Rudolfinum Gallery
Iván Argote: Radical Tenderness
June 12, 2025 – September 7, 2025
Presence that changes
A visit to this exhibition will resonate with us for a long time. In the beautiful halls of Rudolfinum, Iván Argote's conceptual art works as a huge contrast.
Argote transforms public monuments and memorial sites into space that shows that history can also be read differently. He draws attention to social inequalities and children's rights in countries like Colombia, where he was born. He lives in Paris and narrated several very emotional videos in French, whose intimacy and power stay under the skin.
And that garden in the middle of the hall? With fragments of bronze casts of historical statues. Argote strips them of symbolic power and transforms them into fertile soil for further growth. I supported him by buying a pink T-shirt with Radical Tenderness inscription – an artifact from a place where new soil was being created for the soul.
Art is not just an image, but a gateway that leads inside. That contrast between the monumental architecture of Rudolfinum and the fragile strength of Radical Tenderness is like breath in a temple.
Instead of dominance – shared space
Iván Argote highlights the fact that public space doesn't have a fixed purpose. It should be defined by how people inhabit it, how they move through it, stop, love, grieve. This is revolution. Silent, but all the deeper. The city is not concrete – it is relationship.
That's why it resonates with us. That's why it will remain.
Radical tenderness is strength that doesn't break, but changes.