This exhibition is part of the efforts of the Moravian Gallery in Brno to reflect its past; in a broader sense, its objective is to assess the span of the photographic medium in the second half of the 20th century.
The concept was spurred on by the fact that the acquisition strategies of art institutions collecting photography, as well as their exhibition plans, have marginalised the staged photography of the 1970's in past decades. More precisely, they have marginalised the specific disciplines that, in their opinion, smacked of "mannerism", artificiality and affectedness. This indifference, almost to the point of exclusion, is connected with period perceptions of art in photography. Discussions centring on this type of photography indirectly employed the terms "kitsch" and "lack of originality". The exhibition concept does not exactly shun them either; however, it does not concentrate on such assessment. Its aim is to mediate to the viewer the mechanisms within which this striking phenomenon originated and functioned, and to present it in the context of international salons of art photography, where it enjoyed a privileged position, as well as in broader social and political contexts. Apart from photographs from the Czech lands, Slovakia, Poland, Latvia, Finland and the Netherlands, the exhibition will comprise films, publications, posters and other realia associated with this type of photography.
