The form follows the money - an exhibition at Gallery VI PER

On Wednesday, May 9, 2018, at 7:00 PM, the VI PER gallery in Karlín, Vítkova 2, will host the opening of the exhibition "Form Follows Function," prepared by the duo of architects Markéta Mráčková and Barbora Šimonová from the cultural cooperative cosa.cz.

Markéta Mráčková and Barbora Šimonová met at the Emil Přikryl School of Architecture at the Academy of Art in Prague. They have been working together since 2013. They founded the cultural cooperative cosa.cz in 2016 to umbrella their diverse activities – architecture, visual arts, literature, and video. They wished to create an alternative to the system of independent architectural practitioners, which is why they chose a cultural cooperative. Cosa.cz operates as a for-profit entity based on the principles of economic democracy – all those affected by the decisions have a say in the decision-making process. Currently, there are three members in the cultural cooperative, and they hope to expand in the future and inspire the founding of other cooperatives.

In architecture, they progress from "we can't curve a path" (a study of the reconstruction of Jiří z Lobkovic Square), through "cheap and colorful" (the reconstruction of a football grandstand in Olomouc-Řepčín), "hopefully at least the large window will remain in the realization" (a study of modifications to the entrance spaces of the FF UK building), "partitions a la Koolhaas" (Urban Café), "a new hole according to Brandlhuber" (Biofilms New Rental), "nothing can go wrong with flowers" (study of garden modifications on Ve Stínadlech street), "a study nobody ordered" (the restoration of stairs from Husitská street at house no. 37 in Řehořova), to "build it yourself and it will turn out better" (reconstruction of family housing in Bořitov).

In addition to design, they engage in many other activities. They enjoy writing short, occasionally absurd, illustrated stories where they mix reality with fiction, hoping that others will enjoy it too. Their various manifests culminated in the song "Will it be white, black, or maximally gray," composed of excerpts from work emails and friends' tales. They have filmed three portraits of buildings from the 1980s: Pavilions in Mariánské Lázně and Prague, the House of Culture and colonnade in Teplice, and the artificial rowing channel in Račice. In 2018, they plan four new installments to be available on cosa.tv. In 2015, they published the book "Legend of the Housing Estate," and in 2016, they published the translation of Gottfried Müller's stories "Melancholy and the Adventurousness of Building: 25 Forgotten Buildings."

The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of three composed evenings by the cultural cooperative cosa.cz:

May 9, 2018, 7 PM Outsiders
The mini-drama "Outsiders" is dedicated to the themes, projects, and activities of the duo Šimonová – Mráčková.

May 22, 2018, 7 PM Cooperatives
The second evening focuses on the history and principles of cooperatives and the emergence of the first cultural cooperative in the Czech Republic after a long time.

June 5, 2018, 7 PM Lie or Post-truth
The third evening will present experiences from work in the form of creative handling of facts.

Concept: Markéta Mráčková, Barbora Šimonová
Graphic Design and Installation: Viktor Vejvoda

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