Auditorium
Roman Štětina
Roman Štětina
Auditorium, 2014
Digital print on polyester fabric, metal construction, b/w photograph
315 x 620 cm (curtain)
38.2 x 30.1 x 3 cm (photograph, framed)
Ca. 310 x 613 x 3 cm (metal construction)
Overall dimensions variable
TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Collection
Installation view: Städelschule Rundgang, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 2014
Photo: The artist | Courtesy Polansky Gallery
- Date
- 2017
- Medium
- Digital print on polyester fabric, metal construction, b/w photograph
- Dimension
- 315 x 620 cm (curtain) 38.2 x 30.1 x 3 cm (photograph, framed) Ca. 310 x 613 x 3 cm (metal construction) Overall dimensions variable
- Credit
TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Collection
- This artwork is part of the donation and long-term loan from TBA21 to the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza.
Details
For over ten years, artist Roman Štětina has produced works based on the studios of Czech Radio, the public radio broadcaster of the Czech Republic since 1923, in Pilsen, often in collaboration with Czech Radio drama director Miroslav Buriánek, who first opened the studio doors to him. The artist’s work includes in-depth investigations into the history of broadcast media, film, television, and radio – specifically, the history and development of these technologies within the Czech Republic. From 1965–1980, the artistic board at Czech Radio used a room known as the Stereo Auditorium for listening to and approving programs as well as for testing speakers. Based on preserved photographs, the room, furnished in the “Brussels-style,” was also outfitted with a pastel-colored hessian curtain, which hid the speakers being tested.
Štětina’s Auditorium is the reconstruction of this curtain. In recreating the physical situation behind the broadcast sounds, the artist brings the props of history and radio, a fading medium, to the fore.
–Alicia Reuter