invites you and your friends to 
the exhibition   
 
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS: 
Central European Video Art 
(from the Czech and 
Slovak Republics, Poland and Hungary)
Guest Curated by Viera 
Levitt
Main Gallery, Fine Arts 
Center Galleries
University of Rhode Island, 105 Upper College Rd, 
Kingston
January 24 - February 10, 2008
Artists: Pavlina Fichta Cierna (b. 
1967, Slovakia), Milena Dopitova (b. 1963, Czech Republic), Hajnal Nemeth (b. 
1972, Hungary, lives and works in Berlin), Katerina Seda (b. 1977, Czech 
Republic), Artur Zmijewski (b. 1966, Poland)
& Historic Kingston Train Station, Amtrak 
Waiting Room
January 16 - February 10
Artist: Pavel Mrkus (b. 
1970, Czech Republic)
Public Closing Reception with Remarks by the Curator: Sunday, 
February 10th  2 - 4 pm
 
The Fine Arts Center Galleries at the University of Rhode Island presents 
a video art program dedicated to contemporary works created by five prominent 
Central European artists. In this exhibition, Guest curator Viera Levitt, 
attempting to find themes within the art of this region that are deeply human and capable of resonating 
with the American public, has emphasized stories of vulnerability and 
fragility. 
An innovative part of this exhibition is the showing of the video work 
"Seagull" (2005, 4 min.) by Pavel Mrkus, in the Historic Kingston Train 
Station, Amtrak Waiting Room, beginning January 16. Partners of this 
complementary program are the Friends of the Kingston Station and Amtrak. A Program Guide accompanies the 
exhibitions at both sites.
Complementing the video exhibition, the Corridor Gallery showcases Staged 
Photographs by a leading photographer from the Slovak Republic, Pavel Pecha 
(January 28 - February 28, 2008).
 
The video exhibition is guest curated by Independent Curator Viera Levitt 
(formerly Jancekova). She is a native Slovak who moved to Rhode Island two years 
ago. From 1997-2005 Viera Levitt was director/curator of the contemporary art 
showcase, Jan Koniarek Gallery, located in the historic town of Trnava. She was 
the youngest director ever in a public art museum in the Slovak Republic. Levitt 
has curated or co-curated more than 30 exhibitions in Slovakia, the Czech 
Republic, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg and the USA.  
Special thanks
 
In New York: Apexart, 
Czech Center, Hungarian Cultural Institute, Anne Arden McDonald, Polish 
Institute, and Steven Rand; in Rhode Island: Jo-Ann Conklin, David Winton Bell 
Gallery, Brown University, Courthouse Center for the Arts, West Kingston, 
Friends of Kingston Station, Kingston, and Mini Grant, The Rhode Island 
Foundation, Providence 
 
More information and the press 
release: http://www.uri.edu/artgalleries
Reviewers: To download images for press 
purposes or the pdf version of the poster, please visit 
http://www.vieralevitt.org/uri.htmMain Gallery, Fine Arts Center Galleries University of Rhode 
Island, 105 Upper College Rd, Kingston
Phone: 874.2775. Gallery hours are 
T-F, 12 noon - 4 pm & Sat. - Sun., 1:00 - 4:00 pm; Corridor Gallery hours 
are daily, 9 am - 9 pm.
To arrange group tours please contact us at 
401.874.9628 or facgalls@etal.uri.edu
Historic Kingston Train Station's Amtrak Waiting Room is open daily 
during train service.