Summary Ateliér No. 14 – 15, July 10, 2008

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Příspěvek k pražskému trienále, page 1

– Edith Jeřábková: Comments on the Prague Triennale (International Triennale of Contemporary Art. Re-Reading the Future, Praha, Národní galerie – Veletržní palác / National Gallery – Trade-Fair Palace, 3.6. – 14. 9.)

Corresponding to the way Milan Knížák directs the National Gallery in Prague, the concept of the International Triennale of Contemporary Art (ITCA) differs from “contemporary culture’s stereotypes”. First, to make a difference from the “rival” Praguebiennale (see At. No. 14-15/05), the biennial exhibition of contemporary art organized by the National Gallery in Prague (see At. No. 16-17/05) has been turned to the International Triennale of Contemporary Art. The cardinal theme of ITCA is otherness, marginality and non-artistic aspects of contemporary art. This type of the curatorial altruism is not new; actually, it has become a cliché. Unfortunately, the elimination of celebrities from ITCA has not been replaced by a focused view. Personal and / or local themes are often presented in pathetic and programmic forms. Globalization was replaced by frustration. If the whole ITCA be as good as the section curated by Oliver Zybok, nobody would miss the “stars” of contemporary art, Jeřábková thinks. The level of particular sections is incoherent, unconvincing and dull, resulting in utter quantity. According to Jeřábková, dissertations by this year’s graduates from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, displayed at the Trade-Fair Palace, could be presented within ITCA very well. She thinks that some contributions to the triennale catalogue are interesting, evidencing the curators’ insight in the problems of contemporary art, but with few exceptions, the particular sections do not correspond to the high level of theoretical background. She thinks that this year’s theme – Re-Reading the Future – could be interpreted in a more thought-provoking way. The accompanying theme of Mobility, presented throughout all sections, is disturbing and out-dated regarding the ideas and works on display both. The few exceptions are Pavla Sceranková, George Hladík and Gabriel Garcia. Jeřábková’s negative impressions were stressed by the level of architectonic installation, technical failures, inaccuracies in the exhibition tags, insufficient information etc. Jeřábková suggests her “brief guide” to the outstanding parts of ITCA: the section The Aesthetics of Resemlances curated by Oliver Zybok (Germany), the section The Clearing curated by Pascal Beausse (France) and particular artworks from other sections – Jan Jakub Kotík and Denisa Lehocká (the section curated by Daniela Balit), Elke Krystufek (the section curated by Pilvi Kalhama), Titus Thabisi and an another, mostly unknown artist in the section curated by Milan Knížák. The extensive section Somewhere between Re-Reading and Recycling the Future, curated by the director of the Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Gallery in Prague Tomáš Vlček, seems to swallow up all other artists. The total diversity has missed the mark. Or is it a refined way how to return chaos in curatorial activities?

Umění jako mozaika a individuální odpovědnost autora, page 2

– Jiří Valoch: Art as a Mosaic and the Artist’s Individual Responsibility (exhibition of contemporary Czech and Slovak art New Zlín Salon, Zlín, Krajská galerie výtvarného umění – Dům umění, 2. poschodí zlínského zámku, 12. budova továrního areálu / Regional Gallery of Fine Arts – House of Art, Second floor of Zlín Castle, 12. building of Factory Area, 13. 5. – 7. 9.)

