The Male Body in Contemporary Central European Art.

The only thing contemporary Western society has at its disposal is a torso. The torso of a lived world in which a shared sense of meaning has been lost, and the torso of an individual who can only yearn for complexity, because language and established social roles constantly distance him from it. This incompleteness undoubtedly affects masculinity today. The reevaluation of established stereotypes and the loosening of rigid gender roles in recent decades have intensified discussions about the nature of masculinity and inevitably lead to existential questions. Who is a man, really? And what defines him? 

The exhibition project Andros explores how contemporary Central European art addresses these questions in its depictions of the male body. The physical aspect of gender identity, which has served as a classic artistic theme for centuries, is now becoming, in contemporary art, a canvas for doubts, exploration, and the redefinition of the male form.

The group exhibition Andros explores this theme within a broader regional context and, in addition to domestic works, also features pieces by artists from Germany, Austria, and the Visegrad countries. The role of curator was taken on by writer Vratislav Maňák, who uses this exhibition to further develop and expand upon the concepts presented in the book With Wittgenstein in a Gay Sauna (2026). 

Curator: Vratislav Maňák
Exhibiting Artists: Patrik Adamec, Mirosław Bałka, Simona Blahutová, János Brückner, Jakub Čuška, Michal Czinege, Andrej Dúbravský, Jiří David, Ester Knapová, Ondřej Filípek, Pavel Forman, Andros Foros, Andrej Haršány, Matouš Háša, Tomáš Honz, Matthias Herrmann, Michal Heriban, Siegfried Herz, David Javorský, Václav Jirásek, Ruprecht von Kaufmann, Kateřina Komm, Karolína Koblen, Samuel Kollárik, Tomáš Kubík, Zbyněk Linhart, Jiří Marek, Michal Macků, Ivana Mojšová, Gábor Nagy, Tomáš Němec, Karolína Netolická, Ivan Pinkava, Gábor Pintér, Jiří Petrbok, Ondřej Přibyl, Mai, Karol Radziszewski, Spyros Rennt, Thomas Riess, Wilhelm Sasnal, Adam Šakový, Antonín Sondej, Alois Stratil, Attila Szűcs, Alexander Tinei, Juraj Toman, Jan Uldrych, Katalin Verebics, Ágnes Verebics, Stefan Wimmreuter