346 PROJECT

"During 2019, we sent three artists to the communities, to the people from the street and to the offices. They had a simple task. Take pictures of the most diverse group of people and ask them what culture means to them. The 346 portraits gradually appeared on the official website of Almázia Štiavnica: City of Culture 2019 and at the end of 2019 we premiered them in the PARTER BSC gallery in the form of three lightboxes . The opening date just before Christmas was a symbolic opportunity to invite all 346 portraits to one place and personally hand over the photo from the project to their own hands.

The resulting collection is an image and text probe - in mining terminology an exploratory well. Although it presents only a small sample of people, we learn from their answers that even the most inconspicuous inhabitants of the city live their cultural lives. When they don't go to galleries, cinemas or concerts, they play folklore, play sports or read. They perceive the need to protect monuments, nature and cultivation of family traditions. From many answers feel a deeper to philosophical relationship to the city. At the same time, it does not matter at all that Štiavnica is not a hometown for many. The relationship with the city is often cultivated through art and culture. At the end of the Štiavnica year of Almasia, we find out that it is not so bad with the inhabitants of the town and the surrounding villages. Although we are from different paths, it connects us all (cultural) Štiavnica."

- Svätopluk Mikyta and Zuzana Bodnárová (Banská St a nica Contemporary)