LITTLE JOHN
14.04. – 29.06.2023
Pragovka Gallery

Exhibiting artists: Barbara Benish, Polina Davydenko, Dominik Gajarský, Terike Haapoja and Laura Gustafsson, Anna Hulačová, Zdena Kolečková, Denisa Langrová, Diana Lelonek, Magdalena Manderlová, Hana Nováková and Vladimíra Večeřová

guest: Oscar Salguero

Curator: Tea Záchová

Little John

The exhibition entitled Little John refers to a significant artistic achievement in the history of art in the second half of the 20th century. The work I Like America and America Likes Me by the iconic German artist Joseph Beuys is used by the exhibition as the phenomenological essence of the spirit that permeates it. This 1974 performance by the artist, who, upon arriving in America, wraps himself in felt, gets transported by a local rescue service, and locks himself in a cage for a few days in a room with a live wild coyote named Little John, was not only a symbol of the creation of a certain non-hierarchical relationship between two living entities, but more importantly a tribute to the wild animal that is emblematic of the Native American population.

With this social sculpture, Beuys was pointing out social psychological wounds. He was not interested in America. He found the hard capitalist machine uninspiring. Beuys was not only interested in animals, but also in plants and natural science as such.

As Beuys himself said, „My whole life has been advertising, but someday somebody ought to be interested in what I’ve been promoting.” The exhibition features international artists who refer to points of contact where we can find different perspectives on animals and their relationship with us. Sometimes dramatically and sometimes poetically, they blend symbiotic relationships with scientific, ethical, activist or artistic thinking.

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