The Czech Visual Art Foundation Mánes

• The Mánes building, currently administered by the Czech Visual Art Foundation00:02:41.338
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• (previously the Visual Art Fund), has become a symbol of the negative consequences00:02:45.327
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• of culture privatisation in the past twenty years.00:02:50.463
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• In the nineties, the legal actions taken over its ownership00:02:55.194
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• resulted in victory for a purpose-built law interpretation over justice.00:02:59.057
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• Under the Foundation, the commercialisation of the gallery's operation00:03:04.804
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• lacked any artistic targets or concern for the quality of the exhibition programme and other activities.00:03:08.923
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• It proceeded as such, owing to the art community's total resignation00:03:16.377
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• to the presented ideals of union life.00:03:22.028
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• A relatively wide spectrum of the art community were unprecedentedly activated,00:03:27.768
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• and via a new initiative called 'Mánes for Artists', a strong appeal was launched.00:03:32.929
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• It required a redress of all the mistakes caused by the general lack of interest00:03:42.536
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• in potentially common, public issues; and for full responsibility to be taken for their state.00:03:47.784
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• In a very short space of time, the initiative's manifesto was signed and supported by 250 people.00:03:54.607
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• The situation with Mánes' unfunctional exhibition hall and Czech Visual Art Foundation00:04:05.601
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• stimulated an irritated demonstration regarding the state of society; institutions;00:04:12.203
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• the culture policy; and once public, denationalised property.00:04:18.622
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• I think artists' discontent with cultural institutions and the Ministry of culture00:04:23.618
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• has been present for a long time, and the urge00:04:30.929
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• to open the Mánes case again allowed us to also discuss union life and what we have lost.00:04:38.481
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• Mánes hasn't carried out any of its functions for a very long time.00:04:49.037
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• It doesn't create a platform or background for visual art presentation and the life it should meet.00:04:53.883
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• The foundation operates only as an estate agency, leasing the place.00:05:03.651
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• It sometimes appears as-though something is going on there, but it's someone else who is paying for it.00:05:08.805
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• The foundation administration is legal, but not legitimate. Its operation in the past 20 years has proven00:05:14.848
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• to be inappropriate property administration. We consider it non-legitimate.00:05:28.766
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• Of course, we understand that the law provides them with the right to administer their property in any way they prefer,00:05:36.724
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• but we want them to consider possessing and managing something legitimately,00:05:45.124
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• and with respect for public and art platforms; as well as just legally.00:05:53.166
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• The 'Mánes for Artists' initiative wasn't the only attempt00:06:18.161
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• in post-revolution history to point out the very problematic transformation,00:06:23.547
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• and subsequent administration, of the Czech Visual Art Foundation.00:06:29.834
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• To better understand the lengthy case that emerged after 1989,00:06:34.204
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• it's important to go back; not only to the pre-revolution operation of the Czech Visual Art Fund;00:06:39.082
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• but also to the situation created by the Mánes Union of Artists,00:06:47.110
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• from 1948 to its disputed abolition in the 1950s.00:06:52.851
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• It's very complicated and I'm not very knowledgeable about the 1950s,00:07:00.484
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• but as we've taken care of the case since its beginning after 1990;00:07:07.817
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• and as we used to have residence in Mánes next to the Mánes Union; we could look into it00:07:17.928
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• - but you'd better ask the Mánes Union because they went to court.00:07:25.167
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• Although they lost the case, it even made it to the Supreme Court based on the fact that all unions were abolished in 1956,00:07:31.053
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• and the abolishments should have been signed by the minister of culture of the time,00:07:46.819
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• but the Mánes Union was the only one that didn't have the paper signed by the minister.00:07:52.489
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• There wasn't a signature, so the Union protested vehemently. The former chairman of the Union, Jaroslav Fragner,00:07:58.694
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• protested to the minister about the property sequestration and Union liquidation.00:08:09.188
