kuk

cologne

ROBERT KUNEC

WORKS II BIOGRAPHY II REVIEWS

Still Hungry, MDF, boxspring, 300 x 350 x 120 cm, 2012

Suicide bomber 1/1, fibreglass/Polyester, 305 x 320 x 40 cm, 2009

Suicide bomber 1/1, „Timer“ magazine illustrating Suicide Bomber 1/1, 2009

Das Holz, installation, 2009

Man with Beard, Silicone, wooden frame, wooded board, 60 x 50 x 25 cm, 2011-2013

Terra Sancta, Installation, flags of Israel_Palestine, table, ventilator, cable, 2011

Ax, bronze (real size weapon), 2012

Bread is going up, baking forms, 130 x 230 cm, 2012

Cinis, ashes, 33 x 30 x 30 cm, 2011

It’s not a bomb, suit case, 2009

Flag Day, iron, flag, iron board, 2005

Flag Day (detail), iron, flag, iron board, 2005

Tourist map of Iraq from 2003, 63 x 116 cm, 2011

The Twelve, Installation, various scrap parts, 12 pieces, 110 x 335 x 32 cm, 2012

The Twelve, object ‚John’, total size of 12 works: 110 x 335 x 32 cm, 2012

The Twelve, photographs, 110 x 335 x 32 cm, 2012

The Twelve, photography, ‚John’, total size of 12 works: 110 x 335 x 32 cm, 2012

Explosus, polyurethane from car industry modeling, 140 x 500 x 300 cm, 2010

We confess, DIY KIT, 120 x 80 x 55 cm, 2012

No concept painting, screen print ink on 20 rubber panels, 300 x 360 cm, 2011

Recent Covers II, Time Magazine, collage, paint, 2014/2015

After 9/11, there was an almost inflationary attempt within the contemporary art world to evaluate the images of this singular event so aestheticized by the media. Robert Kunec’s work, which deals with the phenomenon of suicide bombing, is convincing and unique. It delivers an impressive image of the inner workings of this phenomenon, and its use of ideology and coercive indoctrination as tools with which to take control of the subject in absolute terms. It asks: »What role does the person behind the uniform play in a religiously motivated conflict?« The image that Kunec has found oscillates between a building kit and a bomb. Both of these are of a mechanical nature and they illustrate the complex idea of subjectiv- ity within intercultural context, with one of its most extreme examples. Man as toy soldier, a subject deprived of its will, or a believer ready to make the ultimate sacrifice for his faith. Kunec investigates the history of this militant system of sacrifice and its use in the »arsenals« of Germany, Japan and Russia during the second World War, in relation to its portrayal in the media today. His work focuses on the use of propaganda by terror »Sponsors«, as well its use in the misleading analyses of their Western combatants. Kunec reminds us to pay attention to the person transformed into the toy soldier, hidden beneath the uniform. The most shattering experience of all of this is undoubtedly the degradation of the universal subject into a mannequin, devoid of free will, trapped in an ever hardening and empty shell, one that is all to easily assembled.

Prof. Dr. Eugen Blume,  Director Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum der Gegenwart, Berlin

BIOGRAPHY Robert Kunec

Born 1978 in Bardejov, Slowakia

Lives in Halle/Saale, Germany

EDUCATION

1997- 2000 Studies with academic sculptor Dusan Poncák

Artist Blacksmith in Presov/ Slowakia

2000–2003 Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, Czech Republic

Sculptor /Restoration

2004–2008 Diploma in Fine Arts/Sculpture at Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Halle/ Saale

2009 Scholarship Kunststiftung des Landes Sachsen-Anhalt

SOLO Exhibitions

2017 Collateral Damage I, krupic kersting || kuk, Cologne, Germany

Collateral Damage II, aeroplastics contemporary / Washington 186, Brussels, Belgium

2016 Poppostions, Brussels, Belgium

2015 Still Hungry, krupic kersting || kuk, Cologne, Germany

2014 New Works, guest at Galerie Sebastian Brandl, Cologne, Germany

2013 CORNET, stage scenery for R.M.Rilke‘s opus, Intecta, Halle; Germany

2012 ACT OF TREASON, krupic kersting || kuk, Köln/Cologne

END-STOFF-LICHT, Peterskirche, Benediktinerklosterkirche Petersberg, Erfurt, Germany

2011 IN THE NAME OF, 532 Gallery Thomas Jaeckel, New York, USA

VOLTA NY, New York, USA, krupic kersting || kuk, Cologne, Germany

2010 WEED/UNKRAUT, krupic kersting || kuk, Cologne

EXPLOSUS, Intecta, Halle, Germany

2009 SB 1/1, Preview Berlin, Flughafen Tempelhof, Berlin, krupic kersting || kuk, Cologne, Germany

KUNSTPREIS 08, Kunstforum, Halle, Germany

IT’S NOT A BOMB / PARANOIA, with Alma Suljevic, krupic kersting || kuk, Cologne, Germany

WERKSCHAU, Ufo Galerie, Halle, Germany

GROUP Exhibitions

2016 Seht, da der Mensch, Baumwollspinnerei, Leipzig, Germany (by Kunstmuseum Magdeburg)

with C. Boltanski, Jannis Kounellis, J. Gerz etc.

