OTHER AIR
CLOSE YOUR EYES AND OPEN YOUR WINDOW
THE CZECH-SLOVAC SURREALIST GROUP
1991 – 2011
EXHIBITION WITH THE INTERNATIONAL GUESTS
Prague 1, Old Town City Hall, 9/2/2012 - 4/4/2012
Exhibition trial here
We will continuously inform you about a rich accompanying program of the exhibition (film screenings, guided tours at Old Town City Hall, discussion evenings, etc.). The first "fruit" is a special evening on the occasion of the exhibition is the Evening of Analogon XXII - Other Air, which will take place in the theatre of comedy, 22.1.2012, and the moderators will be as traditionally Jan Kraus, Jiří Ornest for and athers...
A. Theme design
I. The Concept
The basic element of the group exhibition Surrealist Another Air 1991 - 2011 is its representative and summarizing character. The exhibition covers the last twenty years. The exhibition’s board of curators (see below) has therefore used several themes which formed the backbone of earlier group exhibitions. The best works exploring the existing themes will be selected, thereby guaranteeing the high quality of the exhibition.
Following are the main themes:
• Annexation (reality as a source of surreality)
• Manticora (myths and phantoms of the imagination)
• Eros and Thanatos (eroticism as a principle of life)
• Alliance (intersubjective communication and games)
• Defenestration (imagination as a subversive power)
All of the above themes have been explored over the past twenty years and thus they form self-contained collections. The above mentioned themes will be interconnected via new works. Therefore the exhibition will not be purely retrospective since there will be exhibited totally new works that have never been exhibited before.
B. International Interconnections
Surrealism is an international cultural movement illustrated by the fact that the exhibition was initiated by the united Czech-Slovak Surrealist Group which is a multinational federation at the organizational level. To participate in the Surrealist Another Air exhibition, the Group has also invited leading representatives of the surrealist movement from other countries, primarily from France, where surrealism began (Ody Saban, Guy Girard, Michel Zimbacca, Aurelien Dauguet and others), and Great Britain (Kathleen Fox, Bill Howe, Stephen Clark and others). It also anticipates the participation of surrealists from the United States (Sasha Vlad, Penelope Rosemont), Greece (Lydia Papassisi, Diamantis Karavolas), Sweden (Matthias Forshage, Bruno Jacobs), Spain (Eugenio Castro, Jose-Manuel Rojo), Austria (Evi Moechel) and other countries. Most of the works by these artists will be exhibited in Prague for the first time.
C. Activities accompanying the exhibition
The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue of colored reproductions, supplemented by contributions such as theoretical writings, essays, and discursive literary outputs (poetry, prose).
Other accompanying activities include:
• series of lectures and readings introducing the works of the present Group as well as its past works. It will be accompanied by a digital show of group games (exhibition space, Municipal Library in Prague, Montmartre Café, Literarni Café on Retezova Street)
• series of films on the theme of surrealism (Svankmajer, Stejskal, Jarab, Danhel and others)
• theater performance (Evening of Analogon in Comedy Theater)
• radio series on the history and presence of the Group (Czech Radio)
• TV show (a rerun of the four-part series of the Analogon from 2000), presentation of the exhibition in various cultural programs
II. Board of Curators
The conceptual preparation of the exhibition is done under the direction of the board of curators (in alphabetical order): Frantisek Dryje, Bruno Solarik, Martin Stejskal, Jan Svankmajer.
Contact information for the coordinator of the board of curators:
tel. +420776657151
Drtinova 18, Prague 5, 150 00
Biographies of the members of the board of curators (in alphabetical order):
Frantisek Dyje (b. 1951), poet, prose writer and essayist. Since1994 a chief editor of Analogon magazine; together with B. Solarik, he is in charge of the Analogon Edition. A member of the Czech-Slovak Surrealist Group since 1979. As an author and editor he participated in publishing the group samizdats. He has published five books of poetry: Pozirany druh 1994 (Devoured Mate), Muchomur – genius noci 1997 (Amanitus – Genius of the Night), Mrdat 1998 (To fuck), Salamounuv hadr 2002 (Salomon’s Rag) and Druhe Desatero 2004 (The Second Ten Commandments), and two more books in print. He is the author of several studies on Czech surrealism, such as Sila imaginace 2001 (Power of Imagination), Surrealismus neni umeni 2005 (Surrealism Is Not Art), Eva Svankmajerova 2006, etc. Since 1998 he has taken part in the show Evenings of Analogon. As a curator and an artist he prepared several group exhibitions of the Group.
Bruno Solarik (b. 1968), translator, essayist, photographer, historian. Editor of Analogon revue, web editor of www.analogon.cz, lecturer in East and Central European Studies (ECES) at the Faculty of Arts at Charles University in Prague. The founder of A.I.V. Circle (1987, united in 1987 with the Czech-Slovak Surrealist Group). Was involved in samizdat. Published a book of short stories and poems Za sudy s petrolejem 1997 (Behind the Barrels of Kerosene). This year his study on the interwar group The Surrealist Group of Czechoslovakia called Surrealisticky mlyn (The Surrealist Mill) will be published. For twenty years he has taken part in stage presentations of surrealist works (in Brno Penezokazi (Forgers), 1992 – 1996, in Prague Vecery Analogonu (Evenings of Analogon), since 1997. At the same time, he is a curator involved in preparations and installations of group exhibitions of A.I.V. and the Czech-Slovak Surrealist Group.