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• All the funds - literary, music, theatre, and art - were established in the 1950s.00:08:21.842
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• This may sound a bit heretical, but they were very well operated institutions,00:08:33.265
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• based on a good principle in favour of artists. I was employed there for many years00:08:47.278
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• before the revolution, so I could see into their activities from the inside.00:08:56.271
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• The initial Fund of Czech Visual Artists was a trade union in a way,00:09:02.450
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• and at the same time a business concern. The ideological part, that created the issues00:09:12.010
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• we all had reservations about, was held by the Association of Czechoslovakian Visual Artists00:09:20.874
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• and the Association of Czech Visual Artists. All the art funds were a certain state inside a state.00:09:31.543
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• All artists and theorists were deducted 3 percent from their charges by copyright protection,00:09:42.224
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• and the money went to the funds.00:09:55.452
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• When I worked there, the fund was directed by engineer, Stepanovský00:09:57.864
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• - who wasn't a member of the Communist Party - and the fund operated at several levels.00:10:03.690
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• Firstly, there were scholarships that would assure living art today:00:10:11.893
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• the scholarships were granted to artists after their graduation.00:10:26.453
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• There were also creative grants for several years. Artworks were bought from artists00:10:31.831
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• and as the fund became gradually rich, it purchased many properties,00:10:41.191
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• including a hotel in Karlovy Vary, two villas in Staré Splavy, a villa in Ceské Budejovice, a hunting lodge near Jihlava...00:10:53.618
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• The Fund also created so-called 'art commissions' that were on the one hand very bad,00:11:08.398
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• but important for those in the membership. Today it would be quite convenient00:11:19.530
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• because it secured professionalism and provided income for the artists.00:11:26.170
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• The Fund had a very positive role in the revolution00:11:38.923
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• as it provided a background for the entirety of the Mánes and art communities.00:11:44.575
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• Everything that was photocopied there, all the posters, all the phone calls...00:11:51.661
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• everything that took place in Mánes was arranged by the Fund.00:11:57.616
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• Shortly after the revolution, the Union of Artists claimed it,00:12:42.161
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• and twenty-two so-called members or refounders announced the continuation of its activity.00:12:48.150
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• Via its renewed activity, the Union started enforcing the right for restitution of the confiscated property.00:12:55.861
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• Its opacity, with reference to its termination in the 1950s, served as a surprisingly00:13:04.182
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• fundamental argument in the lawsuit between the Mánes Union and the Visual Art Fund:00:13:10.713
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• later the Czech Visual Art Foundation.00:13:17.384
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• The twenty-two members of the Union then nominated young artists and architects they were close to,00:13:22.504
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• and thus the twenty-two expanded to a hundred or a hundred and fifteen.00:13:34.781
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• So the Union was interesting because it was cross-generational.00:13:46.823
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• There were ninety-year-old respectable visual artists together with the thirty-year-old ones,00:13:55.200
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• so there were generational discussions and the Union was very active in the beginning.00:14:05.896
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• The meetings were well attended, as were the discussion nights that took place there...00:14:13.367
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• Since 1992 the Mánes Union exhibition was held there every year00:14:20.643
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• and the fund would lend the exhibition space to the Union for free, for one month...00:14:29.071
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• The Foundation, sorry the Fund, treated the Union relatively helpfully and said they would give back the building00:14:37.234
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• and that they were just looking for a way to do it. It wasn't the whole board of administration:00:14:50.813
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• many representatives of the board said that the Union had to get the building back itself.00:14:56.734
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• The problem was the social pressure when union life was revived.00:15:04.415
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• Colleagues from Mánes stood up for the Mánes tradition and longed to reclaim the building ownership.00:15:14.132
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• It didn't appear wrong to me, rather the contrary,00:15:23.676
