Unorthodox Narratives: Screening and Discussion with Duncan Campbell and Roman Štětina

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Award-winning artists Duncan Campbell and Roman Štětina join us for an in conversation and screening event, exploring their shared, unorthodox approaches to the medium of film in contemporary visual art.

Although representing distinct thematic and aesthetic positions, Duncan Campbell and Roman Štětina share a sense for building unorthodox narratives, a fetish for historical articles when working with found footage and re-investigating the functions of image, sound, presence and absence. This discussion will focus on the intersecting points of Campbell and Štětina’s work in order to reveal some of the processes involved in shaping the discourse of film in contemporary visual art.

In 2014, the same year that Duncan Campbell won the Turner Prize with his film It for Others, Roman Štětina received the Jindřich Chalupecký Award, the Czech equivalent of a high-rank appreciation in visual arts, similarly for an almost hour-long film essay titled Lost Case.

Štětina’s film re-uses the footage of the iconic TV series Columbo, shot between 1968 and 2003. The work creates a poetic, non-verbal narrative, which investigates the boundaries between the character of the famous detective and the actual actor, Peter Falk. In It for Others, Campbell returns to Chris Marker and Alan Resnais’ 1953 film Statues Also Die, emphasizing the notion of the fleeting nature of objects, as well as their metamorphoses into commodities, politically or socially charged artifacts.

The discussion is accompanied by excerpts of the award-winning films in addition to other works by the artists.

Presented by the Czech Centre London and Jindřich Chalupecký Award in partnership with Delfina Foundation

Moderated by Karina Kottová

Duncan Campbell was born in Dublin in 1972. He lives and works in Glasgow. Campbell studied at the University of Ulster, Belfast, before completing an MFA at Glasgow School of Art in 1998.

His recent solo exhibitions include Duncan Campbell, Arbeit, Kunsthall Oslo, (2015); Duncan Campbell, IMMA, Dublin (2014); Duncan Campbell, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (2012); Make It New John, Chisenhale Gallery, London (2009); Recent group exhibitions include Yebisu International Festival for Arts & Alternative Visions 2015, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo (2015); Turner Prize 2014, Tate Britain, London (2014); Scotland + Venice 2013, Palazzo Pisani, 55th Venice Biennale (2013). Duncan Campbell is the recipient of the Turner Prize, 2014.

Roman Štětina was born in Kadaň in 1986. He currently lives and works in Prague, Czech Republic. Štětina graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague in 2015 after spending two years on the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main in the classes of Judith Hopf and Douglas Gordon. 

His recent solo shows include Souvenir, Pollansky Gallery, Prague (2015); Lecture, Gallery of Fine Arts, Zlín (2015); Speak, To Allow Me To See You, Kabinet Gallery, Brno (2014); Season 0, Třinec Municipal Gallery, Třinec (2013). Recent group shows include Silver Lining, National Gallery, Prague (2015); All Watched Over, James Cohan Gallery, New York (2015); 7th Zlín Youth Salon – Gallery of Fine Arts, Zlín (2015); The Importance of Being in a (Moving) Image, National Gallery, Prague (2015); Jindrich Chalupecky Award, National Gallery, Prague (2014); Straight to Camera: Performance for Film, Modern Art Oxford (2014).

Roman Štětina is the recipient of the ESSL Art Award CEE, 2011 and the Jindřich Chalupecký Award, 2014.

Czech Centre London

The Czech Centre's mission is to actively promote the Czech Republic by showcasing Czech culture in the UK. Its programme covers visual and performing arts, film, literature, music, architecture, design and fashion. As well as hosting its own events, the Czech Centre offers support for other groups organising Czech related initiatives in the UK. The centre also seeks to further enhance cultural relationships between the UK and the Czech Republic through curatorial visits, media tours and artistic residencies; helping to generate creative dialogue among artists, scholars and cultural activists from both countries. The Czech Centre London opened in 1993. It is a non-political organisation supported by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs as part of a worldwide network of 21 Czech Centres operating in 19 countries and on three continents. The Czech Centre is a member of EUNIC (European Union National Institutes for Culture).

Jindřich Chalupecký Award

Initiated by playwright, writer and the former Czech president Václav Havel, artist Theodor Pištěk, and poet and artist Jiří Kolář, an annual award for young Czech artists under the age of 35 was founded in 1990. The Award’s name is in honor of Jindřich Chalupecký, leading art and literary critic, essayist and philosopher. The Award is conferred for an extraordinary artistic achievement in visual arts. It is designed for the emerging generation of artists whose work has the potential to gain recognition in the context of both Czech and international art scene and which embodies, both in its contents and form, an exceptional attitude. The Award is run by Jindřich Chalupecký Society, which operates as one of the most prominent bodies on the post-revolutionary Czech art scene, organizing exhibitions, various related programs, discussions, conferences and residencies, fostering the recognition of contemporary Czech art in local and international contexts.