200 dm3 of Breath
January 14
Two parallel exhibitions presenting generally well-known works of the toy designer Libuše Niklová and artwork of her son, artist Petr Nikl, who is at the same time initiator of the whole exhibition project 200 dm3 of Breath.
Part I. Libuše Niklová’s Toys, the Regional Gallery of Fine Arts in Zlín – Zlín House of Arts (Krajská galerie výtvarného umění ve Zlíně – Dům umění)
Part II. Petr Nikl: Dialogue with Mum, the Regional Gallery of Fine Arts in Zlín – Zlín Castle (Krajská galerie výtvarného umění ve Zlíně – Zámek)
2. 2. – 21. 3. 2010
Most of us are familiar with the accordion-like cat and the inflatable buffalo. However, fewer know that the life-work of Libuše Niklová (1934-1981) includes a considerable amount of innovative plastic toys, whose originality at the time by far exceeded the qualities of standard toy production, both local and foreign. Even fewer associate her name with the renowned visual and theatre artist Petr Nikl (1960), a member of the former Tvrdohlaví art group and author of internationally acclaimed Orbis Pictus project.
Organising Niklová’s very first retrospective exhibition was the initiative of her son whose peculiar poeticism has been greatly inspired by toys. To pay tribute to her he has designed a concurrent exhibition of his own works reflecting upon his mother’s production. There is hardly a more appropriate place to launch this travelling project than Zlín, the native town of both Libuše Niklová and her son Petr.
The symbolic title of the project, 200 dm3 of breath, reffers to the key role which air played in all of the designer’s creations, be it little rubber figures, animals with accordion-like trunks or inflatable objects. It gave them shape and volume, allowed them to make sounds and harmonised perfectly with the elasticity and flexibility of plastic.
The designer’s retrospective in the Zlín House of Arts, whose rather impressive, transparent-inflatable installation made by Petr Nikl himself, presents both Niklová’s twenty years production for Fatra Napajedla, a company with which her work is inseparably linked, as well as her early designs of toys made by Gumotex Břeclav, where she commenced her career immediately after finishing her studies at the College of Applied Arts in Uherské Hradiště. At the time, the rare combination of Niklová’s imagination, incredible inventiveness and vigorous diligence were very well accepted by both her employer and in numerous exhibitions, owing to which the majority of her designs were put into production. This is something that even young designers today often struggle to achieve. The toys she designed from the mid-fifties until the end of her life have become popular companions to several generations of children. Although this unique designer passed away at the early age of forty-seven, she left an incredibly rich pioneering work, a total of nine patents and three protected industrial prototypes, as well as the pleasure which her toys have brought to both children and adults to date.
Petr Nikl has adopted a similar approach to addressing the realm of children and adults. To see for oneself, visit the Zlín Castle where his paintings, drawings, illustrations and puppets will lead an intimate artistic dialogue with his mother.
An adapted version of this project will be on display in the Prague’s Museum of Applied Arts and the Museum of Literature from April onwards.
To mark the occasion of Libuše Niklová’s retrospective a monograph will be published. It is currently being prepared by Petr Nikl in collaboration with the art historian Tereza Bruthansová and the graphic designer Zuzana Lednická from the Najbrt Studio.
Organised by: Arbor vitae societas and the Regional Gallery of Fine Arts in Zlín
Curators: Petr Nikl a Tereza Bruthansová
Graphic design: Zuzana Lednická (Studio Najbrt)
Photographs: Studio Toast
contact: Daniela Plná, Arbor vitae societas, daniela.plna@arborvitae.eu,
tel.: 725 537 141
- Files:
Niklova_Nikl_eng.doc