FIRMA: Blue Mauritius

The group FIRMA – Michal Cimala, Jan Kaláb, Martin Krajc, Matěj Olmer, Pasta Oner, Michal Škapa, Karel Štědrý – was founded on 12/12/2019 near Prague's Stromovka in the Lokál restaurant due to the need of its members to revise romanticized ideas about the character and roles of contemporary visual the author in order to reinvent the artist's credible and dignified starting position. In the founding manifesto of the group it is written: "In the gears of accelerating capitalism, there is not much space left for the artist to humanize the social order through his work and to cultivate social dynamics by stimulating upbringing, education and care." both between authors and market-institutional mechanisms, as well as between artists. Individually introduced authors then replace mutual competition with cooperation models, collective decision-making and elements of corporate culture. At the same time, through the implementation of marketing thinking and entrepreneurial spirit, it aims to create a unique, rare artistic unit that goes beyond the traditional concept of artistic groups. In this collaborative perspective, they plan the entire scenario of their Blue Mauritius.

Mánes Gallery
25 | 10 — 9 | 11 2023
Curator: Pavel Kubesa
Production: Oldřich Pátek
Graphic design: Patrik Svoboda
Installation: Matěj Landa & Co.
Photos: Ondřej Polák, Martin Schubert, Petr Skalský, Martin Polák, Alžběta Jungrová
Print: Tiskárna Helbich, a. s.
Published by: Spolek FIRMA.WTF © 2023, Prague
© Michal Cimala, Jan Kaláb, Martin Krajc, Matěj Olmer, Pasta Oner, Michal Škapa, Karel Štědrý
ISBN 978-80-908562-1-9