appliances) (1997-1998), Mluviči (Speakers) (1999), the five-meter tall Shiva constructed from lamps My Light is Your Life (2009), a series of deformed bicycles or street lamps, the changing monumental installation Démon růstu (Demon of Growth) (2012), the moving trees Nervous Trees (2013), or the “poisonous” landscapes of Postnaturalia (2017), the urban environments made of pencil batteries Out of Power Tower (2018–19) and many others. Kintera continuously accompanies his work with large-scale series of “drawings”, evolving from spray-painted dolls, through colored surfaces of spilled paint evoking e.g., faces, to collages of spatial materials transforming into objects on paper, often accompanied by witty texts and original titles.

The variety of materials used, their combinations and unexpected contexts all create the impression of the inexhaustibility of Kintera’s ideas, which are in demand not only in this country, but also increasingly abroad. In addition to the solo exhibition at the Rudolfinum, it is worth mentioning, e.g., the exhibition at the Prague City Gallery in the Municipal Library in Prague (2012), the Tinguely Museum in Basil (2014), or in the Kunsthalle in Rotterdam (2015) and his representation in the collections of the National Gallery in Prague, the Gallery of the City of Prague, the Olbricht Collection in Essen, the Ludwig Múzeum in Budapest, the Museum der Moderne, in Salzburg, the Fogg Art Museum of Harvard University, in Boston, MOCAK – the Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow, the Boghossian Foundation in Brussels, the Collezione Maramotti in Italy and many others.