The lighting object of Patrik Ševčík opens a discussion about authentic moral values and attitudes in times of a social crisis. The content of the neon sign redefines the discussion about the anticipation of moral misery present in the emotional control of reactions to evaluations of morality and moral competence. It is a process where the visual stimulus supports the consolidation of moral attitudes in the viewer and the receptive visitor can renew his self-image.

The illuminated inscription MORAL MISERY draws the entire space of the Gallery above the Staircase to the level of meaning. The stairs acquire the significance of the participating object. They have an expressive value and are a direct part of the work. It is a situation – the position of recontextualising space using authentic creative principles.

Through his activities, Patrik Ševčík proves that he has direct contact with discursive thinking, theorising or philosophical constructions and critical thinking supported by interesting, systematic and long-term cultivated knowledge. It is an activity that we also call a conceptually coherent action on the visual scene.

He responds thematically to the current complex and changing situation of the globalised world and the conscious unprecedented crisis, in which common values, concepts and category boundaries are being undermined. His work can be understood as questioning the idea of the possibility of a comprehensive control of the environment through its description and categorisation.

The ubiquitous pollution of our reality is a subject that Ševčík has been dealing with since his early work. He voices criticism and urgent appeal to our civilisation, pointing out the many errors in a system where we do not live in isolation but in union.

In the second – third plan, Ševčík’s work raises a question: What role does the subject of catastrophe or anticipation play that something like this could happen in the creative life? Can we say that the extinction and proximity of problems in us activates positive forces, light energy and overall vitality – a desire to live and depict?

The illuminated inscription MORAL MISERY in the specific spaces of the Gallery above the Staircase provokes the movement and counter movement of thinking about values and attitudes.

Róbert Makar