Critical Communities

Kontur Magazine’s July Exhibition recommendation

The cool halls of exhibition spaces offer a reliable refuge from the summer heat – which is why our monthly exhibition recommendation returns again this July. This month’s selection features exhibitions that engage with social issues through a critical lens; in several cases, the focus is on the experiences of ethnic, gender, or cultural minorities. These themes are explored not only through contemporary artistic practices, but also through works by modernist and neo-avant-garde artists.

Kvet Nguyen: Until the Water Meets the Shore // Bratislava City Gallery

Bratislava, 18 June – 23 November 2025
Curator: Zuzana Flašková

Kvet Nguyen’s work centers on the experience of the Vietnamese minority – its social realities in Slovakia and its historical roots within former Czechoslovakia. The Bratislava City Gallery presents a comprehensive, monographic exhibition of the artist’s latest works, while also offering insight into earlier projects.

At the heart of the exhibition is Land Record (2025), an object-based installation in which Nguyen reinterprets an origin myth tied to her ancestral land – viewed through the lens of colonial violence and long-standing oppression.

Another key piece is Hranice našej bolesti (The Borders of Our Pain, 2025), a docu-fiction that delves into the emotional and social experiences of the second-generation Vietnamese minority. Through personal narratives, the artist examines themes of integration, identity formation, and collective memory.

Sound, Image, Story // Nitra Gallery

Nitra, 13 May – 16 November 2025
Exhibition concept: Martin Daniš, Elena Tarábková

This exhibition centers on sound and music, storytelling, poetry, and various forms of dance. The gallery presents these themes across artworks from the 19th to the 21st century, independent of medium. The educationally focused show allows visitors to experience the interplay between music, language, and visual art through playful and interactive activities.

As part of the accompanying program, an educational series invites visitors to participate in experience-based creative workshops, fostering creativity while providing deeper access to modern and contemporary works of art.

Participating artists include: Milan Adamčiak, Jaak Adamson, Július Bártfay, Peter Barényi, Ján Berger, Adolf Born, Lýdia Boríková, Ladislav Čemický, Henrich Fieles, Sibylla Greinerová, Ladislav Guderna, Anetta Mona Chişa, Michal Jakabčic, Lýdia Jergušová, František Jiroudek, Eduard Kalický, Gyula Komjáti, Vladimír Kováč, Ľudmila Lakomá Krausová, Vladimír Kompánek, Rudolf Krivoš, František Kudláč, Peter Matis, Mária Medvecká, Július Nemčík, Eugen Nevan, Ľudovít Nyulassy, Milan Paštéka, Rastislav Podoba, Maroš Rovňák, Maximilián Schurmann, Agneša Sigetová, Ľudovít Slamka, Jozef Srna, Svatava Syllová, František Studený, Ernest Špitz, Jozef Šturdík, Lucia Tkáčová, František Uhrovič, Ladislav Zdvíhal, Ernest Zmeták, Ján Želibský, Terézia Žilíková Sládeková, and Viera Žilinčanová.

Maleficae // Šopa Gallery

Košice, 18 June – 1 August 2025
Curators: Flóra Gadó, Júlia Hermann, Dalma Eszter Kollár

The Maleficae exhibition explores themes of witchcraft, spirituality, community, female knowledge, and memory. For the younger generation, the witch often appears as an archetype embodying non-canonized forms of knowledge, female solidarity, and resistance to social norms. This line of thought forms the foundation of the Šopa Gallery’s exhibition, which serves as the second part of a show by the same name held last year at the Budapest Gallery.

While the first part focused on the historical background of witch hunts and trials from the 15th to 18th centuries, as well as on female healers, the Košice edition centers on contemporary representations of the witch figure. It explores themes of female communities and “sisterhood,” as well as spiritual and ritualistic practices.

Participating artists: Soma Kazsimér & Márton Takács K., Ginevra Petrozzi, Lucia Sekerková, Zsuzsi Simon, Noémi Szécsi

Erik Šille: We’ve Got Problems, But at Least Not Just One // Schemnitz Gallery

Banská Štiavnica, 6 June – 14 July 2025
Curator: Miroslava Urbanová

This solo exhibition by Erik Šille, a visual artist originally from Rožňava, presents a selection of paintings, most of which are being shown in Slovakia for the first time. The works were previously exhibited in Israel over the past two years and have now returned at the artist’s request. Šille’s signature visual style is marked by a high “cuteness factor” – using charming characters to convey sharp social critique.

The exhibition also addresses the question of what kind of responsibility artists bear when they incorporate political content into their work.

Július Koller – The Sinusoid of (Mis)Understanding // acb Plus

Budapest, 4 June – 15 August 2025
Curator: Daniel Grúň

Július Koller, a pivotal figure of the Czechoslovak neo-avant-garde, has played a major role in shaping conceptual art, especially from the 1990s onward, when his influence extended internationally. Remarkably, his first solo exhibition in Hungary is only now taking place at the acb Plus gallery in Budapest.

The exhibition is structured around the sine wave, which – according to the gallery’s description – “symbolized for Koller a form of resistance to socialist uniformity, as well as the undulating rhythm of communication, ancient knowledge, and human experience.”

Recurring motifs from Koller’s oeuvre also appear throughout the show – including the question mark, ping pong, the Möbius strip, and the UFO.

Maya Deren – Stano Filko: The Truth has, in Reality, Never Been Ours – With artistic contributions by Ibon Aranberri and Martin Vongrej // Kunstmuseum Bochum

Bochum, 26 April – 21 September 2025
Curators: Lucia Gregorová Stach, Roger M. Buergel, Julia Lerch Zajączkowska

Presented at the Kunstmuseum Bochum, the exhibition The Truth has, in Reality, Never Been Ours explores the intersections of politics and artistic strategies formed under totalitarian regimes. The exhibition centers on the works of avant-garde filmmaker Maya Deren and neo-avant-garde artist Stano Filko. Both artists developed personal mythologies and cosmologies as a means of expressing resistance against oppressive systems.

The exhibition is enriched by contributions from contemporary artists Ibon Aranberri and Martin Vongrej, as well as video documentation by filmmaker Kveto Hečko.

Cover image: Erik Šille: No people no cry, 2021 (Source: Schemnitz Gallery website)