Umělec magazine 1999/3 >> Seven Theses on the Crisis of Czech Art List of all editions.
Umělec magazine
Year 1999, 3
2,50 EUR
3 USD
Send the printed edition:
Order subscription

Seven Theses on the Crisis of Czech Art

Umělec magazine 1999/3

01.03.1999

Tomáš Pospiszyl | opinions | en cs

"1. The current crisis is manifested by the fact that the Czech Republic has produced a very limited number of strong and interesting works of art in recent years.
2. It is imperative to realize that this crisis is not exclusively derived from the conditions in the general society and economic hardships but it arises from the very situation in the arts.
3. Self-complacency is the prevailing attitude among Czech artists and critics. Those who are aware of the crisis tend to put blame on the art „operations“, the state, galleries, and Western art instead of looking for it in one’s own work.
4. There is no critical platform in Czech art; there is no critical language that could be used on polemics. For this reason, disunion of opinion on the issues of a number of elementary values of Czech art prevails. There appears to be lack of ability to support good artistic achievements in earnest and with arguments and to ruthlessly point at the poor ones.
5. Art is not able to convince society of its importance. There is no critical number of audience following contemporary art. This is also why the states’ interest in supporting visual arts is so low and this is also why political and financial support going to the arts is non-existent. Initiative in those issues, however, must come from the artists, critics and staff of art institutions themselves. This is also the reason for deep misunderstanding of even classical modernist values among general public and sometimes also among intellectual elite.
6. Czech art is not sufficiently open to external and internal impulses, mainly from view of art’s internal form. For example: none of the five artists that recently worked with large billboards employed text and photography; the artists merely enlarged their paintings to the required measurements. Very little distinct architecture is being made in the Czech Republic; there are a very low number of public commissions of art works.
7. Art community is non-existent, there are no arts associations, which could lobby in favor of arts using their respect or convince the audience and the state of the need for art using their authority. Czech art community is amazingly disintegrated and brawling. This is why every other person is a director; this is the reason for such large number of state-funded exhibition spaces, which fight for the same money, the same spaces and the same artists. There are no alternative galleries run by artists themselves.
"





01.03.1999

Comments

There are currently no comments.

Add new comment

Recommended articles

Wicked / Interview with Jim Hollands Wicked / Interview with Jim Hollands
“A person must shake someone’s hand three times while gazing intently into their eyes. That’s the key to memorizing their name with certainty. It is in this way that I’ve remembered the names of 5,000 people who have been to the Horse Hospital,” Jim Hollands told me. Hollands is an experimental filmmaker, musician and curator. In his childhood, he suffered through tough social situations and…
Tunelling Culture II Tunelling Culture II
MIKROB MIKROB
There’s 130 kilos of fat, muscles, brain & raw power on the Serbian contemporary art scene, all molded together into a 175-cm tall, 44-year-old body. It’s owner is known by a countless number of different names, including Bamboo, Mexican, Groom, Big Pain in the Ass, but most of all he’s known as MICROBE!… Hero of the losers, fighter for the rights of the dispossessed, folk artist, entertainer…
African Vampires in the Age of Globalisation African Vampires in the Age of Globalisation
"In Cameroon, rumours abound of zombie-labourers toiling on invisible plantations in an obscure night-time economy."
04.02.2020 10:17
Where to go next?
out - archeology
S.d.Ch, Solitaires and Periphery Culture (a generation born around 1970)
S.d.Ch, Solitaires and Periphery Culture (a generation born around 1970)
Josef Jindrák
Who is S.d.Ch? A person of many interests, active in various fields—literature, theater—known for his comics and collages in the art field. A poet and playwright foremost. A loner by nature and determination, his work doesn’t meet the current trends. He always puts forth personal enunciation, although its inner structure can get very complicated. It’s pleasant that he is a normal person and a…
Read more...
out - poetry
THC Review and the Condemned Past
THC Review and the Condemned Past
Ivan Mečl
We are the fifth global party! Pítr Dragota and Viki Shock, Fragmenty geniality / Fragments of Charisma, May and June 1997. When Viki came to visit, it was only to show me some drawings and collages. It was only as an afterthought that he showed me the Czech samizdat publication from the late 1990s, THC Review. When he saw how it fascinated me, he panicked and insisted that THAT creation is…
Read more...
prize
To hen kai pán (Jindřich Chalupecký Prize Laureate 1998 Jiří Černický)
To hen kai pán (Jindřich Chalupecký Prize Laureate 1998 Jiří Černický)
Read more...
birthing pains
Who’s Afraid of Motherhood?
Who’s Afraid of Motherhood?
Zuzana Štefková
Expanding the definition of “mother” is also a space for reducing pressure and for potential liberation.1 Carol Stabile The year was 2003, and in the deep forests of Lapák in the Kladno area, a woman in the later phase of pregnancy stopped along the path. As part of the “Artists in the Woods” exhibit, passers-by could catch a glimpse of her round belly, which she exposed especially for them in…
Read more...
Books, video, editions and artworks that might interest you Go to e-shop
print on durable film, 250 x 139 cm, 2011 / signed by artist and numbered from edition of ten
More info...
799,20 EUR
861 USD
More info...
6,50 EUR
7 USD
The Czech group Pode Bal was founded in 1997 and their work grew out of a critique of visual communication. The group has re...
More info...
23,75 EUR
26 USD
Big Fountain, 2009, silkscreen print, 50 x 35 cm
More info...
65 EUR
70 USD

Studio

Divus and its services

Studio Divus designs and develops your ideas for projects, presentations or entire PR packages using all sorts of visual means and media. We offer our clients complete solutions as well as all the individual steps along the way. In our work we bring together the most up-to-date and classic technologies, enabling us to produce a wide range of products. But we do more than just prints and digital projects, ad materials, posters, catalogues, books, the production of screen and space presentations in interiors or exteriors, digital work and image publication on the internet; we also produce digital films—including the editing, sound and 3-D effects—and we use this technology for web pages and for company presentations. We specialize in ...
 

Citation of the day. Publisher is not liable for any mental and physical states which may arise after reading the quote.

Enlightenment is always late.
CONTACTS AND VISITOR INFORMATION The entire editorial staff contacts

DIVUS
NOVÁ PERLA
Kyjov 36-37, 407 47 Krásná Lípa
Čzech Republic

 

GALLERY
perla@divus.cz, +420 222 264 830, +420 606 606 425
open from Wednesday to Sunday between 10am to 6pm
and on appointment.

 

CAFÉ & BOOKSHOP
shop@divus.cz, +420 222 264 830, +420 606 606 425
open from Wednesday to Sunday between 10am to 10pm
and on appointment.

 

STUDO & PRINTING
studio@divus.cz, +420 222 264 830, +420 602 269 888
open from Monday to Friday between 10am to 6pm

 

DIVUS PUBLISHING
Ivan Mečl, ivan@divus.cz, +420 602 269 888

 

UMĚLEC MAGAZINE
Palo Fabuš, umelec@divus.cz

DIVUS LONDON
Arch 8, Resolution Way, Deptford
London SE8 4NT, United Kingdom

news@divus.org.uk, +44 (0) 7526 902 082

 

DIVUS BERLIN
berlin@divus.cz


DIVUS WIEN
wien@divus.cz


DIVUS MEXICO CITY
mexico@divus.cz


DIVUS BARCELONA
barcelona@divus.cz

DIVUS MOSCOW & MINSK
alena@divus.cz

DIVUS NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIPTION
Divus We Are Rising National Gallery For You! Go to Kyjov by Krásná Lípa no.37.