Anglo-American University in Prague AAU’s Tony Ozuna Reviews Two Must-See End-of-Summer Prague Exhibitions for Kulturní magazín UNI
AAU Journalism & Visual Art Studies Senior Lecturer Tony Ozuna recently had two exhibition reviews featured in Kulturní magazín UNI. In his reviews, Ozuna reflects on two exhibitions currently on view in Prague, exploring themes ranging from European history and migration to the evolving relationship between art and the media.
William Kentridge: The Battle Between YES and NO
In his first review, Ozuna explores The Battle Between YES and NO, a major retrospective of internationally acclaimed South African artist William Kentridge, whose multidisciplinary works combine theatre, performance, dance, music, and film while exploring migration, racism, and Europe’s complex social history.
“William Kentridge is a renowned contemporary artist from South Africa, best known for his works that incorporate theatre, performance, dance, music, and film in staged installations—but not just that, his works come from deep research that explores migration, racism and the complex social history of Europe,” said Ozuna.
He also notes that the exhibition is “practically a retrospective,” bringing together Kentridge’s earliest works with more recent creations connected by these recurring themes.
The exhibition is curated by Christelle Havranek, who also teaches in AAU’s Visual Art Studies program. Ozuna highlights the exhibition’s conclusion with “a recreation of his studio and a coda – site-specific tribute to his garden as his most personal muse.”
View the exhibition at Kunsthalle Prague, around the corner from the AAU Campus. Read his review from Kulturní magazín UNI in Czech here.
Hit by News – Power to the Press
In his second review, Ozuna examines Hit by News, an exhibition exploring how newspapers, magazines, and other forms of mass media have shaped artists and artistic expression for generations.
“The exhibition ‘Hit by News’… could have been called alternately ‘struck,’ ‘grabbed,’ or ‘seduced’ by news, as the point is how all of us, though with a focus on artists, have been fascinated with the news (media) for at least 150 years,” he explained.
He notes that the exhibition begins with the rise of affordable printing in the nineteenth century, when newspapers, books, and magazines transformed information from something available only to the aristocracy into a shared public experience.
“The curator Christoph Doswald refers to the traditional ‘information industry’… disrupted by the invention of affordable printing presses and paper in the nineteenth century.”
The exhibition explores how artists have responded to the rise of newspapers, magazines, and mass media, examining the relationship between art, communication, and the news over the past 150 years.
View the exhibition at the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art in Holešovice. Read his review from Kulturní magazín UNI in Czech here.
Photos: Courtesy of Kunsthalle Praha, Tomáš Cindr, and Jan Slavík