MILAN GRYGAR A DANIEL VLČEK: RENDERING
12. 12. 2025 – 19. 2. 2026
Galerie Cella, Matiční 4, Opava

curator: Jakub Frank
collaboration: Antonín Gazda

The exhibition opening will take place on Friday, 12 December, at 6 pm and will include a musical performance by Lucie Vítková/Luc Vitk and Jess Robinson, who will present their own interpretations of Milan Grygar’s scores.

Galerie Cella concludes the second year of its exhibition cycle dedicated to pioneers of sound art with an exhibition of Milan Grygar and Daniel Vlček. The two artists, separated by two generations, share an interest in the relationship between seeing and hearing – the interplay between image and sound, and the temporality inherent in the pictorial work.

The exhibition will present a selection of Milan Grygar’s paintings from the 1980s – a period during which his focus on the relationship between coloured surface, geometric construction, and sound becomes fully articulated. For the exhibition, Daniel Vlček has prepared an installation composed of paintings and a chromoscope – a device designed to translate colour information from a painting into a sound composition.

The exhibition title refers to interpretation – the performing or realization of a musical composition that may emerge from reading a painting as a score – but also to the temporality of the image, which is strongly present in the work of both artists. The painter seems to accompany the viewer; the viewer seems to linger before the painting; the painting itself seems to endure.

Milan Grygar (*1926) has been exploring the interconnection of sound and image since the mid-1960s, when he first noticed the sounds produced by pencil, charcoal, or wooden sticks drawing on paper and began recording them on magnetic tape. The relationship between seeing and hearing subsequently became the central theme and philosophy of his work. Grygar’s 1970 exhibition at the House of Art, at whose opening he live-soundtracked the creation of his spatial scores, can be regarded as the first exhibition of sound art in Czechoslovakia. Sound and musical thinking continue to inform his painting practice to this day, as he moves from linearly constructed works and minimalist surfaces – scores offering the possibility of musical interpretation – back to simple, repetitive gestures that revisit principles from the 1960s.

Daniel Vlček (*1978) likewise explores the relationship between the pictorial plane, colour, and geometric form on one hand, and sound, its propagation, acoustic qualities, and physical effects on the other. His primary source of inspiration lies in the exploration of sound and music. As a musician and producer of the digital generation, he approaches his painterly compositions as fragments of musical pieces in which various frequencies or layers of sound intersect, overlap upon the canvas, and form richly layered structures within a restrained colour palette. In collaboration with multimedia artist and technologist Antonín Gazda, he developed and constructed the chromoscope – a device for scanning the pictorial surface and translating it into sound. Using a camera, the device captures details of the painting, analyses their colour values, and converts them into a sound composition that resonates through the gallery.

The exhibition at Galerie Cella continues a cycle dedicated to pioneers and early experimenters in the field of sound art. The first exhibition introduced Milan Knížák as an author of sound performances, scores, and objects. Subsequent exhibitions presented international artists such as Hans Peter Kuhn, Peter Ablinger, Katalin Ladik, Paul Panhuysen, Milan Adamčiak, Rolf Julius, and Phill Niblock. In 2026, the programme will feature, for instance, the German artist Christina Kubisch and the Belgian artist Aernoudt Jacobs.

We thank Museum Kampa – The Jan and Meda Mládek Foundation, the 8smička Foundation, Humpolec, the Olomouc Museum of Art, and Mr Luděk Rýzner for the loans.

The exhibition was financially supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and the Statutory City of Opava.

Curator: Daniel Brożek

The installation by Polish artist Beniamin Głuszek is a tribute to Alvin Lucier, the pioneer of EEG use in experimental music (Music for Solo Performer, 1965) and an innovator of sound art (Music on a Long Thin Wire, 1977). At the same time, it revives the legacy of Kraków-based neurophysiologist Adolf Beck (1863–1942), the discoverer of brain action potentials and one of the first researchers in the field of electroencephalography. Głuszek stands out for his approach to sound installation, in which he draws on the technological principles of early experimenters in both sound and science.