Co-curating the exhibition The Youngest (see At. Nos 19, 22/03, 2/04), Valoch titled his contribution to the exhibition catalogue Art as a Mosaic in expressing the fact that contemporary art had turned individually particularized in contrast to the dominance of major trends in the past. He asks questions what caused the current situation and how it is reflected in the 5th edition of the New Zlín Salon (NZS). He does not want to question the linear positivistic interpretation of the history of art but to contemplate the current state of things and their roots. The shift in the paradigm, questioning the premise that successive tendencies in art corresponded to exploring particular problems, is generally associated with the emergence of post-Modernity. Post-Modernity was the last trend that concerted with the Modern postulate of artistic “truth”. The slogans like “anything goes” and “more is much better than less” echoed the rejection of the “sacred” ideals of Modernity. Valoch stresses that post-Modernity emerged in the world still divided into the West and the East. Thanks to post-Modernity, the medium of paintings came back to prominence. The principle of “anything goes” encouraged the opening of Pandora’s box that resulted in sophisticated intellectual games with the kitsch. Concerning the New Zlín Salon, Valoch finds cardinal that NZS pays rightly attention to the Czech and Slovak scenes regardless whether particular artists live and work in the centre or “peripheries”. Valoch, who was a co-curator of NZS, thinks that the jury of experts, invited by the director of the Regional Gallery of Fine Arts Zlín Ludvík Ševeček, made their best; the only obstacle to presenting the Czech and Slovak scenes in a representative way was the limited exhibition spaces. He holds opinion that the number of participating artists could be doubled. The 5th edition of NZS evidences that there is a spectrum of types of art, ranging from rational and geometric to expressive, in the Czech and Slovak scene. The 5th edition of NZS presents Czech and Slovak art adequately “from the western border of the Czech Republic to East Slovakia”. All types of art and all generations of artists are represented by outstanding achievements. Valoch was particularly impressed by the Pilsen based artists Václav Malina, Květa Monhartová and Václav Sika, the České Budějovice based artist Eva Prokopcová, the Ústí nad Labem based artist Jiří Kubový, the Liberec based artist Jan Stolín. Valoch thinks that due to the post-Modern postulate “anything goes”, every artist is individually responsible for his / her contributions to the rich mosaic of contemporary art.

Mystery of Beauty – Festival Sudet, page 4

– Dita Hálová and Amarant: Mystery of Beauty – The Festival of the Sudeten (Festival of the Former Sudeten, Šternberk, bývalý augustiniánský klášter / former Augustinian monastery, 25. 4. – 3. 8.)

The theme of this year’s edition of the Festival of Former Sudeten 2008, organized by the Handke Civic Association, was Beauty and the Sudeten. (The Sudeten is the historical name of the border region in North-West Bohemia.) Young artists from Poland, the Czech Republic, Italy, Romania and Slovakia (Maria Mazur-Cicha, Joanna Wójcik, Miro Hric, Petr Ficaj, Dita Hálová, Pavel Karous, Marta Pavlíková, Radka Procházková, Richard Rameš, Lukáš Urbanec) participated in FFS 2008. The participating artists explored the theme of beauty from various aspects ranging from the land- and cityscapes through geometry to the man. The participants are connected more by their friendship (many of them studied at the Faculty of Art and Design Ústí nad Labem and / or are members of the loose artists’ association Amarant) rather then the common theme of Beauty and the Sudeten. Despite it, the exhibition is an impressive and coherent project.

FAMU si hraje v GAMU, page 4

– Jindra Tichá: FAMU plays at GAMU (exhibition, Praha, Galerie Akademie múzických umění – Hartigovský palác / Gallery of Academy of Performing Arts – Hartig Palace, 20. 5. – 13. 6.)

The new gallery at the Academy of Performing Arts (GAMU) was opened with the exhibition of twelve students at the Department of Still Photography of the Film and TV School Prague (FAMU). The exhibition title GAME resulted from a pun. The exhibition, curated by Helena Musilová, presented a spectrum of students’ works ranging from classical documentary photographs through staged images to works based on the Conceptual principles.

Výstava diplomantů Fakulty umění Ostravské univerzity, page 4

– Tomáš Knoflíček: The Exhibition of This Year’s Graduates from the Faculty of Arts at the Ostrava University (exhibition, Ostrava, GVU – Dům umění, Nová síň v Porubě / Gallery of Fine Arts – House of Art, New Hall in Poruba, 10. 6. – 5. 7.)

