Apples Far From the Tree,
Moths to the Lamp

Studio of Fine Arts II UMPRUM

10. 4. – 3. 5. 2026
opening: 9. 4. 2026 6 PM

artists: Daniel Altera, František D’Agostino, 
Markéta Dočkalová, Tereza Hlaváčová, Kateryna Chulii, 
Emma Kabešová, Markéta Královcová, Lukáš Kropáček, 
Wan Hsuan Lu, Hana Marhounová, Radim Pergl, 
Kristýna Polivková, Julia Prochnik, Kryštof Reinisch, 
Faith Ronquest, Kristýna Rosová, Daniela Rychlá, 
Lauren Saleh, Tzuchi Su, Adéla Súkupová, 
Kateřina Šípová, Alex Švígler, Mobina Tajik, 
Anna Magdalena Tůmová, Nela Sára Uhlová, 
Alžbeta Valentová, Markéta Volková, Antonie Zichová

curators: Helena Todorová, Lenka Vítková

exhibition design: Sofie Gjuričová

1

Things are drawn into each other, forming attachments that feel inevitable. I’m interested in how that pull gathers, stitches, and refuses to let go.● When everything is terrible, I start reading again. / We build pigeon nests out of what’s left. ● I feel myself in the middle of things; in an unfinished and suspended state where a full understanding of time and place seems out of reach. A space between being and not being, between stability and change. “Non-place” here is a space where this experience takes shape; a place where the sense of belonging is deferred and meaning is still forming. Perhaps this instability is not a disruption, but one of the natural ways I exist in this moment. ● urge spreads, poisoned pull / every step heavy, tar on the floor ● It feels like i want to become this body. Not dead, just this strange comfort of being it. ● how much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck had a 9 to 5 / new purpose for his life / would he work hard or hardly work, / on his face a smile or a smirk / would this structure be an intermission to his life’s mission, / would he embrace the grindset as his most valuable asset / or would he say / just chuck it in the fuck it bucket / and leave

2

From the shoulders-by the fault of the deafening light. By chance, no one heard or saw the roll and flight? ● The book The Apple Far from the Tree tells the story of how apples spread across the world, their subsequent domestication, their journey away from home—and how such a journey can be formative. ● Moving East and West captures a moment of my sister and I playing in the living room of our childhood home. We remain close even now, each across continents and oceans from our house where the original photo still resides. ● On the path of the unknown, on the mysteries that you hope to find. To be burned by different lights, now you’re far from home. ● You’ve grown in the past, and you’re still growing now. Will I get burned if I look back, or will you accept me and we’ll bloom together? ● There are some here I love, some who fear me, and some who wish I was dead. And in midst of it all I create. ● A fairy flies at night / In the forest / Nothing is visible / Dark / Fly fly fly / He know where should go / That is the way of home ● Other people’s stories were a refuge for me. Childhood memories of movies, self-criticism, and regrets about the wasted time I spent watching TV. That’s what formed me ● Are you afraid of repeating yourself? Do you believe in future? Do you believe in revolution? Do you believe in evolution? Would you buy this? ● All light passes even through tears, and no light escapes me. When the night bus slams its doors like those who slay nightmares.

3

“If only I could decide the fate of my own fall.” – “But what is this frequency other than a long, uncontrollable fall?” ● The dance of the bones is the moment when the bones rattle, vibrate, and reassemble into a skeleton. The skeleton gets covered in flesh and transforms into a living being. ● The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree / Feet firmly on the ground / Do no harm, let no harm be done. ● The transience of relationships and moments, the awareness of their end, which is present even in moments that seem to last forever. I am interested in the tension between drawing closer and gradually drifting apart, as well as how we are shaped by experiences that did not last. ● With every approach, we come apart, just for a moment, before the weight realizes its direction. ● The further I drift away, the more it pulls me back. It binds me tightly to itself and won’t let my escape be anything other than a return. ● I wouldn’t go anywhere, even if you wanted me to, but I don’t have to go anywhere anyway. ● the sun burns on my skin. i close my eyes, but the memory lingers; i turn away, only to face my shadow.

4

The studio is an ever-changing entity, like that mythical ancient wooden ship. People come, go, return, and never return. Some of them fly. We’ve moved twice; in the end, it’s not so bad. Every exhibition brings specific values; here, they are likely courage and audacity, tolerance and tension, sadness and enthusiasm, affinities and irreconcilable differences. We continue on our journey. Along the way, it is important to remember—however banal it may seem—that we are never alone in the studio. We are always next to someone, sharing something with someone, adapting to someone, making compromises. The metaphor, which became the subject of our collective reflection on the exhibition and the starting point for the exhibited works, thus inevitably symbolizes a kind of contradictory movement: those seemingly irreconcilable differences, but also a sense of meaning arising from a shared intention. Whether we find ourselves in life or in a specific place, we may be embedded in a context that is difficult to influence, which holds doubly true in the era of capitalist surrealism. In our thinking, it was thus impossible to separate the metaphor from current political events, which contain a tragic absurdity encoded within them. The light sometimes shines in our eyes all too intrusively. Yet movement is constant, and we have no choice but to accept it as the starting point of the desired change. To move away and then draw near again. To collide with one another until a hill emerges from which we can better see the horizon.

1

Lauren Saleh ● Kateřina Šípová ● Mobina Tajik ● Alžběta Valentová ● Daniel Altera ● Markéta Královcová

2

Kateryna Chulii ● Nela Sára Uhlová ● Faith Ronguest ● Julia Prochnik ● Anna Magdalena Tůmová ● Radim Pergl ● Tzuchi Su ● Markéta Volková ● Markéta Dočkalová ● Tereza Hlaváčová

3

Lukáš Kropáček ● Adéla Súkupová ● Kryštof Reinisch ● Daniela Rychlá ● Hana Marhounová ● Kristýna Rosová ● Antonie Zichová ● Alex Švígler

4

Lenka Vítková and Helena Todorová

The program of the Jeleni Gallery is possible through kind support of Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Prague City Council, State Fund of Culture of the Czech Republic, City District Prague 7, 
GESTOR – The Union for the Protection of Authorship
Partners: Art Hotel Praha
Thanks: Joinmusic
Media partners: ArtMap, jlbjlt.net