Beniamin Głuszek Creator of sound installations, music theorist. His main focus is the sonification of the brain’s electrical activity (EEG). He has presented his works in the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Scotland, and Poland – including at the Warsaw Autumn Festival, AudioArt, the Survival Art Review, and the Canti Spazializzati cycle. https://neuromuzyka.pl/

Alvin Lucier (1931–2021) Composer, pioneer of experimental music and sound art, professor at Wesleyan University, member of the Sonic Arts Union (together with Robert Ashley, David Behrman, and Gordon Mumma). He was the first to systematically explore the physicality of acoustic phenomena, mechanisms of sound perception, and the acoustic properties of space. “We all come from him.”

Daniel Brożek Curator and theorist of sound and sound art. He curates the Survival Art Review and the Canti Spazializzati cycle. He is a member of the Soundscape Research Studio at the University of Wrocław. For many years he has collaborated with the magazine Glissando, the PLATO Gallery in Ostrava, and the Sanatorium of Sound festival, and he ran the blog Canti Illuminati. As Czarny Latawiec, he performs as a musician and creates sound installations and theatre compositions.

The installations that will be presented at the exhibition in Cella Gallery were realized as part of the Survival Art Review (Sleep Strings, 2019) and the cycle Canti Spazializzati (Clocker, 2022).

27. 6. – 30. 8. 2025 Cella Gallery Opening on Friday, June 27 at 6:00 PM at Cella Gallery.

The exhibition Work (just phenomena) at Cella Gallery presents the film and musical work of composer, filmmaker, and photographer Phill Niblock (1933–2024).

“No climax, no development, no building – just phenomena.” — P. N.

Niblock’s extensive film series The Movement of People Working comprises over 25 hours of footage recorded since 1973 in countries including Peru, Mexico, Hungary, Hong Kong, Brazil, Lesotho, Portugal, China, Japan, Sumatra, and the Arctic. The unifying element across these diverse locations is the focus on basic, repetitively performed gestures of manual labor.

Originally working with 16mm color film and later using video and digital formats, Niblock’s method is consistently documentary and formally minimalist. The camera does not narrate, but observes. We watch people engaged in repetitive, often physically demanding tasks: forging, dyeing, fishing, harvesting, grinding. These scenes are presented without commentary or storyline – unfolding in real time, they draw attention to human movement and effort.

The film material is accompanied by Niblock’s typically loud musical compositions – microtonal drones created through the postproduction layering of recordings of acoustic instruments. Like the images, the music operates with subtle variation, minimal development, and dense spatiality. Yet Niblock himself considers the music more narrative than the films.

Image and sound are not synchronized in the traditional sense – instead, they exist in a free, shifting relationship. Each installation of The Movement of People Working is configured differently. The version for Cella Gallery, developed in collaboration with Niblock’s son Jasper Niblock and his partner Katherine Liberovskaya, presents a unique selection of films and compositions.

The exhibition is presented as an accompanying event to the Ostrava Days festival. During the festival (August 21–30), the gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday, 9AM – 5PM.

Cella Gallery 17. 4. – 19. 6. 2025

Curator: Jakub Frank
In collaboration with: Maija Julius

When Rolf Julius first exhibited his photographic series Deichlinie (Dike Line) accompanied with recorded sound in 1980, he proposed a remarkable connection between the visible and the audible—a connection that became a central motif of his work and introduced a new sensitivity to what we call klangkunst, sound art, or sonic art in its various forms. The horizon shifts subtly in the individual photographs of Deichlinie, but remains static—until the sound of gentle ringing, first from the left speaker and then from the right, adds an illusion of movement to the work.

The relationship between the visual and the aural in Julius’s work is not one of synesthetic transfer in the style of early modernism, nor is it purely conceptual—a transfer between the seen and the thought. Rather, his work aligns with contemporary reflections on sound, silence, and everything in between, as formulated by John Cage, La Monte Young, and Morton Feldman. Julius’s intermediality lies in his ability to perceive sound as a visual material—with its own shape, structure, color, surface, hardness, or size—or as a space with its own expanse, depth, and atmosphere.

