We are constantly exposed to images and video content—on our phone screens, in movies, in advertisements, and on social media. Images appear, disappear, and are immediately replaced by others; at the same time, the sheer volume of stimuli alters our ability to perceive individual images and pay attention to them.

The exhibition Overload focuses on the experience of visual overload in a broader sense. Eleven exhibiting artists— Viktor Frešo, Matei R. Mai, Michal Durda, Jan Slanina, Julius Reichel, Tomáš Roubal, Michaela Spružinová, Jan Poš, Jakub Nepraš, Sabina Knetlová, Anna Maria Schonrock—approach the topic from various perspectives and through various media. Their work features digitally manipulated images and experiments with new technologies, light, objects, and materials.

Saturation is not merely a theme here, but also a formal characteristic of some of the works. Layering, repetition, image manipulation, work with symbols, glitches, and material saturation create situations in which individual pieces of information overlap and compete for the viewer’s attention.

At the same time, the exhibition contrasts the speed of the contemporary visual environment with works based on a slow and physically demanding process. Interwoven images, layered structures, objects, and sculptural works thus serve as a counterbalance to the speed, abundance, and ease of reproduction of the contemporary visual environment.

Exhibition curators: Jan Reindl, Mira Macík