Rundgang Baumwollspinnerei, Leipzig, Germany, by aeroplastics contemporary, Brussels/Belgium

Forever, curated by Jerome Jacobs of aeroplastics contemporary, Kortrijk, BE

2015 Neue Sinnlichkeit, JVA Magdeburg, Germany

The Others, Torino, Italy

2014 The remarkable Lightness of Being, aeroplastics, Brussels, Belgium

Positionen, Ales South Bohemian Gallery/Museum, Hluboka nad Vitavou, Czech Republik

Zeitzeugen, artrmx e.V., Cologne, Germany, curated by Maria Wildeis

Fragile, krupic kersting || kuk, Cologne, Germany

2013 PORTAS ABERTAS, Fórum Eugénio de Almeida, Portugal

BON COURAGE, Werkschau, Freiraum Leipzig, Germany

STEP 09, Milano, Italy

PREMIO COMEL, Latina, Italy

2012 COLOGNE CONTEMPORARIES, Galerienrundgang, Cologne, Germany

ART 4 PEACE III, Cut Up Galerie, Rastede, Germany

KREUZECKE, Süße Ecke reloaded, Erfurt, Germany

THREE DIMENSIONAL, krupic kersting || kuk, Cologne, Germany

2011 PETERSBERG SYMPOSIUM Peterskirche, Benediktinerklosterkirche Petersberg, Erfurt, Germany

WESTEND, Museum on the Seam, Socio-political contemporary art Museum, Jerusalem, Israel

AQUA ART MIAMI, 532 Gallery Thomas Jaeckel New York, Miami, USA

GERECHTIGKEIT SCHAFFT FRIEDEN Stift Klosterneuburg, Austria

KRIEG IM FRIEDEN?, Kunstpavillon. München, Germany

JAGDSAISON, Gloria, Berlin, Germany

EIN LAND IN BEWEGUNG, Landtag, Magdeburg, Germany

2010 PETERSBERG SYMPOSIUM Peterskirche, Benediktinerklosterkirche St. Peter und Paul, Erfurt, Germany

AU TRAVERS DE L‘ EUROPE, krupic kersting galerie || kuk, Cologne, Germany

2009 SCHILLER-LEBEN, Kunst-Theater Project, Erfurt, Germany

2008 DIPLOME, Volkspark Galerie, Halle, Germany

GUTES AMERIKA - BÖSES AMERIKA, Galerie NOAH, Augsburg, Germany

2007 SPRING SALON 07 Lennox Contemporary, Toronto, Canada

JUSTICE FOR ALL? Death Penalty Art Show, M2 Gallery, Houston/Texas, USA

THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, Monkdogz Urban Art, New York, USA

2006 FREESTYLE 2-3-d, Energy Gallery, Toronto, Canada

JUSTICE FOR ALL? Death Penalty Art Show, Gallery Lombardi, Austin/Texas USA

SEPTEMBER EXHIBITION Projekt 30 Gallery, New York USA

KUNSTRASEN 2006. Ersatzbank der Gefühle, Stadtmuseum Halle/Saale, Germany

WERKE, Abtsgmünd, Germany

RASEN ÜBER KOPFSTEINPFLASTER, Kunstverein Wilhelmshöhe, Ettlingen, Germany

FINALE, Salzmann-Schule, Halle/Saale, Germany

2005 SCHÖNHEIT-FREIHEIT, Friedrich Schiller Jahr, Museum Schloss Elisabethenburg, Meiningen, Germany

SCHÖNHEIT-FREIHEIT, Städtische Galerie ADA, Meiningen, Germany

2001 Exhibition at „Lapidarium of the national museum“, Prague, Czech Republic

GRANTS

2014 ARTWARD Munich, Artist in Residence at Collection Alain Servais, Brussels

2008 Kunstpreis der Stiftung der Stadt- und Saalkreissparkasse“, Halle 2008

2006 Sculptor-Symposium, Abtsgmünd, Germany

BIBLIOGRAPHY | PUBLICATIONS

2011 ROBERT KUNEC, Kunststiftung Sachsen Anhalt und Kloster Bergesche Stiftung, krupic kersting || kuk, Cologne

2009 SUICIDE BOMBER /ROBERT KUNEC, krupic kersting || kuk, Cologne

COLLECTIONS

Private collections in Belgium, Norway, Switzerland, USA, Germany

Sammlungen des Landes Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany

Born 1978 in Bardejov, Slowakia

Lives in Halle/Saale, Germany