In his art, Julius was capable of becoming objects, environments, or colors. He could recognize the sound carried within a stone and translate it into a musical composition that seemed to emanate from within the stone itself. He succeeded in making places in the landscape resonate in such a way that they became music. In his installations, yellow sounded yellow and red sounded red—whether in our ears or just in our minds.

Music [under your feet] is the first exhibition of Rolf Julius in the Czech Republic. Yet traces of his presence can be found elsewhere. In the archive of Jiří Valoch are several works Julius gifted to Valoch and Milan Knížák. Knížák also writes (admiringly) of his encounter with Julius and his work in his memoirs. In 1982, at a time when Julius was still exploring the possibilities of a new artistic language, he performed in Brno at Valoch’s invitation, also presenting several of his drawings. It was here that Valoch introduced him to the then-emerging Brno art scene. One of Julius’s works is part of the Lidice Memorial collection, having entered it through the efforts of curator René Block in the late 1990s. A Czech translation of Julius’s key text Rooms of Stillness was published in 2023 in the exhibition catalogue Sites of Reverberation at 8smička.

The Deichlinie series, Julius’s first sound-based work, was exhibited in 1980 at Für Augen und Ohren, the most important sound art exhibition up to that time. Amidst a range of strong voices—sound conceptualists, performers, makers of sound objects and technological installations—Julius, then an emerging artist, could easily have been overlooked. Yet Deichlinie, for those paying close attention, must have already stood out for its quiet distinctiveness. Forty-five years later, we present the piece in Cella Gallery alongside other works from the 1980s and 1990s, illustrating the evolution of Julius’s practice—from works that explore the mutual influence of the visual and the auditory, through the “small sounds” embodied in tiny sound-producing objects, to his iconic hanging speakers.

All the works were selected in collaboration with the artist’s daughter Maija Julius, who manages the estate Rolf Julius and is responsible for the proper presentation of his work. We thank her sincerely for her invaluable collaboration and for the care and dedication she continues to give to Rolf Julius’s legacy.

The exhibition is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and the Statutory City of Opava.

MILAN ADAMČIAK: LABOURS OF SISYPHUS
Galerie Cella
February 14 – April 3, 2025
Curator: Lucia Gregorová Stach

The opening will take place on Friday, February 14, at Galerie Cella, with the curator in attendance.

In 2025, we continue our series of exhibitions dedicated to leading sound artists who have influenced the field of sound art not only through their artistic or compositional work but also by promoting awareness through organizational and academic activities.

The exhibition Milan Adamčiak: Labours of Sisyphus at the Bludný kámen Gallery in Opava offers a probe into the multifaceted creative universe of one of the most interesting (Czech)Slovak neo-avant-garde artists. Milan Adamčiak (Ružomberk 1946 – Banská Belá 2017) was a musicologist, artist, performer, and polymath who combined music, visual art, philosophy, literature, and performance into a distinctive, experimental vision that challenged conventional forms of artistic creation in a unique way. He built his multimedia programme on “Sisyphean work” with everyday objects, images, and sounds, transforming the mundane into the extraordinary, everyday situations into moments of discovery. His original DIY musical instruments were made from found materials such as metal scraps, glass, and wood waste—used both as functional performative instruments and as independent sculptural objects.

At the core of his practice were now-iconic graphic scores, conceptual art, and interdisciplinary collaborations. We have the opportunity to experience his interactive object from his time as a member of the experimental collective Transmusic Comp, through which a number of figures in contemporary art, performance, and music brought to life radical ideas resonating with the international Fluxus movement, John Cage, and New Music, as well as similarly attuned intermedia art alternatives in both Western and Eastern Europe. By placing Adamčiak within the broader contexts of art, we emphasize the international significance of his work. At the same time, we understand his practice as deeply rooted in the specific cultural and historical context of Slovakia. Adamčiak’s multi-layered programme was created mainly in an environment where culture was divided by the totalitarian regime into official and unofficial spheres. This brought him challenges, suffering, and both minor and major victories.