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• but the problem was the legal aspect. The Foundation couldn't simply say they would give it to them00:15:28.232
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• because it would make the other five thousand registered artists feel they were being deprived of something...00:15:35.074
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• Nothing happened, and after four years of waiting the Union pressed charges to determine the owner,00:15:45.908
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• and the (at many instances unbearable) judicial cycle began. It went through everyone,00:15:57.018
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• then it all started again on three instances until they made their decision after ten years...00:16:03.098
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• It's interesting to follow the issue from the view of the Foundation,00:16:09.039
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• who applied three types of defence to their web. The first said that the Mánes Union consisted of people00:16:14.563
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• who were supporters of the previous regime: they weren't dissidents, on the contrary00:16:33.012
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• they cooperated with the regime. The question is to what extent the Union is responsible for their00:16:40.711
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• post-war members. As we all know, the Czech culture platform used to be mainly left-wing,00:16:47.349
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• so artists were no exception. Their participation after 1948 is disagreeable,00:16:53.956
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• but it wouldn't surprise me that much...00:17:04.390
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• This is written on the Foundation website, it's one of their recent attacks...00:17:07.298
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• It says that many members of the Mánes Union became active members of the Association: consequently the Fund...00:17:12.561
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• - but that was true of everyone in the country in the unbearable 1950s.00:17:20.776
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• Many artists, not only union members, worked actively in the Association. Many of them were soon found out00:17:29.421
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• and expelled, many of them never joined, and some of them were imprisoned.00:17:39.978
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• It was stratified in the whole society, so it applied to the Mánes Union as well.00:17:45.858
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• Another argument was that they didn't build it from their own money, which was generally known in fact...00:17:52.070
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• They mentioned that the price of it - the building cost - climbed00:17:59.787
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• from 7 to 10 million: which wasn't a small sum of money at that time.00:18:07.403
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• The state contributed a million, the president Masaryk 200 000 crowns, Rothschild helped too...00:18:15.669
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• - but there was also a debt that should have been paid off in 1956.00:18:24.062
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• This argument is interesting because the Mánes Union was ready to settle the debt,00:18:31.998
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• and that's why they decided to make part of the project a bit commercial...00:18:42.727
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• The third reason they used in defence, was of an administratively-legal base:00:18:49.736
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• they said the Mánes Union resisted the abolition insufficiently.00:18:56.921
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• The judicial decision said that the Union's dissolution or abolishment was valid by law,00:19:01.467
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• because there wasn't a guarantee that it would contribute to building socialism;00:19:11.120
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• and because the Union didn't prove their contribution; the judicial decision was valid.00:19:16.790
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• That was one reason, and the other was that the Union didn't show any continuity of existence00:19:25.743
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• - but the Union itself never dissolved, they just wouldn't meet regularly,00:19:37.091
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• wouldn't organise plenary sessions and unfortunately, wouldn't make exhibitions; because if they00:19:44.183
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• had made them, they would have been in trouble for carrying out subversive activities.00:19:50.565
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• When we went to the last negotiation, we were ready to collect the keys to the building00:19:58.651
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• but found that the case was being returned to another hearing by the Supreme Court; and the shock was even bigger when we were told00:20:07.084
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• that the Mánes Union had no rights, and the building remained the property of the Foundation.00:20:14.400
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• The situation was absurd because in the early nineties, when the restitution laws were made,00:20:21.392
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• there was a thesis that only individuals would be compensated.00:20:27.883
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• That meant the proprietors' descendants, or the proprietors if they were still alive.00:20:31.868
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• It was carried out in towns and with land resources,00:20:36.244
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• and as for the legal entities: they said it wasn't possible to search them out00:20:42.326
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• - but this wasn't true of course. The breakthrough came with the restitution of the Sokol organisation and DTJ:00:20:46.206
