When you Google Krištof Kintera’s works, images fill your screen of obscure figures created from lights, some would say angels, others formed with mounds of what appear to be raw potatoes, still with their skins, hooked up to electrical wires. Christmas baubles representing a demon of growth, distorted bicycles. He’s been nominated three times for the Henry Chalupeckého Award, the most prestigious Czech art prize. And yet this is certainly a very abridged overview of Kintera’s oeuvre.
A Prayer for Lost Arrogance (detail) 2013, mixed media, Krištof Kintera
Image courtesy Krištof Kintera/Kunsthal Rotterdam
Last summer, visitors entering the Museum Tinguely in Basel tussled through a frenzy of disorder; cheap, cheerful clothes and rip-off handbags heaped in piles during the show “I Am Not You”, described as the “the dark side of Dada” in The Art Newspaper’s review. Would Jean Tinguely have appreciated the show? “I hope so”, says the artist. The mastermind behind it was not Jean Tinguely, but Czech-born artist Krištof Kintera, who when visiting Basel two years ago, discovered new pieces by the eminent Swiss artist during the show “Tinguely at Tinguely”. In his exhibitions, Kintera questions everyday objects and mundane habits, challenging their purpose and ability to warp reality.
Kintera’s latest exhibition “Your Light is My Life” opened at the Kunsthal Rotterdam on February 28. It debuts his first solo show in the Netherlands, where he and his team put together the complex piece The End of Words with books and concrete. Born in Prague in 1973, Kintera apparently doesn’t like to give much away when it comes to interpreting his oeuvre, and nor should he, which is why we discuss his themes showcasing 15 years of hard work.
Tell us about your exhibition, “Your Light is Your Life” in Rotterdam?
The space is magnificent; it’s a great challenge and opportunity to exhibit new sculptures and I wanted to make a landscape of it. When we make a show, I say we because I work with my assistants and friends, I see it as a collective work. And in this show there is an element of surprise. I’m excited to show everything, there are around 50 sculptures exhibited outside and surrounding park. Many of the pieces are mechanical and acoustic, our aim was to create a kind of ‘madhouse’ encouraging people think about things.
One of the most important pieces exhibited outside is Public Jukebox, a sound installation consisting of a hundred different audio tracks. It is not a jukebox in the traditional sense of the term... you have different sounds, spoken language, sounds of animals, it attracts a lot of attention. It is not only a ‘disturbing element’ but also an element for contemplation. The viewer makes the choice, influencing the movement for a certain length of time, and that is incredibly challenging.
Is the new exhibition similar to your show at Museum Tinguely in Basel last year?
Yes everything originates from that show. The curators from Kunsthal saw my show in Basel and were impressed, so they invited me here to Rotterdam. Of course its not the same, even if some of the pieces are the same. As the space is so extensive, I couldn’t have filled it with completely new stuff in such limited time. But we have around ten new sculptures making the show very different.
"You have the stupid jokes and the smart jokes. I hope I’m doing the smart ones."
Online reports say the works are ‘politically charged’, what’s your opinion?
Well I think it’s a kind of rumor as I never create art with a political perspective in mind. I rather work with irony to a certain extent, like a sense of humor. But my work shouldn’t be seen as a joke, I hope people see another side to this point of view. You could perhaps describe it as a dark humor, or intelligent humor, but never political. But of course if someone sees some political consequence then it is their own interpretation, the interpretation of the viewer is crucial. Everyone can add some perspective on their own.
Is there a reason why you chose this title for your exhibition, “Your Light is my Life”?
The title is a remake or a remix. One of my sculptures is called My Light is My Life and another is called My Light is Your Light. Many of my pieces work with an element of light and together with Jannet de Goede, the curator of the show, we decided to articulate the moment of light and we came up with this slightly spiritual title. The light installations are significant for the show, I consider it to be a sculpting element like smoke and sound.
"They are not principally materials and for me, the ‘un-material’ aspect of the sculpture is important to me, it is just another way of sculpting."
What’s Happening next after your show in Rotterdam?
I will have a show at Krakow at the Museum of Modern Art in 2016. I moved from a smaller studio to a bigger one recently and I was really looking forward to returning to the studio; I have a lot of ideas to look forward to and to exhibit.
Image courtesy Krištof Kintera/Kunsthal Rotterdam
