Jakub Jansa: The Garden of Problems

The first floor of gothic Stone Bell House, is dedicated to Jakub Jansa’s Garden of Problems project, which for the first time brings together episodes from the Club of Opportunities series, dating from 2017 to the present. Viewers visit the gallery instead of “Netflixing.” The Garden of Problems show  presents seven successive episodes in seven halls, which together form a complex story.The series thematizes social issues of our time and raises questions about authority and cultural and class relationships. Underprivileged entities turn into elites and vice versa, with new opportunities arising during this transformation. Each episode creates situations between reality and fiction, gradually revealing the story through video, objects, set design and acting performance.

Club of Opportunities – episode 2: April Showers Bring May Flowers, 2018
(the episode presents “The Problem with Losing the Vision of the Future”), video 4K, 16:9, 10′

We follow the character of the Seer (Oracle), who has no vision of the future anymore and feels anxious. We witness the Seer touching all celeriacs and giving them tattoos with socially
beneficial functions. The form of a confessional interview is complemented by emotional, music-tinged interludes, as the Seer tattoos the celeriacs with the names of various positively perceived occupations or rather functions or destinies. A deconstruction of storytelling in relation to expected role choices and expected scenarios is at the core of the work.

Club of Opportunities – episode 3: My Name Is Red Herring, 2018
(the episode presents “The Problem with Black Magic”), video, 4K, 8′

The character of the Red Herring, a hybrid creature between a human and a celeriac, is introduced. And now he’s challenging his origin, i.e., revolting against the Seer. He discovers that mythology is mere narrative. By taking control of this narrative, he can steer it in a different direction. He leaves his safe place within the myth to enter the battlefield and fight on a political level. He finds his own individuality and becomes a dark-side influencer

Club of Opportunities – episode 5: Keeping in Line, 2018

Red Herring works in an avocado bar, where he compares himself to elites—the avocados. He wants to become part of the higher vegesociety. In the process, he must undergo an insulting
battle with his inner self. He doubts himself and experiences an identity crisis.

Club of Opportunities – episode 7: Shame to Pride, 2021
(the episode presents “The Rooting Problem”), three-channel video, 20′

We observe the celerist in yet another surprising situation – he gains status in the vegesociety and is invited into avocado circles. However, he cannot internally relate to this new social
class. At the same time, he has already made a break with the environment from which he emerged. He experiences an intense sense of rootlessness and can only be relieved by class and social coming out. He founds a movement for uprooted vegetables.

Club of Opportunities – episode 8: Opening Ceremony, 2022
(the episode presents “The Problem with Art in Service”), video, 4K, 10′

In the position of the hot vegetable of the season, the celerist is invited to speak at the Flower Union’s gala event. The supernatural figure of the Seer, no longer able to predict the future, takes over the second part of the programme and activates the decorative flowers in an eco-sexual celebratory ritual. The Seer shows the plants that if they put their pistils and calyxes together, they can reach out to the public and change the course of things. So let’s hope that the ability to see into the future returns again.

Author and director: Jakub Jansa
Collaborators: Kamil Nábělek,  Kryštof Hlůže, Karolína Juříková, Oliver Torr, Dominik Dabrowski, Alice Krajčiříková, Sebastian Kučkovský, Iryna Drahun, Matěj Martinec, Kryštof Hlůže, Eliška Pitráková, Nicolas Atcheson, Růst Cakes Performance: Jan Kostiha, Ester Geislerová., Kamil Nábělek,
Trin Alt Vajd, Mark.ta VuTru, Dexton Kotora, Katsuhiro Iwashita, Veronika Čechmánková., Jakub Samek, Zai Xu, Linda Vondrová., Rokhaya Gueye, Anita Lubadika, Adéla Sobotková., Mary Nguyen, Linh Nguyen, Agáta Hrnčířová.


Book annotation:
https://www.umprum.cz/en/web/for-public/publishing/club-of-opportunities-the-garden-of-problems

Annotation: The book uncovers the themes addressed in the Club of Opportunities, an episodic project created by artist Jakub Jansa, starring hybrid human-vegetable creatures who question authority and cultural and class relationships. Through the texts of the invited authors (Michal Novotný, Julie Béna, Kamil Nábělek, Noemi Purkrábková, Jozef Mrva Jr., Ernestyna Orlowska, Klára Vlasáková, Jan Bělíček), we get to the bottom of multiple problems – with celeriac ontology, black magic, humour, losing vision of the future and especially with taking root.

Title: Club of Opportunities: The Garden of Problems
Subtitle:
Original title: Club of Opportunities: The Garden of Problems
Original subtitle:
Book language: English-Czech edition
Author: Jakub Jansa
Designed by: Robert Jansa, Petr Bosák, Martin Groch
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-88308-55-3
Selling price: 550 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 276
PDF BOOK: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1oZQK1MS1nse45g0uIuzHpjVOoIjlsw3F?usp=sharing