SITE-SPECIFIC INSTALLATION BY PETR BAŘINKA

The Kabinet T Gallery, located in Building 32 of the Zlín Factory Complex, held its last event in its current space under the title MODUS OPERANDI. The term modus operandi is used by criminologists to denote a personal method of committing a crime. It’s akin to a fingerprint—a recognizable signature, an unmistakable style by which the perpetrator can be identified. The modus operandi of art enthusiasts involves creating counter-networks, autonomous zones, and the sudden disappearance and reappearance in the system's cracks. The event MODUS OPERANDI was a transformation of this closing space. Bařinka worked there for an entire week, allowing interested visitors to observe the process at various stages, which were also documented photographically. The final installation culminated at the moment of the opening.

Originally, MODUS OPERANDI was intended to be a joint project between two artists, Petr Bařinka and Pavel Strnad. However, a tragic event disrupted its preparation. One of the artists, Pavel Strnad, unexpectedly ended his life (1977–2012). As a result, the original concept was transformed into Bařinka’s spatial installation, incorporating drawings from the estate of his late friend. The event became an expression of grief and a tribute to his memory.

Bařinka covered an entire room with dark paintings that guide us through the hidden side of the world. It is an inverted world—capsized ships, overturned cars and buses, and crashed planes. In terms of form, this painting could be classified among works of global artists sometimes referred to as “doomsday art”. It might remind some of Gondry’s playful "disastrology" from The Science of Sleep. Themes of doomsday, the Last Judgment, or apocalypse represent not only a subject matter but also a specific dynamism of forms. This can be seen in The Last Judgment by Hieronymus Bosch, The Triumph of Death by Pieter Bruegel, or more recently in works by the Chapman Brothers or Douglas Gordon. There is always a grotesque inversion of expected forms. The carnival-like mutation of bodies and matter reminds us of the fragility of the human world, evoking both fear and laughter.

It seems that Petr Bařinka chose a playful form for his modus operandi, enabling him to process even the most tragic events of our lives. In contrast to the monumental yet reverent black-gray painting, Pavel Strnad’s small drawings were incorporated into the space, creating a dialogue between the two artists—a dialogue that, sadly, is no longer possible.

The second gallery room was white in contrast and featured Strnad’s black drawings. Bařinka interwove these drawings with an irregular horizontal network of black threads, creating a crystalline landscape or rhizome. Viewers had to navigate the threads to see the drawings. Strnad increasingly moved from a world of dreamlike and fantastical figures to their mutations. This gesture could be interpreted as the process of “becoming other, becoming animal” (as discussed by Deleuze and Guattari). In his later drawings, the dissolution of forms took shape, replaced by abstract lines. It was as though the disappearance of form itself became the content. His expression culminated in rhythmic lines and clouds charged with physical and mental energy. This desire to escape form suggests that for the artist, it might have been better to "desire nothing than to not desire at all." The aesthetics of disappearance ultimately led to the disappearance of the artist himself. The drawings inadvertently became a message about his vanishing.

The MODUS OPERANDI installation, as a whole, became a poignant memento. It will remain on display until the end of August 2012.

Michal Tošner
Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Arts, University of West Bohemia.