Roman Ondak

• Taka Ishii Gallery, Kyoto (JP)
• 14.11.–27.12.2025

Roman Ondak is a conceptual artist whose practice blends everyday rituals with subtle interventions that are shaped by his childhood experiences during Communism in former Czechoslovakia and observations of the ongoing social and political changes that have followed since his country began its transformation into a democracy. Drawing on anthropological curiosity, he creates installations and sculptures that explore social structures and everyday life. His participatory performances invite viewer interactions, transforming ordinary experiences into poetic reflections on time, presence, and collective behavior. Through his work, Ondak creates thought-provoking situations that reveal how meaning is constructed socially, encouraging audiences to reconsider their roles within shared environments.

The works presented in this exhibition are composed of elements extracted from the artist’s immediate surroundings, such as his studio or home in Bratislava. They have been transformed, deconstructed, or reconfigured, and then placed in the exhibition space in a manner that deviates from their original purposes. These objects, originating from distant lands, are recontextualized within a traditional Japanese machiya; some blend in as if they have been originally there, while others, stripped of their functionality, appear as alien presences that prompt viewers to question why they are there. In any case, when one’s personal experiences and memories enter into these material interventions—carrying the history of the artist and his living environment—the potential for creating new narratives emerges. The suggestive titles of works such as “Swapped Roles” or “Sitting Door” also encourage this act with a certain humor.

Taka Ishii Gallery