Lucia Gregorová Stach

Hans Peter Kuhn: 

Undefined Landscape IV / Nevymezená krajina IV

Do prostoru původní klášterní oratoře, která navazuje na hlavní výstavní sál Domu umění, navrhl německý umělec Hans Peter Kuhn světelně-zvukovou instalaci Undefined Landscape IV / Nevymezená krajina IV. Mediální instalace pracuje s působivou světelnou atmosférou a komplexní zvukovou kompozicí pro 16 reproduktorů. Každý reproduktor je spárovaný s běžnou stolní lampou. Mezi dvěma frekvencemi zvukového a světelného vlnění jakoby vznikalo zvláštní bezčasí. Každý pár stojí osamoceně a vytváří si svůj uzavřený prostor pro výměnu informací. Vakuum mezi dimenzemi. Kosmická krajina s šestnácti bílými děrami, které jsou spolu propojeny a komunikují prostřednictvím skrytého galaktického systému. Zároveň společně prostupují do svého okolí a sehrávají se v jednom působivém světelně-akustickém univerzu. Světlo i zvuk vyplňují fyzický prostor oratoře, zároveň jej však přesahují do všech směrů, prolínají se s přiléhající instalací Matěje Franka a nehmotně vstupují i do presbytáře kostela sv. Václava.

Instalace Undefined Landscape byla dříve představena na výstavách v japonské Tokushimě (2007), v Berlíně (2008) a v belgickém Mons (2011). Výstava v Domě umění probíhá paralelně s Kuhnovou výstavou v Galerii Cella pořádanou Bludným kamenem (Hans Peter Kuhn: Cycles / Cykly, Galerie Cella a Hovorny, 3. 5.–20. 6. 2024).

Hans Peter Kuhn (*1952)

Žije a působí v Berlíně a v Amino (JP)

Německý umělec a skladatel Hans Peter Kuhn je aktivní na mezinárodní umělecké scéně od konce sedmdesátých let. V době, kdy jako zvukový technik a autor zvuku pracoval v divadle Schaubühne am Halleschen Ufer v Berlíně, začal spolupracovat s výraznými osobnostmi soudobého divadla, choreografie, scénografie a tance. Tato spolupráce jej spojila mj. s avantgardním americkým režisérem Robertem Wilsonem, s nímž od té doby Kuhn spolupracoval na více než třiceti představeních a instalacích. V roce 1993 společně získali ocenění Zlatý lev na Bienále v Benátkách. Od osmdesátých let Kuhn kromě zmiňovaného působení v prostředí současného divadla a tance vystupuje i jako umělec a autor prostorových instalací. Jeho hlavním zájmem je prostorové působení světla a zvuku. Dokonalé ovládnutí technologií mu umožňuje precizně utvářet prostředí ať už pracuje uvnitř galerie nebo v exteriéru. Rozměrné site-specific instalace ve veřejném prostoru připravil mj. v New Yorku, Leedsu, Singapuru, Pittsburghu nebo v Berlíně. Jeho dílo je zastoupeno v předních zahraničních sbírkách a vystavoval v institucích v Evropě, Spojených státech, Japonsku a v dalších zemích. Od roku 2012 vyučuje na Univerzitě umění v Berlíně. Výstavy Cycles / Cykly v Galerii Cella a následná Undefined Landscape IV / Nevymezená krajina IV v Domě umění v Opavě jsou jeho prvním představením v České republice.

www.hanspeterkuhn.com

PAUL PANHUYSEN: KDE BYDLÍ APOLLÓN / WHERE APOLLO DWELLS
12. 11. 2024 – 30. 1. 2025
Cella Gallery
Curator: Miloš Vojtěchovský

The exhibition opening will take place on Tuesday, 12 November, at 6 PM at Cella Gallery.