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• the Workers Gymnastic Union that was affiliated with a united physical education in the 1940s: like Sokol was.00:20:53.447
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• Their property was given back as they were legal entities that had been regenerated,00:21:02.157
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• but this applied only to culture organisations that hadn't been terminated, which means they were00:21:07.972
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• abolished incorrectly or weren't abolished at all, and they claimed their rights in due time.00:21:17.389
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• That meant that if there was a continuity of the legal entity, they could claim their property,00:21:22.844
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• and in some cases they succeeded, got it back, and their rights were restored00:21:30.199
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• - but Mánes didn't carry it out sufficiently according to the court assertion.00:21:39.595
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• It suggested that if the church was restituted in the next round, it should go to some culture organisations00:21:47.161
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• and legal entities, because the property may still exist.00:21:59.798
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• We sent a last appeal to a Constitutional Court in a different constitution than the principal one.00:22:06.322
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• The Constitutional Court upheld the Supreme Court's decision and declared that a legal injury had evidently been made.00:22:16.266
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• Nevertheless, it came about because the Mánes Union wasn't listed in the law of restitution.00:22:23.940
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• We did our best to make our way through the political intentions.00:22:35.037
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• We addressed the senator Dienstbier before the presidential candidates were promulgated.00:22:48.141
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• He was a representative in Prague, so because of his function we considered him suitable.00:22:57.635
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• Moreover, CSSD won their building back in a very similar lawsuit; although they didn't prove any continuity and lost the house;00:23:10.084
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• and although not all the social democrats joined the Communist Party...00:23:26.341
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• It was very similar.00:23:34.972
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• So we saw the senator Dienstbier, who heard us out and made sense of the whole matter;00:23:37.041
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• However, he announced his candidacy for the presidency a week later, so we had to abandon this idea.00:23:46.977
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• We thought that only a modification of the restitution law would change the situation.00:24:00.864
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• The analogy of cultural organisations, the church, and physical education organisations was in order,00:24:06.711
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• because they remained in the same state after 1945: with the exception of Sokol after 1918,00:24:13.483
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• whose status wasn't identical to the one after 1948. It didn't bear the role of a national pillar anymore.00:24:23.535
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• The problem was that nobody created a lobby for it.00:24:36.432
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• If nobody pressures effectively, the deputies won't respond and let it go.00:24:39.715
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• Effective pressure can be made on an art platform as well...00:24:49.083
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• Effective pressure is not holding a banner in a square and saying you demand something, I guess...00:24:52.376
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• The legal actions taken to ordain the owner of the confiscated property of the Mánes Visual Artists' Association,00:26:15.856
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• proceeded in parallel and independent of the Visual Art Fund's transformation into the Foundation.00:26:20.228
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• It took place over several months, on the basis of hastily enacted regulations.00:26:28.379
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• The Foundation statute was also consolidated by the law of foundations, in 1993.00:26:34.259
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• Without regard for the progress and future result of the lawsuit,00:26:42.465
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• the Foundation administered and operated the Mánes building00:26:46.296
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• together with other property conveyed from the Visual Art Fund.00:26:51.200
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• The wealthy Fund of Visual Art attracted a lot of attention, and during the transformation chaos, there were attempts00:26:56.021
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• to strip it of its assets and links with the shady business transactions of the early 1990s.00:27:05.442
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• Such excesses were successfully prevented thanks to the resourceful and attentive members00:27:13.422
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• of the board of administration, under the Czech Visual Art Fund.00:27:19.092
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• The first elected board of administration of the newly decreed Visual Art Foundation,00:27:25.043
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• started a period of gradual disintegration.00:27:31.603
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• The transformation was fast and complicated -which is typical in this country-00:27:36.133
