The exhibition Out of Focus explores the relationships between light, color, space, and human perception.

The installation by Kateřina Štenclová, Filip Švehla, and Jan Stolín respond to the unique architecture of the Benedikt Rejt Gallery and engage in a dialogue with its vistas, nooks, and spatial divisions. Here, architecture is not merely a setting for the exhibited works but becomes an active part of their impact.

Light connects the individual installations both visually and conceptually. It transforms the relationships between color, material, and space and influences the way viewers navigate the gallery and perceive the exhibited works. Transparency, reflections, and optical shifts disrupt the unambiguity of what is seen and raise questions about the boundary between reality and illusion. Blurring becomes a means of creating uncertainty, encouraging a new focus of attention and a reevaluation of established ways of seeing.

Kateřina Štenclová explores the possibilities of abstract painting through color, light, and translucent materials. Her installations connect the paintings with the surrounding environment and transform the viewer’s perspective through layers, vistas, and changing lighting conditions.

Filip Švehla combines gestural painting with geometric order. His colorful compositions, reminiscent of maps or urban plans, create a system of visual relationships that change depending on the arrangement of individual works, their formats, and their interaction with one another.

Jan Stolín has long explored the relationship between space, matter, and light. His installations use technical elements and lighting effects to create an environment in which the boundary between physical reality and visual illusion becomes uncertain, and whose final form is also shaped by the viewer’s presence.

The conceptual basis of the project is linked to the reflections of philosopher and aesthetician Miroslav Petříček on the image, its meaning, and modes of perception. An encounter with an image can be understood as an event that transforms our vision and opens up new possibilities for understanding.

The exhibition Out of Focus offers a space for such an experience and invites reflection on what remains hidden, what transforms, and how disrupting the usual perspective can reveal a different reality.

Curator: Lucie B. Šiklová
Concept: Kateřina Štenclová et al., in collaboration with Miroslav Petříček
Exhibition architect: Jan Stolín