The exhibition of photographs by Slovak artist Andrea Kalinová brings somewhat unexpectedly a theme of skiing in the middle of summer. However, mud instead of snow dominates the photos. At a time of increasing extreme weather and climate events, heatwaves and strong storms, skiing on mud is a harbinger of the next winter, which, like the summer, will be marked by climate change.

Kalinova is a passionate skier, which has more to do with her childhood than with current conditions. She comments on the theme of her photographic series: “As a child, I spent almost the entire winter in the mountains. I have been skiing competitively since I was five years old. The constant presence of snow in my childhood life was a completely natural thing and I sincerely love this sport. That's why I decided to work with the phenomenon of climate change by documenting the disappearance of snow on Slovak slopes."

The Last Snow exhibition is part of the artist's larger series in which she maps the impact of climate crisis on Slovak ski resorts. In her photographs, the artist records situations where nostalgia and absurdity mix. Photographs of people trying to ski on the remnants of snow show a denial of reality: in our geographical conditions, snow will become less and less. Many ski resorts may be tackling the situation with artificial snow, but this brings a host of other problems from an environmental point of view. When skiing and sledging on artificial snow surrounded by mud or grass, we are turning a blind eye to the reality of the state of our planet. The exhibition can therefore also be read as a parable about the (un)sustainability of our lifestyle and a call to changing it.

About the artist: Andrea Kalinová graduated from the Studio of Fine Art Photography of Milota Havránková at the Department of Photography and New Media at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava (VŠVU) and received her PhD from the Department of Intermedia and Multimedia at VŠVU of Anton Čierny. She is interested in the overlap between art and activism, focusing mainly on the preservation of 20th century architecture. She made a documentary film "After the Season" about the Machnáč sanatorium in Trenčianske Teplice. In 2019, she was awarded the title of Photographer of the Year by the Central European House of Photography. https://andreakalinova.net/

Curators: Lenka Kukurová, Zuzana Štefková

The project is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the City of Prague and the Municipal District of Prague 7. Media partners of the project are Artmap, Radio 1, GoOut.

Photo of the exhibition at Artwall: Martin Micka, photo of discussion: Artwall archive