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• and had to be done in two or three months. A group of artists and lawyers worked on it00:27:42.166
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• and we managed to meet the deadline, so the Foundation establishment was legitimate.00:27:50.641
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• It's one of a few foundations defined by law. This means that all organisation systems,00:27:57.203
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• statutes, and relations are pursuant to the law and must be strictly respected.00:28:04.108
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• The legal definition of the Foundation is: a legal entity instituted by a founding act,00:28:10.250
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• in accordance with the Civil Code regulations at that time.00:28:18.355
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• As at that time the law about foundations wasn't in force,00:28:22.952
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• when the law was enforced the Foundation got its statute.00:28:27.440
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• Its peculiarity, along with other former funds that were turned into foundations,00:28:32.827
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• is that it doesn't have existing founders.00:28:40.077
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• The first members of the board of administration and board of trustees, were appointed by00:28:43.907
• 00:28:43.907
• the former Fund: that expired within a year, in accordance with the law about the transformation,00:28:52.583
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• and became a legal successor with the exception of state property.00:29:01.282
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• I'm not sure if the Ministry of Culture realised it or nobody paid any attention,00:29:07.394
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• but the problem with the decreed funds at that time; lets call them culture funds;00:29:14.778
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• was that they had the legal character of another state organisation.00:29:23.602
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• This meant that they administered another state property. It wasn't state property that someone had00:29:28.967
• 00:29:28.967
• the right to administer, but it was state property, and the question is: what of the state property00:29:37.469
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• should have remained as state property and not been transferred into the Foundation?00:29:47.028
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• - but nobody dealt with it at the time, because Land Register was busy00:29:53.167
• 00:29:53.167
• transforming from Geodesy to Land Register,00:29:56.621
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• and they handled all institutional matters - culture funds and municipal property - quite superficially.00:29:59.609
• 00:29:59.609
• If the Ministry of Culture or Treasury Department made the decision to give them00:30:08.247
• 00:30:08.247
• another property, the law didn't mention how to proceed...00:30:15.212
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• For that you would have to search somewhere else, and Czech clerks are not always punctual...00:30:20.619
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• I guess there was an effort to get rid of the funds because they didn't want to deal with it;00:30:28.555
• 00:30:28.555
• and the thesis of one huge culture fund was created. It's an embarrassing story about the state00:30:34.801
• 00:30:34.801
• trying to create a lottery under false pretences, to provide culture with a lot of money.00:30:40.834
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• The Foundation management was determined by the obligation settlement,00:30:48.287
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• that logically fell into the Czech Visual Artist Fund - Dílo abolishment for example.00:30:55.789
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• The issue was so huge that, for example, we found out that Dílo also exported weapons.00:31:02.551
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• It was enormously complicated and the work was dreadful...00:31:14.283
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• We had enough money to support art, but the foundation wasn't to conduct any business00:31:21.789
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• - although with the new civil law that was going to change.00:31:32.097
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• So the foundation could only make money through rentals, and in the great country we live in, renting00:31:35.699
• 00:31:35.699
• showed to be extremely unfavourable and complex; and all this had to be solved: the debts had to be paid off...00:31:47.910
• 00:31:47.910
• However, we gained other claims from the foundation...00:32:00.769
• 00:32:00.769
• In 1995 we published a list of their property in the Atelier magazine and made them realise00:32:04.723
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• how they treated their property and how much of it they had...00:32:14.708
• 00:32:14.708
• - but it all came to nothing when they changed their code and subsequently all the statutes.00:32:19.605
• 00:32:19.605
• Those on the board of administration influenced the elections,00:32:32.446
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• which resulted in election termination. The unions stopped to appoint their representatives00:32:40.180
• 00:32:40.180
• and thus any inspection was impossible...00:32:47.608
• 00:32:47.608
• The Foundation's last statute was determined in 2013, and they didn't make it public on their web page,00:32:51.604
• 00:32:51.604
• but it was evident from the Internet. However, the preceding statutes00:32:59.932
• 00:32:59.932
• prove that the board of administration; which is the supreme board;00:33:04.399
• 00:33:04.399
• renews itself, and its founder was the abolitionary Fund that was terminated00:33:08.606
• 00:33:08.606
• a year after the Foundation's establishment. So it hasn't got a founder capable of any action,00:33:17.144
• 00:33:17.144
• and the board of administrators make decisions for themselves: they appoint and dismiss themselves.00:33:24.843
• 00:33:24.843
