To enter “Raut” (a title that translates roughly to “Reception” or “Banquet”), a recent exhibition by Czech artist Lukáš Machalický, was to become immersed in an ongoing social event. The artist had turned the gallery into a carefully constructed environment dominated by a series of tilted, seemingly levitating tables, which were covered with long, white, immaculately ironed tablecloths. These were paired with a group of off-balance installations, which were vaguely reminiscent of human figures, made of carpenter’s levels, in each case with a long one supported by two shorter ones and standing atop a thick, rather old-fashioned-looking marble-patterned file folder filled with sheets of white paper (all works Untitled, 2013, from the ongoing series “Raut,” 2013–). Although the contents of the papers remain unknown, the destabilizing function of the folders suggests a subversive agenda; were the folders removed, the figures would stand upright. The space appeared suspended, as if someone had pressed a pause button, thus freezing all guests in time, making the spectator the only one who could move freely around the space while examining the seemingly invisible features of the social setting. The movement of the spectator was supported by the movement of an abstract video piece shown on a monitor in one corner. This work set into motion the marble motif of the files, reminiscent of archival folders and therefore associated with public records, personal memories, and other historical “evidence.” The same motif was repeated in the exhibition several times: on a flag attached to the wall, for instance, as well as on the reverse side of a seemingly levitating map.

Machalický, who belongs to the youngest generation of artists now active in the Czech art scene, is known mainly for his engagement with the subject of public memory and the construction of historical narratives. He perceives architecture as a significant carrier and embodiment of collective histories, treating them by means of spatial objects with their own shapes and dimensions. In the case of “Raut,” this was played out mainly through the repeating marble motif, which served as a constructive factor as well as a deconstructive one. The archival file, which operated as a symbol of accumulated history and memory, could be perceived on one hand as a supporting element of the installation and on the other as something that interfered with the figures’ stability and uprightness. The work can be understood as a metaphor concerning the relationship between collective memory and new sets of social relations, which, although reinvented, are continuously destabilized by past historical structures and narratives. By applying a clear and minimal geometric language, Machalický has created a seemingly universal space; here, common social behavior could be examined and, through the interplay among the artist’s symbolic references, projected onto various strata and areas of social life in which the invisible and unspoken becomes the cornerstone of a new collective future.

—Markéta Stará