Martin Stejskal (b. 1944), painter and essayist. A member of the Czech-Slovak Surrealist Group since 1968. He was involved in samizdat of the Group (1970 – 1989). Author of the books Labyrintem tajemna 1991 (Through the Labyrinth of Mystique), Hvezda 1995 (Star), Rovnomoc (Evenness), Praga hermetica (2003), and an extensive monograph of his work Zadem k nekonecnu 2003 (Back from Eternity). He participated in several anthologies of the Group, initiated several group art games (Panorama, Future Flyers, Hello, Mr. Gaugine, and others) and other projects. His work has been exhibited in Brno, Lednice, Prague, Cheb, Hradec Kralove, Ceske Budejovice and in group exhibitions of the Group in the Czech Republic and abroad. He was involved in an outline of the concept of almost all surrealist exhibitions from 1969 to the present.
Jan Svankmajer (b. 1934), artist and filmmaker. A member of The Czech-Slovak Surrealist Group since 1974. He was involved in publishing all Group samizdat publications, in some as an editor. He published the book Hmat a imaginace 1994 (Touch and Imagination) and several catalogues and monographs of his work, mostly together with his wife, artist Eva Svankmajerova Transformace smyslu (Transformation of the Meaning), Anima animus animace (Anima Animus Animation), and others. He is the creator of several short films and feature films which have received awards at festivals both in the Czech Republic and aboard (for example Alice, Little Otik, Dimensions of Dialogue, Faust, Food, Surviving Life and more OR etc.). Together with Eva Svankmajerova he organized several exhibitions both here and abroad (for example Food in Riding Hall of the Prague Castle, 2004). As a curator he is involved primarily in his own exhibitions or in exhibitions of the Group.
III. The Czech-Slovak Surrealist Group
A. Artists
During the past twenty years the Czech-Slovak Surrealist Group has participated in many cultural events, be it exhibitions, books, lectures or theater shows.
Today the Group comprises 29 people most of whom consider visual arts as their primary or marginal activity.
The exhibition features the most significant works in large format (oil paintings, pastels, collages, etc.) created by the following artists:
Karol Baron (d. 2004)
Leonidas Kryvosej
Albert Marencin
Premysl Martinec
Alena Nadvornikova
Katerina Pinosova
Martin Stejskal
Eva Svankmajerova (d. 2006)
Jan Svankmajer
B. History
The Czech-Slovak Surrealist Group has its roots in the avant-garde era between the wars: Devetsil, the association of modern culture, founded in 1920, transformed itself in 1934 into the Group of Surrealists of Czechoslovakia. The leading representatives of the artists from the first Czechoslovak group of surrealists were Toyen and Jindrich Styrsky. The creators of the then surrealist concept were Vitezslav Nezval, Karel Teige and Jindrich Honzl.
After World War II the group of young artists concentrated around Karel Teige. Among them were Mikulas Medek, Josef Istler, Vaclav Tikal and Vratislav Effenberger, the creator of the ideological concept.
At the end of the 60s Effenberger concentrated the artists (Svankmajer, Baron, Stejskal, Svankmajerova, Marencin, Medkova and others) into the so-called Czechoslovakian Surrealist Group. The group has been active in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia under the name The Czech-Slovak Surrealist Group.
C. Overview of major exhibitions of The Czech-Slovak Surrealist Group over the last twenty years
• Analogon 1969 – 1990, Voyage a travers les couleurs du temps, Neuf Gallery, Paris, France (1990),
• Treti archa (Third Ark), S.V.U. Manes Gallery, Prague (1991-1992)
• Sen, erotismus, interpretace (Dream, Eroticism, Interpretation), The Surrealist Group of Czechoslovakia, Central Slovakian Gallery in Banska Bystrica, Bratislava City Gallery, Palfy Palace, Bratislava, Czech Culture Center in Budapest (1991-1992)
• Das Umzugskabinett, Galerie 13, Hannover, Germany (1993)
• Z jednoho testa (Cut From the Same Cloth) - Tribute to the Surrealist Group of Czechoslovakia), a group exhibition of the Czech-Slovak Surrealist Group and the A.I.V. Surrealist Group, Museum and Pojizerska Gallery in Semily, State Gallery in Cheb, State Gallery in Nitra, Old Town Hall, Prague (1995-1997)
• Invention, Imagination, Interpretation, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea – Wales (1998)
• Svatokradez (Sacrilege), Salmov Palace in Prague, Maecenas Gallery in Pilsen (1999)
• Sfera snu 2001(Dream Sphere 2001), Sovinec Castle (2001)
• Nalezeny objekt redivivus (Found Objects Redivivus, Concordia Gallery, Prague (2003)
• Cerna a bila jezera (Black and White Lakes), Scarableus Gallery, Prague (2007)
• Svet je straslivy prirodopis (World is Dreadful Natural History), Prachen Museum in Pisek (2008)
Partners
Art Movement o.s. Osadní 5, 170, Praha 7, IČ:22833315, DIČ:CZ22833315, Registrace sdružení 05.10.2009, bankovní spojení:č.ú: 2300056101/2010 virtual-zoom ®