NESTEX - Baroque and Gothic Exhibition, Slovak National Gallery

NESTEX is the first major exhibition of a vast collection of Gothic and Baroque art from sculptures to paintings, many of which have yet not been on display to the public.

The concept of the exhibition is based on a narrative thread of spatial experiences through which the diverse collection of artefacts comes alive, creating an interactive and continuous landscape.

Emphasis is put on sensory experience, stimulating the visitor to engage in the stories that revolve around each artefact. The moment of anticipation is created through spatial and optical illusion, working with light and shadow, contrast, materiality and careful sequencing of objects.

The exhibition narrative evolves through a sequence of six themes, observing the artefacts from different perspectives. The first is entitled "psychology, expression and pain", the second explores the opposites in "character and individual", the following two spaces are dedicated to "space and illusion" and "light", leading the visitor to the last expressive themes of the sequence "body and gesture" and "life and death".

Inspiration for the concept comes from Gothic and Baroque architecture, in which art formed an integral part of the multilayered spatial experience.