Predatory Society

Exhibition Recommendations from Kontur Magazine – September Edition

In the autumn exhibition season, the borderlands of city and nature, the questions of memory and forgetting, as well as the vulnerability of human and animal existence come into focus. The predatory instinct, the duality of survival and care are manifested across various media: installations, photographs, paintings, and interdisciplinary collaborations. The projects presented lead from the uneasy memories of the past, through the socio-economic dilemmas of the present, to a renewed alliance between nature and culture, offering both sensitive and critical perspectives.

Carnivores // Medium Gallery

Bratislava, 9 September – 12 October 2025

The Medium Gallery, operated by the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava, hosts the first joint international exhibition of three Hungarian female artists, where the archetype of the hunter and various associations of carnivorous existence take center stage. Installations and spatial works by Zsófia Antalka, Eszter Metzing, and Andrea Szilák examine the dilemmas of meat consumption: the aggression inherent in killing, the physical and mental experiences of predatory existence, the instinct to satisfy needs, and the interrelations of today’s socio-economic systems and behavioral patterns.

Zsófia Antalka’s artistic practice focuses on examining female existence on conceptual, social, interpersonal, and self-reflective levels. Eszter Metzing connects psychological and anthropological observations with material research. Andrea Szilák investigates the gesture of leaving a trace through the concepts of our cultural and civilizational heritage.

Adam Geczy: ANTIQUARIUM // At Home Gallery

Šamorín, 6 September – 10 October 2025

From September, At Home Gallery in Šamorín presents the photo exhibition of Australian intermedia artist and art theorist Adam Geczy. The exhibition refers back to works the artist presented in 2001 at Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin and at Trafó in Budapest. Its aim is to unsettle the viewer and deliberately push them out of their comfort zone.

In 2001, Geczy collected late 19th–20th century photographs from antiquarian bookshops depicting different aspects of war. These images not only recall the reality of the past but can also be interpreted as possible visions of the future. According to the exhibition text, “just like a pebble in your shoe, history should be uncomfortable”: it must evoke lost memories of the past in order to confront us with our own indifference and detachment.

Oksana Sadovenko: The City Breathing with Feathers (Miesto, ktoré dýcha perím) // Nástupište 1-12

Topoľčany, 14 August – 14 September 2025

Curator: Zuzana Novotová Godálová

The Nástupište 1-12 Gallery in Topoľčany presents the paintings, objects, and drawings of Ukrainian-born artist Oksana Sadovenko, which can be interpreted as metaphors of vulnerability, memory, and fragility. Curated by Zuzana Novotová Godálová, the exhibition highlights the dichotomy of softness and strength, showcasing Sadovenko’s latest works whose central motif is the presence of nature within the urban environment—such as the figure of the city pigeon.

The exhibition actively explores issues of memory and vulnerability. The most frequent figures in Sadovenko’s canvases and works on paper are children, who act as mediators in thematizing the relationship between humans and nature.

Jungle // East Slovak Gallery (Východoslovenská galéria)

Košice, 27 June – 5 October 2025

Curator: Zuzana Janečková

The Botanical Garden of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice has launched an exciting collaboration with the East Slovak Gallery, creating space for interdisciplinary dialogue between the two institutions and for establishing a “new shared habitat.” The project explores the relationship between natural and cultural heritage, emphasizing the indispensability of scientific research, education, and expertise in both.

This collaboration not only builds on the gallery’s and exhibiting artists’ existing works but also encourages the creation of new ones. Through these, themes of nature and culture, science and art, as well as protection and presentation, are reinterpreted. The initiative aims to explore, juxtapose, and present the various spaces of the botanical garden and the gallery to the public.

Planetary Peasants: Agriculture, Art, Revolution // Kunstmuseum Moritzburg

Halle (Saale), 23 May – 14 September 2025

Curators: Övül Ö. Durmuşoğlu, Joanna Warsza, Daniel Herrmann, Alexander Klose, Edit Molnár, Marcel Schwierin

On the occasion of the 500th anniversary of Thomas Müntzer’s^[1] death and the German Peasants’ War,^[2] several exhibitions are being organized across Saxony-Anhalt focusing on the fate and legacy of the “planetary peasants.”^[3] The core idea of the concept is that the Earth is not solely humanity’s home and not given to us alone—thus we must take responsibility for our environment.

The program features thirty contemporary art projects across various media and approaches, all exploring the same questions: What remains relevant from the events of five hundred years ago—or what has become relevant again? And what is the everyday reality of farmers and peasants today?

Exhibiting artists and collectives include: Lara Almarcegui (ES/NL), Anca Benera & Arnold Estefán (RO/AT), Mabe Bethônico (BR/CH), Tega Brain (AU/US) & Sam Lavigne (US), Viktor Brim (DE), Enzo Camacho (PH/DE) & Ami Lien (US), Chto Delat (RU/DE), Liu Chuang (CN), Alice Creischer & Andreas Siekmann (DE), Fernando García-Dory & INLAND (ES), Gauri Gill & Rajesh Vangad, Olivier Guesselé-Garai (FR/DE), Tamás Kaszás (HU), Luisa Keintzel (DE), Yelta Köm (TR/DE), Ulrike Kuschel (DE), Lutz & Guggisberg (CH), Antje Majewski (DE), Edgardo Navarro (MX/DE), Ilona Németh (HU/SK), Elske Rosenfeld (DE), Dread Scott (US), Mikołaj Sobczak (PL/DE), Åsa Sonjasdotter (SE/DE) & Daniela Zambrano Almidón (PE/DE), Iza Tarasewicz (PL), Total Refusal, Sarah Fichtinger & Nikola Supukovic (AT), Helena Uambembe & Lindokuhle Nkosi (ZA), Waman Wasi (PE), Michael Wang (US).

Cover image: Planetary Peasants: Agriculture, Art, Revolution, exhibition interior (Source: project website, courtesy of the artist, photo: Michel Klehm)

^[1] Thomas Müntzer (1488/1489–1525) was a radical German reformer, preacher, and revolutionary who took part in the 1524–25 Peasants’ War in Thuringia. Unlike Luther, he supported the violent liberation of the peasants, acting both as agitator and fighter.

^[2] The German Peasants’ War (1524–1525) was the largest-scale social uprising in the Holy Roman Empire, involving peasants, townspeople, and miners. It ended in the autumn of 1525 with the victory of the nobility and the death of more than one hundred thousand rebels.

^[3] The term “planetary peasants” appears in contemporary cultural, ecological, and artistic discourse. It refers to figures for whom the connection with the land and nature remains central even in a globalized world. On the one hand, it denotes the preservation and sustainability of traditional peasant knowledge; on the other, it emphasizes its universal, “planetary” significance. Artistic projects and collectives also use the name to critically examine the entanglements of the local and the global. Politically, it represents a communal, ecological way of life as opposed to capitalist industrial agriculture.