Martin Cáb

* 22/9/1987
+420 737 462 426
[email protected]

Studies

2003 – 2007 Secondary School of Applied Arts, Uherské Hradiště, field of study: Applied Photography
2007 – 2012 Silesian University in Opava, Faculty of Arts and Nature Science: field of study Institute of Creative Photography
2008 – 2012 Palacký University in Olomouc, Faculty of Education, field of study: Artistic Creation with Focus on Education
2011 – 2020 Brno University of Technology, Faculty of Fine Arts, field of study: Studio of Intermedia (Václav Stratil, Pavel Sterec)
2013 University of the Arts London, Central Saint Martin’s, field of study: Fine Art, 4D Pathway; Erasmus programme

Participation in exhibitions

2010 Mesiac fotografie, Open gallery, Bratislava
2011 Prague Photo, Mánes, Prague
2011 Současná krajina studentů ITF, Galerie Opera, Ostrava
2012 O důvod více, foyer of the Hvězda cinema, Uherské Hradiště
2012 MIKULOVE, Galerie Horní konírna, Mikulov
2012 Černá pole sem tam skvrna, Galerie Měsíc ve dne, České Budějovice
2012 “I”, Dům umění, Opava
2012 Expanded performance v.1/ Cynická láska podle Starého zákona, Galerie K4, Prague
2013 Pohlednice z MilkyWay, Galerie 115/55, Brno
2013 Trash of Orbis Pictus, Galerie Doma, Kyjov
2013 Body varu, Dům umění, Opava
2014 Salute, Galerie Umakart, Brno
2016 EmoXicon, Galeri Evoluční, Prague
2016 Afterlife, Tschechisches Zentrum Berlin, Berlin

Untitled

In September 2018, at the time of my deep stagnation and idling, something rather unfortunate and rather embarrassing happened to me. I visited the opening of the exhibition of diploma works, which was then taking place in the House of the Lords of Kunštát in Brno. There were chairs in one of the exhibition rooms and being tired I wanted to take a seat. But instead of normally sitting down, after I put my weight on the chair it collapsed beneath me and I suddenly found myself on the floor amidst the ruins. At the moment of fall I cried out aloud: “This is the end! This is really the end!” The chair was an art exhibit and I quickly realized that I was not supposed to sit on it as it was made of polystyrene. I also immediately noticed that the witness to the incident was the dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts. Feeling terribly embarrassed I rose up from the ground and started waving my hands at the dean, something like consulting the result, or I don’t know what. I began to meekly apologise and defend myself, that if I were a few years older I could have died. I was sweating heavily. In the meantime the ladies custodians are on the alert and after a few minutes the perplexed curator of the exhibition runs up to me. “You’re gonna fix that”, he calls to me, still surprised, and I can’t say that unpleasantly. But I nod in agreement: “Yes, I am a fixer of art” – “Look, I’ll introduce you to the artist” says the curator. “I am an artist too”, say I. Suddenly, an idea dawns on me and I mumble to myself: “Hey, a diploma work”. I go to the artist who made the chair to shake hands with him. Then I leave for the office of the House of Arts with a request to lend me the recording from the security camera.

This diploma work is based on my personal experience of burnout and stagnation in artistic practice. It works at several levels with institutional criticism, existential anxiety and subliminal humour, it can be perceived from multiple perspectives rather than just a generational statement of today’s students saturated and exhausted by the world of culture. An act of destruction gave rise to a new meta-work of art, and stagnation gave birth to joy and spiritual space.