Lukas Hofmann

Performance and installation artist Lukas Hofmann presents his first New York solo show at Art in General, curated by Karina Kottova. Hofmann’s artistic and performative practice is strongly visual, highly emotional or even obsessive, as seen through the lens of a generation that inherited this planet in a rather anxious state. His performances, where several actants give a breath of life to a carefully set up physical environment, create moments of both extreme tension and vulnerability, inviting audiences to share the deeply embodied feelings of anxiety as well as hope.

Hofmann’s newly commissioned work consisting of video, objects, installation and performance centers around the concept of skin as a multi-layered metaphor. Skin is seen as a semi-translucent membrane, both dividing the bodily self from the rest of the world, and providing access to it; a sphere of the most intimate contact, letting the environmental elements enter the body, holding the body together and yet being so vulnerable to outer powers. This exhibition is presented as part of Art in General's International Collaborations Program in conjunction with the curatorial platform Jindrich Chalupecky Society.

Lukas Hofmann (1993) studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (Studio of Intermedia Work III / Tomas Vanek School). He participated in a study program at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (Sculpture Studio), at the Korean National University of Arts in Seoul and at M.I Gallery in Berlin. He participated in a residency program at Nisyros, Greece organized by the Prague-based platform Are and is currently a resident of Residency Unlimited, New York. Also known as Saliva, he expresses himself primarily through performance and “social“ sculptures that often speak in a dialect of the fashion and creative industry. In his situations, he creates curated communities of actors and environments in which he induces a focused atmosphere and egalitarian dynamic. In this way, he communicates a whole range of most current emotions: apathy as well as potentiality of feeling, disappointment and hope. He regularly participates in collective exhibitions and art events in the Czech Republic and internationally; he has presented his work e.g. in the Schinkel Pavillon in Berlin, the National Gallery of Denmark in Copenhagen, Moderna Museet in Stockholm and Plato Gallery in Ostrava; during Manifesta  11, he performed at Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich. In 2018, he received the Jindrich Chalupecky Award, the most prominent Czech award for visual artists.