The fifth exhibition in a series focusing on prominent European artists who have expanded the concept and boundaries of sound art will present the work of Paul Panhuysen (1934–2015). Where Apollo Dwells offers a small selection from the multifaceted and extensive oeuvre of this interdisciplinary artist and curator, who is often mentioned alongside significant figures in the history of intermedia art from the second half of the 20th century. At Cella Gallery, we will present the sound installation titled ‘La vie est une guitare sur la quelle vous nʼaimez jouer que même air éternellement’. Francis Picabia (Life is like a guitar, on which you only like to play the same eternal melody), which premiered at the Transparent Messenger symposium in Plasy in 1994. The work consists of twelve metal discs arranged on the floor in a constellation based on the so-called “magic square” by the Baroque mathematician and poet Claude Gaspar Bachet de Méziriac. Beneath each disc is an amplifier and speaker, connected to a relay with sound chips that constantly combine twelve identical short melodies. Panhuysen also employed the mathematical combinatorics of “magic squares” in a series of large colour prints titled ‘Two Families of 64 Squares’, referring to the methods used by John Cage in graphic musical scores. For Panhuysen, logic and magic are integral parts of one concept of reality and creation. The installation also includes photographs and examples from the publishing activities of Het Apollohuis (The Apollo House).

Paul Panhuysen (1934–2015) was a Dutch composer, visual and sound artist, and curator. He was the initiator and founder of the international art centre Het Apollohuis in Eindhoven (1980–2001). The former tobacco factory, where he worked and lived with his wife Hélène, combined functions as a gallery, studio, artist residency, and organisational infrastructure for the creation and presentation of sound installations, sculptures, free improvisation concerts, and experimental and electronic music. Panhuysen studied visual arts at the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht and sociology at Utrecht University. After experimenting with abstract expressionism (around 1964) and minimalism (until 1966), he turned to music, sound art, performance, and installations under the influence of the Fluxus movement. His social engagement and belief in the mission of experimental art as a catalyst for social change developed from the 1960s onwards. In 1967, he founded the Free Community of the Global City of Peace and Joy, and a year later, the multinational improvisation music ensemble Maciunas Ensemble. From the 1980s onwards, he led Het Apollohuis. In his sound installations, he often combined long stretched piano strings, either mechanically or electronically triggered, with everyday objects. He exhibited, performed, and curated numerous exhibitions and festivals across Europe, the USA, and Asia. Under the roof of Het Apollohuis, he released several sound recordings and catalogues.

The exhibition was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the Statutory City of Opava, and the State Fund for Culture.

Katalin Ladik: Homo Ludens
27.8.–31.10.2024
Cella Gallery, Matiční 4, Opava
Opening will take place on Tuesday 27th August, 6pm at Cella Gallery.

curator: Jakub Frank

The exhibition of Katalin Ladik is the fourth in a series dedicated to leading European artists who expand the concept of sound art in their work. At the HOMO LUDENS exhibition, Ladik presents a video reflecting her poetic works to date, collages, scores, visual works, and recent creations from the series “embroidered sounds” and “singing chests.” These works are complemented by samples and documentation of key projects from the 1970s and 1980s. The opening will feature a performance by the artist, in which she will present her sonic poetry. The exhibition aims to present Katalin Ladik as an artist capable of continuously coming up with new ideas, revisiting past projects and updating them for the 21st century, but above all, always carefully listening to and interpreting her surroundings through her own sonic language.

Katalin Ladik (born 1942) is a Hungarian artist, performer, and poet born in Serbia and currently based in Budapest. Although she primarily identifies as a poet, she leaves the boundaries of poetry completely open, which in her work means a free transition from written text to visual collages and graphic scores, to performances and actions, vocal interpretations of written or visual symbols, and even to radio and theater production. Between 1973 and 1976, she was a member of the Bosch+Bosch group. She currently collaborates with her partner, Josef Schreiner.

Představení monografie Matěje Franka Smrt Slunce. Prázdná místa, která vychází u příležitosti stejnojmenné výstavy, proběhne ve čtvrtek 8. srpna v Domě umění v Opavě. Publikace vychází v edici Bludného kamene. V rámci představení proběhne komentovaná prohlídka výstavy a koncert experimentálního hudebníka Martina Režného. 

