Amalka Ľudmila Valenčíková graduated from the Faculty of Arts TU in Košice in the studio of prof. Juraj Bartusz. PO-RY’s light and sound installation is a demonstration of her natural abilities to work in space using light and typically feminine, soft materials (textiles – textile fibers, lace, batting…). The author created an interactive scene. We walk through it with the compulsive feeling of touching delicate hanging lace with our hands.
They usually decorate women’s underwear and refer to the intimate female world. The installation is also reminiscent of canopies in a children’s room, which give children a sense of security in the dark. Through an opening copying the shape of a being, it is possible to pass from the outside of the installation to the inside, into a hanging intimate interior space, which we could perceive as a shelter from the outside world. A closed space surrounds us and inside it we experience pleasant feelings from warm light, gentle touch and sound. The passage of the viewer from the inner space through the opening to the outside evokes prenatal associations. We explore the work of Amalka Ľudmila not only by engaging the visual sense, but also by listening and feeling the soft space. In order to explore the work, the viewer must enter it. He is surrounded by the work and his perception becomes the center of attention. When entering the installation, the viewer takes off his clothes as before entering the temple, he takes off his clothes as when he comes home, to his privacy. Taking off our shoes in a public space is an added value for us, because we can feel much more barefoot, we can explore the warm, soft surface not only with our hands, but also with our feet. Looking up in one of the hanging objects evokes the moon and the lunar cycle. The lamps in the darkness resemble the starry sky, the transparent veils evoke ideas of a mysterious underwater world with luminous jellyfish… The work engages the audience, evokes emotions in all age groups, laymen and art-trained visitors to the exhibition.
Eva Čarnoká
