Initium Metamorphosis - The Mystery of the Origins

The exhibition Initium Metamorphosis, subtitled The Mystery of the Origins, explores reflections on the very beginning — the moment when the inanimate gives rise to the animate, when matter organises itself into structures, and when consciousness is born. Rather than being a mere clash between science and art, old and new, it is the merging of these elements into a single entity that we call the world. We can understand the origin of the world as a chemical and physical synthesis resulting in an infinite number of shapes, colours, questions and possibilities.

The project stems from a dialogue between two complementary yet different approaches. Oldřich Th. Uttendorfský's collection and the work of photographer Jan Dotřel. Uttendorfský's collection preserves fascinating objects that bear witness to the human presence and imagination, reflecting an attempt to understand the world through artefacts. In response to these historical and cultural sequences, Dotřel creates photographs that transcend the framework of documentation, opening up new layers of meaning — from hypotheses and scientific theories to imaginative speculation. Together, their work demonstrates that science and art are not separate entities, but rather converging streams that feed into a single river of knowledge.

The viewer is taken on a voyage through an imaginary timeline, from the early universe and the formation of stars and planets to the genesis of life on Earth and speculative scenarios of artificial intelligence as a new form of existence. At the heart of the exhibition are the original Magion space probe bodies, which are part of the former Czechoslovak space programme. Their shape, a rhombicuboctahedron, connects technical genius with the history of geometry, from Pacioli and Leonardo da Vinci to Kepler.

The exhibition explores various hypotheses about the origin of life, including panspermia — the theory that life was transferred from space to Earth — and the bolder idea of a "controlled dispatch" by another civilisation. It revisits ancient creation myths involving water, chaos, clay or dust, and these can be seen as parallels to modern theories about the role of crystals or hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor. It also recalls the ancient Egyptian belief that the Nile was a source of 'life from non-life', as well as modern astrobiological speculation about the existence of oceans on Europa or Enceladus.

The motif of metamorphosis, or transformation, runs through the exhibition, from Ovid's Pygmalion to the question of whether humans will become creators of new forms of life in the form of artificial intelligence. From Frankenstein's 'fallen angel' to the imminent moment when AI will pass the Turing test, we must ask: how will this new species view its creator?

Initium Metamorphosis is a site-specific project for the newly opened Sloupový sál gallery on Sněmovní Street, combining art, science and collecting. Rather than providing definitive answers, the exhibition offers a space for imagination where geology, biology, mathematics, mythology, technology, and spirituality converge. It is an attempt to grasp the mystery of beginnings, while also serving as a reminder that every beginning is a metamorphosis in itself.