Jan Mancuska’s solo show at Kunsthalle Basel entitled “only those wild species that appeal to people will survive” presents a selection of his recent works. As the press release states, “his film and video installations involve specially designed architecture, built to contain a range of projection devices that create specific viewing conditions for each work.” In the installation “The Other” (2007), strips of film, presented hanging in front of light boxes, document an action photographed by Jan Mancuska in which a woman applies paint to all those parts of a man’s body that he cannot see himself. In a new video work, Mancuska alludes to one of the pioneering works of the avant-garde, Marcel Duchamp’s “Nude descending a staircase” (1912). Jan Mancuska was born 1972 in Bratislava, Slovakia. He lives and works in Prague. Impressions from the opening reception, January 17, 2008.
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