[artinfo] CLOSE ENCOUNTERS: Central European Video Art

[viera levitt]

Fine Arts Center Galleries, University of Rhode Island

invites you and your friends to the exhibition   
 
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS: 
Central European Video Art
(from the Czech and Slovak Republics, Poland and Hungary)

Guest Curated by Viera Levitt

Main Gallery, Fine Arts Center Galleries
University of Rhode Island, 105 Upper College Rd, Kingston
January 24 - February 10, 2008
Artists: Pavlina Fichta Cierna (b. 1967, Slovakia), Milena Dopitova 
(b. 1963, Czech Republic), Hajnal Nemeth (b. 1972, Hungary, lives and 
works in Berlin), Katerina Seda (b. 1977, Czech Republic), Artur 
Zmijewski (b. 1966, Poland)

& Historic Kingston Train Station, Amtrak Waiting Room
January 16 - February 10
Artist: Pavel Mrkus (b. 1970, Czech Republic)

Public Closing Reception with Remarks by the Curator: Sunday, 
February 10th  2 - 4 pm
  
The Fine Arts Center Galleries at the University of Rhode Island 
presents a video art program dedicated to contemporary works created 
by five prominent Central European artists. In this exhibition, Guest 
curator Viera Levitt, attempting to find themes within the art of 
this region that are deeply human and capable of resonating with the 
American public, has emphasized stories of vulnerability and 
fragility. 
An innovative part of this exhibition is the showing of the video 
work "Seagull" (2005, 4 min.) by Pavel Mrkus, in the Historic 
Kingston Train Station, Amtrak Waiting Room, beginning January 16. 
Partners of this complementary program are the Friends of the 
Kingston Station and Amtrak. A Program Guide accompanies the 
exhibitions at both sites.
Complementing the video exhibition, the Corridor Gallery showcases 
Staged Photographs by a leading photographer from the Slovak 
Republic, Pavel Pecha (January 28 - February 28, 2008).
 
The video exhibition is guest curated by Independent Curator Viera 
Levitt (formerly Jancekova). She is a native Slovak who moved to 
Rhode Island two years ago. From 1997-2005 Viera Levitt was 
director/curator of the contemporary art showcase, Jan Koniarek 
Gallery, located in the historic town of Trnava. She was the youngest 
director ever in a public art museum in the Slovak Republic. Levitt 
has curated or co-curated more than 30 exhibitions in Slovakia, the 
Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg and the USA.  

Special thanks  
In New York: Apexart, Czech Center, Hungarian Cultural Institute, 
Anne Arden McDonald, Polish Institute, and Steven Rand; in Rhode 
Island: Jo-Ann Conklin, David Winton Bell Gallery, Brown University, 
Courthouse Center for the Arts, West Kingston, Friends of Kingston 
Station, Kingston, and Mini Grant, The Rhode Island Foundation, 
Providence
 
More information and the press release: 
<http://www.uri.edu/artgalleries>http://www.uri.edu/artgalleries
Reviewers: To download images for press purposes or the pdf version 
of the poster, please visit <http://www.vieralevitt.org/uri.htm> 
http://www.vieralevitt.org/uri.htm

Main Gallery, Fine Arts Center Galleries University of Rhode Island, 
105 Upper College Rd, Kingston
Phone: 874.2775. Gallery hours are T-F, 12 noon - 4 pm & Sat. - Sun., 
1:00 - 4:00 pm; Corridor Gallery hours are daily, 9 am - 9 pm.
To arrange group tours please contact us at 401.874.9628 or 
<mailto:facgalls at etal.uri.edu>facgalls at etal.uri.edu
Historic Kingston Train Station's Amtrak Waiting Room is open daily 
during train service.