Kniha obsahuje kromě podrobné dokumentace výstavy v Domě umění také přehled Frankovy tvorby od roku 2013 do současnosti a řadí ji do tematických kapitol, které uvádějí texty mezinárodního kolektivu autorů a autorek. Texty do publikace přispěli britský historik umění Mark Gisbourne, čeští historici umění Viktor Čech a Miloš Vojtěchovský a jihokorejská kurátorka Jieon Lee. Úvodní text napsala Barbora Kundračíková, editorka knihy a kurátorka výstavy. Společně s Matějem Frankem knihu pro tisk připravil grafik Pavel Coufalík. 

Publikace vychází v autorské edici deseti kusů, které pro autora připravilo olomoucké Centrum grafických papírů. Vydání druhého nákladu je naplánováno na září 2024. Jako doprovodnou publikaci k výstavě pořádané Opavskou kulturní organizací, která trvá do 18. srpna, knihu vydává spolek Bludný kámen.

Vydání finančně podpořilo Ministerstvo kultury ČR. 

Smrt Slunce
 
Mezi okamžikem smrti Slunce – jeho vyhasnutím – a momentem, kdy se o něm dozvíme, uplyne asi 8 minut. To odpovídá době, kterou potřebuje světlo – a v tomto případě tma – k překonání vzdálenosti mezi Sluncem a Zemí. O momentu, který se odehrál v minulosti, bychom neměli v daném okamžiku tušení a museli bychom jen nést fatální, nedozírné a nepředvídatelné následky.
 
Kolik smrtí Slunce v současné době probíhá a po které nastane kolaps toho, co známe? Pandemie Covidu, která na chvíli zastavila svět? Útok impéria, které zapomnělo zkolabovat, na Ukrajinu? Útok teroristů na Izrael a následné nepochopitelné nevybíravé srovnávání Gazy se zemí? Atentáty na vrcholné politiky v Evropě i USA? Toto je jen stručný výčet možných smrtí sluncí týkající se střední Evropy, a k jejichž následkům zatím nedohlédneme. 
 
Krátce po zahájení výstavy mi někdo, nepamatuju si kdo, rozšířil mou perspektivu. Zmínil  zrození nových Sluncí, které možná už proběhlo a probíhá, o nichž se ale dozvíme se stejným zpožděním.
 
18.7.2024 Matěj Frank

PETER ABLINGER: NICHT WIR / NOT US
Cella Gallery, Matiční 4, Opava
28.6.–15.8.2024

The opening will take place on Friday, June 28 at 5:00 PM at Cella Gallery.

Curator: Jakub Frank

The exhibition of Peter Ablinger, an Austrian composer and sound artist living in Berlin, will be the third in a series of exhibitions dedicated to leading European sound artists who have shaped the medium of sound in a gallery environment.

Peter Ablinger’s artworks will be presented in the Czech Republic for the first time at a solo exhibition. In the spaces of Cella Gallery, works from the Weiss/Weisslich series, dedicated to the deep exploration of white noise, which Ablinger has been developing since 1980, will be exhibited. The installation 12 Kassettenrekorder (12 tape recorders), accompanied by instructions for its operation, will be inaugurated with a performance at the exhibition’s opening. It will be complemented by a series of objects Kopfhörer (Headphones), Schneckengehäuse (Snail Shell), and Rauschempfänger (World Receiver), in which Ablinger guides the visitor to sharpen their listening and tune their auditory apparatus.

One of Ablinger’s newest installations, Nicht Wir (Not Us), which will be presented at the exhibition, utilizes the effect of resonance and feedback occurring in a closed circuit. Nicht Wir thus becomes an independent entity that sounds without the need for external input, reflecting only the acoustic properties of its surroundings. “Sometimes, when we get too close to the installation, it decides to go silent on its own and starts sounding again once we move away.”

The exhibition was financially supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the Statutory City of Opava, and the Austrian Cultural Forum in Prague.