Opening: 4. 6. 2026, 6 p.m.
Curator: Miro Kleban
Exhibition period: June 5, 2026 – September 13, 2026
Space Q, Hlavná 27, Košice
The cosmos as an infinite realm of possibilities, space as a fundamental category of existence and time as an invisible force regulating the rhythm of life and death – since the dawn of civilization, these three concepts have shaped the thinking and imagination of humankind and our insatiable need to understand the world. The exhibition titled Cosmos, Space, Time draws a thematic thread between a series of artworks dating mainly from the second half of the 20th century, exploring the extent to which the fascination with space, energy, movement, scientific discovery and metaphysical transcendence has permeated the visual language of Modernist and contemporary art. The project also complements the concept of the East Slovak Gallery’s permanent exhibition Comedy of Spirit which traces the perpetual struggle between rationality and existential uncertainty in which humankind finds itself.
The discoveries of modern physics, Einstein’s theory of relativity and advances in astronomy, cosmology and psychoanalysis opened up a host of new conceptualizations of reality in which time was no longer conceived as linear and where space ceased to serve as the definitive backdrop for human existence. Art has responded to these conceptual shifts both in formal approaches and through philosophical constructs. The cosmos emerges as a metaphor for the infinite, but it also reveals the inherent solitude of humankind; space becomes an arena in which relationships and energies play out; time is understood as a process, a sequence of traces, movements or manifestations of transience. The exhibition explores these tendencies through a diverse range of paintings, drawings, graphic works and sculptures featuring geometric systems, fantastical maps of the Universe, abstract spaces, optical rhythms, organic structures and visualizations of energy and movement.
One of the defining figures of the exhibition is Rudolf Sikora, an artist whose work stands at the pinnacle of conceptually focused art in Slovakia. From the late 1960s onwards, Sikora has been probing ecological, cosmological and existential questions, and in works such as White Hole – Black Hole, Time… Space X, Cycle of Life, The Orbit of My Comet and cycles such as My Universe and Earthling, he envisions humankind as an insignificant element of the Universe, constantly shuttling between genesis and apocalypse, birth and extinction, between the concentration and dissipation of energy. Sikora explores these themes using a language of diagrams, scientific symbols, mathematical schemes and textual interventions. Stano Filko has forged a similarly idiosyncratic cosmological system in which art is interconnected with metaphysics, spirituality and a vision of transcendental space. Works such as Cosmic Reality, 4th Dimension – Blue Chakra Cosmology, Map of the Universe and Cosmic Monument reveal Filko’s efforts to create a universal model based on spiritual energy, symbolic colour and categorical knowledge. This personal “cosmos” is not only as a physical space but primarily a realm which can be conceived mentally and spiritually, a zone of liberation. Another two artists who play a significant role in the exhibition are Juraj Bartusz and Maria Bartuszová, a couple whose divergent visual languages belie a shared preoccupation with time, space and natural processes. In his action paintings and sculptures, Juraj Bartusz explored the dynamics of movement, the energy of the interactive gesture and the transience of the creative act, while Maria Bartuszová adopted a more organic and introspective approach to space in her biomorphic sculptures. These objects are quiet meditations on growth, birth, touch and the fragility of life; often cast in plaster and created through the action of gravity on materials, they are evocative of embryos, cell structures or cosmic structures. For Bartuszová, space is more of a living organism than a geometric construction, while time manifests itself in her work through a process of material metamorphosis.
The exhibition also reveals that a fascination with the cosmos was not restricted to conceptual art alone; in the wider context of socialist Czechoslovakia, the Universe served as a symbol of escape from an ideologically sanctioned reality. The era of space exploration was heralded by propaganda extolling scientific and technological progress, but artists transformed this motif into a metaphor for freedom, the infinite and the power of the imagination. Cosmic space allowed these artists to think beyond the limits of everyday reality and to transgress the borders imposed upon them by the political system.
A special part of the exhibition is devoted to the geometric and constructive trends which examine space and time through analytical research. Milan Dobeš used optical reliefs and rotating structures to explore the visual perception of movement, light and space. His work applied kinetic effects to alter the viewer’s perspective and activate the process of seeing in an of itself. Štefan Belohradský used the principles of mathematics and cybernetics together with the laws of physics to evoke a similar effect. His sculptures and print works such as Pendulum Drawing represent the effort to visualize the invisible forces which act upon space. Surprising uses of mathematical and rational principles also appear in works by Ján Mathé and Lýdia Jergušová Vydarená, demonstrating the essential human need to name and categorize the world through numbers, symbols and models. Although currently little known, Pavel Maňka was one of the pioneering spirits of the abstract-geometric school of art which emerged in Slovakia during the 1960s; his remarkable body of work oscillates between geometric abstraction, Constructivism and his own unique visionary imagination. Despite his artistic achievements, he spent many decades on the fringes of the official art scene, working in the seclusion of his studio in Bratislava. In addition to his abiding interest in construction, geometry and space, Maňka had a life-long fascination with flight, the Universe and the idea of an “extraterrestrial” dimension of reality. The interwar works of Anton Jasusch – The Course of Life, The Spring of Life, Composition and Death / Planetary Extinction – present a highly idiosyncratic vision of a cosmic and spiritual universe in which the expressive imagination collides with existential philosophical reflections. In the 1920s, Jasusch developed a monumental sequence exploring the metaphors of birth, death and the cyclical nature of life, and this work can perhaps be seen as a foreshadowing of the cosmic tendencies which would go on to form such an important aspect of Slovak art later in the century.
The exhibition Cosmos, Space, Time, however, avoids a linear reading of art history, presenting instead the network of relationships existing between various artistic approaches, philosophical questions and visual representations of the world, together with the need to rationalize it within the context of modern history. The cosmos thus emerges as a metaphor for infinity but also for chaos; space becomes a stage on which relationships, movement and energy interact; and time serves to represent perpetual transformation, the processes of birth and death. Ultimately, the exhibition offers a reflection on one of the most ancient of human desires: the need to understand the world in which we exist and to find our own place amidst the vast realms of space and time.
Featured artists: Blažej Baláž, Juraj Bartusz, Maria Bartuszová, Štefan Belohradský, Milan Bočkay, Karol Csakó, Milan Dobeš, Orest Dubay, Alexander Eckerdt, Svetlana Fialová, Stano Filko, Daniel Fischer, František Gajdoš, Tibor Gáll, Jozef Jankovič, Anton Jasusch, Lýdia Jergušová Vydarená, Eugen Krón, Pavel Maňka, Ján Mathé, Milan Paštéka, Peter Roller, Jozef Sabol, Rastislav Sedlačík, Rudolf Sikora, Boris Sirka, Július Szabó, Adam Szentpétery, Ivan Štubňa, Miloš Urbásek, Boris Vaitovič, František Veselý
In cooperation with: Ján Koniarek Gallery, Mathé Villa and Studio Museum, Nuba Gallery, Central Slovak Gallery