Appointed recently to directorship at the Gallery of Fine Arts (GFA) in Ostrava, Jiří Jůza declared he would promote young art. He started with the presentation of this year’s graduates from the Faculty of Arts in Ostrava. A solo exhibition of a graduate selected for the Start Point contest will be held at GFA, Jůza promised. Artists working with the classical media were dominant among this year’s graduates. Pavlína Konvičná presented a series of paintings entitled Niños – La Familia Real, alluding to Goya’s famous canvas. Works by Nikola Kostková were inspired by Patrick Süskind’s novel. Jana Kubicová contributed to the Bad Painting type. The myth was the cardinal theme in works by Václav Rodek. Eva Kráslová examined the subconscious imports. Veronika Motyková explored the gender problems. Olga Mohelníková reflected culture of the concrete residential areas in an ironic way. David Prokel’s work had the form of a pictorial diary reflecting his journeys. Drawings of ritual masks by Jan Fiala were like an outsider installation. The theme of digital prints and a video film by Barbara Moldrzyková was the future apocalypse. Jiří Máslik’s series of narrative paintings were like monumental comics. Petr Kincl’s complex structures in-between graphic art, video installation and object were distinguished in playfulness. Tereza Ručková’s light object of translucent foils evoked introspection. Luboš Vašut and Aleš Brunclík contributed by refined prints.

Karel Maria Chotek: Fotografie, page 5

– Jan Mlčoch – Jan Vaca: Karel Maria Chotek: Photographs (exhibition, Praha, Galerie Josefa Sudka / Josef Sudek Gallery, 5. 6. – 31. 8.)

Many members of the noble house of Chotek shared the love for photography. The count Karel Maria Chotek (1853 – 1926) was a founding figure in photography in Bohemia. He started photographing in the 1880s. The themes of his staged photographs were members of his family; he contributed by portraits of aristocrats and genre photographs taken in the countryside and during his journeys abroad. From 1891 onwards, he was a member of the Camera Club Vienna. He participated in photographic exhibitions in London, Berlin, Munich and Hamburg. After the Chotek family’s castle of Velké Březno had been confiscated by the Czechoslovak state in 1945, his photographic heritage was being found lost until several suitcases stuffed with vintage prints were discovered at the Chateau Líčkov in 2002. A part of the collection is preserved at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague.

Petr Velkoborský, page 5

– Václav Podestát: Petr Velkoborský (exhibition, Ostrava, Divadlo Jiřího Myrona – Galerie Opera / Jiří Myron Theatre – Opera Gallery, 5. 6. – 22. 6.)

Petr Velkoborský (1938, see At No. 7/06) graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics; he started photographing thanks to his scientific research at the Academy of Sciences. He was particularly focused on exponometry. Since his study at the Institute of Creative Photography in Opava (1985 – 1988) he has contributed systematically to a spectrum of photographic types ranging from the still-life and the landscape to the portrait. Since 1999 he has taken a series of portraits of people who left the city for the countryside (Life Style – Escapes / Returns). The set of photographs on display in Ostrava consisted of works from the “cine-film” and “square” periods; the two types differed regarding the format but the motifs were similar in accenting the visual metaphors. Perceiving Velkoborský’s refined works is conditioned by the active participation of a sensitive spectator.

8 GEN, page 5

– Blanka Poláková: 8 GEN (exhibition, Praha, Trafačka / Transformer Station Gallery, 9. 6. – 29. 6.)

Seven female artists and one male artist participated in the photographic exhibition entitled 8 GEN. The theme of the project was imprints of man in the world. Pavel Mára (1951) replaced the expressive colour figures by a reduced scale of colours and succinct forms. Depicting a newborn baby in empty space, his large-scale prints on canvas evoked paintings. Veronika Bromová (1966) kept exploring the genre themes. She contributed by staged photographs, depicting herself pregnant in a dreamy forest paradise. Jitka Teubalová (1975) portrayed the contemporary mother in a Madonna-like way. The theme of technically perfect prints by Markéta Dlouhá Márová (1978) was the complex relationships in families of divorced parents. Nadia Rovderová (1971) contributed by two lightboxes with nine studies of children’s eyes. Dorota Sadovská (1973) focused on the structure of abdominal skin, traumatizing the woman after the childbirth. The video film by Radka Doležalová Pavlíková (1979) depicted the “domestic still-lifes” characteristic of the life-style of a mother with little children. The self-portraits of Julie Štybnarová (1976) explored the shifts in the female mind and body caused by pregnancy. Distinguished in the aesthetic dimension, the works on display contributed to the current sociological examinations and photographic experiments.

