Galerie NTK, Praha, Strach z neznámého / Fear of the Unknown, 2.2 - 31.3. 2017

Door bells (or Czechia to the Czechs)

The latest project followed an idea which was based on a proposal for another show which should be opened in September in Prague. The theme of that show is External and internal exile. Part of the project was finished and exhibited in the Gallery NTK in Prague in March 2017. The idea is based on an observation of the attitudes of Czechs towards people who are not like them and about a hostility to the newcomers to the Czech Republic, mainly the Muslims.

I wanted to dramatize the absurdity of some selection of who can be one of us and who cannot, based on a random selection from a research done in different cities of the Czech Republic. I have been taking photos of door bells, mostly apartment buildings. Then I pick those names on the door bells which do not sound typically Czech and in the computer, cross them out. I leave some opportunity to make people participate in this “selection” and hope that in the process, people will realize that it is very dangerous to cross out somebody based on some random decision based on the name or background that we might not know anything about.