Roman Ondák
Untitled, 1998
Artist
Roman Ondák
Title
Untitled
Year of creation
1998
Technology and dimensions
installation, mixed media, dimensions variable
Year of acquisition
2010
Acquisition of the foundation
Roman Ondák uses barely perceptible shifting processes to shift everyday situations into the exhibition context in order to subtly capture social forms of behavior, wishes, ideas or fantasies. At the same time, he creates a moment in time in which he intertwines past, present and future. In differently conceived situations, tasks or instructions, he turns the audience or outsiders, acquaintances, including children, workers in a factory as well as a politician, whom he addresses in a letter, into co-producers of his work. "Ondák's works are often readable even if they are not recognized as works of art. What's more, he often uses art as a means of sharpening our attention to everyday life and the situations that occur in it, which are often readable, metaphorical and poetic at the same time can." (Igor Zabel)
This is also the case in the work presented here. Consisting of various sockets and light switches mounted on iron rods, the work can always be experienced differently - depending on the exhibition space. This allows you to enter a room that at first glance seems inconspicuous and just too empty. But after a closer look, you notice the electronic fittings protruding from the walls. The parts are not only recognized as being removed and then reattached as atypical, they are usually found in unusual places. Light switches are located too high up and sockets are simply positioned far too close to the floor.
With his work, Ondák succeeds in creating awareness of objects that are normally lost in banality. The visitor is amazed at the feelings that such subtle changes and transformations trigger. Here too, his handwriting is clearly visible. The withdrawal of the artist himself, the immaterialization and dissolution of usual structures, as well as the ability to transform something unspectacular into something completely spectacular are the advantages that characterize his work.