Poslední bazének, page 6

– Lenka Sýkorová: The Last Bathing Pool (exhibition, Praha, Galerie Altán Klamovka / Clam Summer-House Gallery, 12. 6. – 6. 7.)

A series of photographs entitled The Last Bathing Pool by Hana Kalvachová (1978) depicts the photographer’s schoolmates at the Institute of Creative Photography in Opava. Kalvachová had taken the snapshots during the last meeting with her schoolmates and teachers before she graduated. Echoing the free and easy atmosphere, The Last Bathing Pool project is also nostalgic in heralding a watershed in the photographer’s life.

K a K a Skrvny, page 6

– Jan Zálešák: K & K and Stains (exhibition, Praha, Futura, 28. 5. – 31. 8.)

A year-long series of intergenerational exhibitions at Futura, curated by Alberto di Stefano, started with the Ivan Kafka (1952) and Tomáš Svoboda (1974) exhibition (see At. No. 8/08). The project goes on with the joint installation Stains by Jiří Kovanda (1953, see At. Nos 2, 18/91, 9, 15-16/93, 2/95, 2, 23/97, 3, 5/98, 6, 23/99, 24/01, 7, 18/02, 4, 5, 6/03, 13/04, 5, 14-15/05, 7, 13, 21/06, 2, 4, 12, 13, 14-15, 24/07, 1, 2, 5, 7, 10/08) and Eva Koťátková (1982, see At. Nos 1, 6, 9, 12/05, 4, 10, 11, 12, 13, 24/07, 6, 10/08). In contrast to the asymmetrical character of the previous exhibition dominated markedly by Kafka’s installation, the installation by Kovanda and Koťátková is collaborative. The exhibition offers rich sensual impressions. The two artists worked with “eatable” ready-mades such as raisins, nuts, cinnamon etc. A special kind of ready-made is a fried egg fixed on wall. And what about stains? The two artists explored the paradoxical character of stains: stains are hardly visible but they are disturbing us, so that they evoke a tension. Stains could be inspirational by turning the spectator’s attention to things and relations that are usually overlooked.

Die Gehilfen, page 6

– Jiří Valoch: Die Gehilfen (exhibition, Klatovy, Galerie Klatovy / Klenová – Galerie U Bílého jednorožce / Gallery Klatovy / Klenová – White Unicorn Gallery, 8. 6. – 27. 7.)

The curator Edith Jeřábková in collaboration with the artist Michal Pěchouček (1973) invited the artists Jiří Skála (1976), Jan Šerých (1972), Evžen Šimera (1980) and Pavel Štýbr (1957) to participate in the Die Gehilfen exhibition. The project explored a spectrum of approaches to geometrism, minimalism, conceptualism and abstraction. Pěchouček presents abstract pictures composed of black and white yarns; in his newest works, he reconsidered minimalism and the embroideries he had created ten years ago. Skála’s texts and creations echo and / or evoke visual experiences and meditations. Developing the minimal principles, Šerých contributed by a complex monochrome composition with coded graphemes which could be read “JOKER”. Šimera included both the laws of physics and fortuitousness in his monochromes made of flowing down paints. Minimal-like structures in Šerých’s pictures resulted from paraphrasing textile décors. The exhibition is an excellent achievement regarding both the aesthetic and intellectual aspects.

Kolikrát, page 7

– Anna Vartecká: How Many Times (exhibition, Teplice, Beuronská kaple / Beuron Chapel, 21. 6. – 7. 7.)

