"Gates of the Underground – Touching Space through Passage and Reflection; Vlastimil Beránek" Exhibition brings together a special selection of crystal sculptures by Czech sculptors Vlastimil Beránek and Jaroslav Prošek in the magical atmosphere of the Basilica Cistern. The exhibition, structured around themes of the underground, perception of reality, mythology, reflection, and transition, is inspired by philosopher Plato’s allegory of the cave, where people chained inside a cave perceive the shadows of objects reflected from the cave's entrance as reality. Vlastimil Beránek's glass works, focusing on the past and present, interact with the water and stone texture of the cistern, blending into the dynamic reflection spaces created by the cistern's play of water and light through color and reflection. Jaroslav Prošek’s works, on the other hand, take the viewer back in time to approximately 6,000 years ago, when the first glass was produced in Mesopotamia, meeting the semi-fossil oak wood material from the same period, raising questions about ourselves, collective memory, and the present moment.
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