The Radka and Stanislav Müller exhibition harmonized perfectly with the sacral space of the former chapel. In their recent work, the two artists visualized the moral values through a new iconography resulting from a specific re-interpretation of the Christian traditions. Instead of spouting manipulative images, the out-of work screens mediated messages such as “No need to make me helping you” or “Giving is better than receiving”. A video film by Radka Müllerová (1974) and figural compositions by Stanislav Müller (1971) reconsidered the current advertising imagery in a thought-provoking way.

Místo lásky, page 7

– Jan Zálešák: Love Site (exhibition, Praha, Futura, 28. 5. – 31. 8.)

The project Love at First Site is organized by Futura in collaboration with Fondazione Volume! in Rome (established in 1997). The curator Emanuela Nobile Mino decided for a bold enterprise by re-adapting the site-specific projects, prepared originally for Rome, for the Prague venue. Due to it, the Prague exhibition is a hybrid composed of phantoms of the Rome site-specific projects and the new projects prepared exclusively for Prague. Displayed works are accompanied by video films documenting the projects presented at Fondazione Volume!. Zálešák asks a question whether the spectator is to focus on distinguishing the Rome projects from the Prague projects or just to be open to impressions of the exhibition as a whole. He thinks that installation Revolution / Patriotism (2005 – 2008) by Costa Vece (1969) is intelligible at first sight, but in comparison with the Rome venue it is a mere reproduction of the original creation, colliding with the protruding Banister (2008) by Dominik Lang (1980). The re-adapted installation Park (2003 – 2008) by Marina Paris (1965) is based on sensual perception, so that it could be impressive at any site. Despite the split character resulting from the curator’s endeavour to re-adapt the Rome projects for Prague, the interventions by seven artists (Amande In, 1981, Sancho Silva, 1973, Carsten Nicolai, 1965, Olaf Nicolai, 1962) to the Futura spaces are a noteworthy contribution to site-specific art.

Intro 518 Teď 69 Teď* Teď 180 Bonus Q Track! page 7

– Marie Haškovcová: Intro 518 Now 69 Now* Now 180 Bonus Q Track! (exhibition, Praha, Karlín Studios, 5. 6. – 29. 6.)

The group exhibition, curated by the artists David Böhm, Jiří Franta and Marek Meduna, explored questions of interrelation and intertwisting of visual arts and music regarding inspiration, collaboration or simply love for music. More than fifty artists of all generations, ranging from Milan Grygar, Milan Knížák and Vladimír Skrepl, through Petr Nikl and Federico Díaz to Mark Ther and Laďa Gažiová, contributed to the engaging project.

Pozdní dostaveníčko s Markem Rothkem, page 8

– Ondřej Váša: A Late Meeting with Mark Rothko (exhibition, Hamburg, Kunsthalle, 16. 5. – 24. 8.)

Presenting a set of about seventy paintings and forty works on paper, the Mark Rothko (1903 – 1970) retrospective is unique regarding several aspects. First, about a half of works on display are figurative and symbolic works of the 1930s and the 1940s, i. e. the output preceding and / or heralding Rothko’s famous large-scale monochromes of the 1950s and the 1960s. The set of displayed works includes Rothko’s digitized sketchbooks presented to the public for the first time. A number of works on display are lesser-well known creations loaned from private collections. Rothko’s oeuvre is juxtaposed to fourteen canvases by Caspar David Friedrich (1774 – 1840) in raising a question about the Romantic European legacy echoed in Rothko’s oeuvre, particularly in his late output of landscape-like character.

Psycho Buildings, page 8

– Markéta Stará: Psycho Buildings (exhibition, London, Hayward Gallery, 29. 5. – 25. 8.)

The theme of the exhibition Psycho Buildings – Artists Take On Architecture is the shifting perception of spaces, particularly regarding the impact of the media (the Internet, virtuality) on the contemporary spectator. Ten international artists and / or teams of artists contributed by site-specific projects. The exhibition aims at encouraging the spectator to perceive spaces in myriad ways. The exhibition celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Hayward Gallery, well-known of the unique exhibition spaces and the architectural construction.

Posunuté identity, page 8

– Helena Kanyar Becker: Shifting Identities (exhibition, Zurich, Kunsthaus, 6. 6. – 31. 8.)

The exhibition title Shifting Identities – (Swiss) Art Now alludes to the fact that many Swiss artists are of non-Swiss descent and / or a number of Swiss artists live and work abroad. The impact of globalization is particularly marked in Switzerland. The curator Mirjam Varadinis speaks about the generation of young migrants. Exploring the theme of shifting identities in a spectrum of ways, sixty seven artists contributed by works executed in a wide scale of media ranging from drawings, photographs and sculptures to films and installations. The exhibition is divided into two parts. The first part (from March 3 to June 8) was accompanied by discussions, screenings and performances.

Po zahájení V. nového zlínského salonu, page 9

– Jiří Valoch: After the Opening of the Vth New Zlín Salon (exhibition of contemporary Czech and Slovak art New Zlín Salon, Zlín, Krajská galerie výtvarného umění – Dům umění, 2. poschodí zlínského zámku, 12. budova továrního areálu / Regional Gallery of Fine Arts – House of Art, Second floor of Zlín Castle, 12. building of Factory Area, 13. 5. – 7. 9.)

The director of the Regional Gallery of Fine Arts in Zlín Ludvík Ševeček asked Valoch to deliver the opening speech at the Vth New Zlín Salon. This contribution is published at page 2. Valoch is an ardent adherent of this vivid forum for Czech and Slovak artists, theorists and curators. He thinks the importance of NZS for Czech and Slovak art is great. It is particularly important for artists who live and works in “peripheries” because, regardless the high level of their works, their chance to present their art to the public is lesser in comparison with the Prague based artists. The members of the jury, Valoch was one of them, agreed that a double number of artists would be worthy to be invited in NZS, but the jury had to consider the exhibition space limits. NZS pays homage to the major artists Adriena Šimotová (1926) and Juraj Bartusz (1933) in form of solo exhibitions. Thanks to preferences of individual theorists for particular trends, the Czech and Slovak art is presented in the entire diversity. Valoch was thinking about fifteen artists he would like to invite in NZS. He decided for artists from West Bohemia – the painter Václav Malina, Květa Monhartová, who contributed to the field of expressive figuration, and the solitary artist Václav Sika, who explored the theme of the ornament. Valoch was particularly impressed by the following participants in NZS: Nikos Armutidis, Štefan Balász, Václav Benda, Marko Blažo, Milan Bočkay, Klára Bočkayová, Pavel Brázda, Stanislav Bubán, Ivan Csudai, Pavlína Fichta Čierna, Martin Derner, Luděk Filipský, Michal Gabriel, Kurt Gebauer, Radim Hanke, Pavel Hayek, Bohdan Hostiňák, Milan Houser, Dalibor Chatrný, Paula Chrenková, Patrik Illo, Monika Immrová, Lubomír Jarcovják, Libor Jaroš, Jiří Kačer, Pavel Kopřiva, Marius Kotrba, Jiří Kubový, Alena Kupčíková, Marek Kvetán, Otis Laubert, Jiří Lindovský, Palo Macho, Stano Masár, Květa Monhartová, Monogrammist T. D., Marian Mudroch, Pavel Mühlbauer, Jan Nálevka, Miroslav Nicz, Věra Nováková, Eduard Ovčáček, Jan Pištěk, Vladimír Popovič, Jan Pospíšil, Pavel Preisner, Eva Prokopcová, Ĺuba Salajková, Ivo Sedláček, Václav Sika, Jan Steklík, Jan Stolín. Čestmír Suška, Erik Šille, Zdeněk Šmíd, Miroslav Šnajdr Jr., Jakub Špaňhel, Oldřich Tichý, Roman Trabura, Aleš Veselý, Petr Veselý and Jindřich Zeithamml.

ITCA v rámci možností, page 12

– Petr Lysáček: ITCA as Good as It Can Be (International Triennale of Contemporary Art. Re-Reading the Future, Praha, Národní galerie – Veletržní palác / National Gallery – Trade-Fair Palace, 3. 6. – 14. 9.)

Regarding the theme of ITCA 2008 – Re-Reading the Future – Lysáček hopes that concerning the future, it is a possibility only. The curators endavoured to present artists outside the mainstream of the art market and publicity, i. e. art that is not displayed in prestigious galleries and it is not pointed out in leading periodicals. The way the curators wanted to bring these ideas to fruition was the exclusion of celebrities from the project. The exhibition is a maze of the condensed diversity in which the searching for contexts in out of question. The freedom of the non-concept is the cardinal principle of ITCA 2008. Within this frame, particular curatorial projects emerge more markedly, but counteract the focal theme of re-interpreting globalization. The section curated by Tomáš Vlček, the director of the Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Gallery in Prague, is the most extensive regarding the number of items on display, their diversity and the historical scope. Lysáček understands the exhibition Movement as a Message an accompanying project that explores the pioneers in the Avant-Garde of the second half of the 20th century; Italian curators offer an encyclopedic view of all aspects of kinetic art; it is a traveling exhibition that was presented eighteen times in the past and will be probably presented many times in the future. A number of Czech and Slovak artists presented at the Prague venue is a counterpoint to the global aspects of ITCA.

Pohyb jako poselství, page 16

– Aleš Svoboda: Movement as a Message (International Triennale of Contemporary Art. Re-Reading the Future, Praha, Národní galerie – Veletržní palác / National Gallery – Trade-Fair Palace, 3. 6. – 14. 9.)

A part of ITCA 2008 is a special “diachronic” section devoted to kinetism – the artistic principle that radically changed our view of he world. In comparison to a similar exhibition at the Praguebiennale 3 (Kinetic Art in Central Europe, see At. No. 13/07), the ITCA project is more extensive and consistent regarding the theoretical background. The dominance of Italian art results from the fact that most of items on display are loaned from the Istituto Nazionale d’Arte Contemporanea. It also corresponds to the fact that in the 1960s, Italian artists were pioneering in new trends and experiments. The set of displayed works is enriched with art by Czech and Slovak artists – Demartini, Kratina, Zippe, Dobeš, Hulík and the American artists of Czech descent Frank J. Malina. The lavish catalogue includes a comprehensive essay by Jiří Valoch; Valoch’s laudatory passages on Alberto Biasi are well-grounded. Tomáš Vlček thinks that Kinetism shall be re-considered particularly regarding the contributions of Czech and Slovak artists. Hopefully, a number of international art historians will visit ITCA 2008. Svoboda thinks that concerning the similarities and interrelations between Op Art, Minimal Art, Geometric Art and Kinetism in the 1960s, it is a challenge to define the criteria of Kinetic Art, so that he suggests the exhibition would be rightly titled “Kinetism and co. He points out that integrating real movement in visual arts was revolutionary. Kinetism also broke down the boundaries between dance, music and theatre on one hand side and the picture and the sculpture on the other hand side. There was a spectrum of ways how movement was integrated in visual arts. Svoboda thinks that integrating Kinetism in digital art fulfilled the most radical ideas about connecting art and advanced technologies. Within this context, the presentation of Zippe’s works in the exhibition is a brilliant decision. Svoboda sums up: the exhibition evokes many questions but it gives only few answers. He asks a question whether the exhibition could raise the interest of young people in the sophisticated problems explored by kinetic art. Could the contemporary audience be attracted by a visual feast evoking a scale of feelings traditionally connected with music? Svoboda thinks that the floods of babbling Conceptualism and talkative figuration suppress the focused view of the human mind.

Translated by Magda Němcová