• The only thing that works is the term of office, after which the board expires and there is00:33:35.102
• 00:33:35.102
• a restriction of two terms, but if they omit one of them, it allows them to return...00:33:41.441
• 00:33:41.441
• The electoral system is given by the statute. To alter the statute for some changes00:33:47.729
• 00:33:47.729
• would be impossible as it would be too fragmented. The statute clearly defines how00:33:53.450
• 00:33:53.450
• members can be voted onto the board of administration. The groups usually send their representatives,00:34:01.084
• 00:34:01.084
• and the board elects one third, and the remaining part varies.00:34:11.874
• 00:34:11.874
• So just one third alternates - people are selected according00:34:22.942
• 00:34:22.942
• to their credit and their capability to work in the Foundation.00:34:33.187
• 00:34:33.187
• The choice is made by many to prevent potential prejudice...00:34:42.573
• 00:34:42.573
• I was made to leave many times before being re-elected.00:34:52.282
• 00:34:52.282
• The institution is uncontrollable, the state made a crucial mistake00:35:01.401
• 00:35:01.401
• when it didn't define the conditions for inspecting funds that were transformed into foundations.00:35:08.279
• 00:35:08.279
• After the revolution, it was believed that there was no need for00:35:16.434
• 00:35:16.434
• conception in culture and that it was not possible to interfere with it.00:35:22.025
• 00:35:22.025
• Therefore, some mechanisms that would have been useful00:35:26.140
• 00:35:26.140
• were forgotten, and the question was how they'd be revived.00:35:35.883
• 00:35:35.883
• This may be true for all three existing foundations:00:35:39.820
• 00:35:39.820
• not only art, but also the literary or music ones.00:35:44.012
• 00:35:44.012
• It's a very complex process into which the Ministry would have to intervene00:35:47.257
• 00:35:47.257
• in the first phase; and consequently the state legislative board and lawmakers...00:35:54.173
• 00:35:54.173
• -but I have my doubts.00:36:03.151
• 00:36:03.151
• The mistake made in 1993, when the law about transformations was passed, was fatal.00:36:06.446
• 00:36:06.446
• I believe it wasn't made deliberately, but the lack of experience and naive belief00:36:12.112
• 00:36:12.112
• that artists could manage their own matters may sound nice, but it stopped00:36:20.258
• 00:36:20.258
• working the moment the first board of administration was set up00:36:25.856
• 00:36:25.856
• - and that was it.00:36:29.764
• 00:36:29.764
• A call for democratic designation sounds nice, but there is no mechanism embodied00:36:31.787
• 00:36:31.787
• in the foundation statute - or the law about transformation - to make it possible.00:36:38.955
• 00:36:38.955
• There would have to be a distinct legislative change,00:36:48.248
• 00:36:48.248
• or the foundation board of administration would have to be enlightened enough00:36:51.670
• 00:36:51.670
• to elect different representatives than are elected today...00:36:58.380
• 00:36:58.380
• If you look at the list of names, you can see that it was an enclosed community00:37:04.448
• 00:37:04.448
• of different artists, architects, painters, sculptors, and so on.00:37:09.821
• 00:37:09.821
• On 25th November 2004, the Constitutional Court rejected all complaints by the Mánes Association of Visual Artists00:38:37.333
• 00:38:37.333
• about the courts' procedures; without the possibility to appeal against the decision.00:38:45.416
• 00:38:45.416
• Nine years have passed and the foundation hasn't made any radical moves towards00:38:49.783
• 00:38:49.783
• the art community or current political issues. The period of lengthy lawsuits00:38:54.829
• 00:38:54.829
• to appoint the owner of the the Mánes Association of Visual Artists' building and property,00:39:02.461
• 00:39:02.461
• serves the Foundation up to the present time as an excuse for their inactivity.00:39:07.538
• 00:39:07.538
• Since that time, Mánes has been ill-famed as a place where no exhibitions are held,00:39:13.648
• 00:39:13.648
• because its activities have mostly been commercial, and a few of the last exhibitions worth mentioning00:39:19.417
• 00:39:19.417
• at Mánes were bound with people that the Foundation skilfully got rid of for different reasons.00:39:26.822
• 00:39:26.822
• Not to mention the astronomical sums of money the Foundation demanded for exhibitions in Mánes.00:39:34.747
• 00:39:34.747
• In the 1990s and 2000s the foundation managed, relatively quickly and with success,00:39:42.633
• 00:39:42.633
• to cope with all the criticism coming from both within and without.00:39:48.743
• 00:39:48.743
• Apart from minor groupings and individuals who spoke out critically,00:39:53.853
• 00:39:53.853
• the foundation's activity and attitudes were met with an absolute lack of interest by the art community.00:39:59.248
• 00:39:59.248
• The Foundation should follow the art scene in this country with respect to its history and continuity.00:40:06.692
• 00:40:06.692
• The Foundation's 19 years of existence have been the greatest period of disillusionment.00:40:17.561
• 00:40:17.561
• The Foundation doesn't really support artists, unlike music or literary foundations who,00:40:26.364
• 00:40:26.364
• as we all know, bestow awards, grants, and scholarships; and give away a lot of money...00:40:38.141
• 00:40:38.141
• The Foundation, instead of doing a similar thing, only gave away the obligatory 300 000,- a year.00:40:51.816
• 00:40:51.816
• Nobody knew who to: now they release it on their web page but they never published their annual reports before...00:40:59.583
• 00:40:59.583
• When there isn't much money, it's hard to work with it00:41:08.986
• 00:41:08.986
• and decide who to support and why... Such redistribution is correct,00:41:13.128
• 00:41:13.128
• but to be frank, it's not always what it should be. I personally have a big problem with it...00:41:25.966
• 00:41:25.966
• What it was possible to live on in the past is insufficient today, and the ways00:41:35.761
• 00:41:35.761
• and methods of work must be different. It's all based on business and money making,00:41:43.381
• 00:41:43.381
• and the visual art world appears more and more fragile.00:41:51.004
• 00:41:51.004
• The truth is that exhibitions aren't always profitable, and we often get into financial loss.00:41:57.731
• 00:41:57.731
• As for the Foundation's development, I assume the unions will perk up00:42:18.629
• 00:42:18.629
• so that Mánes will serve as a union building, and at the same time as a place for presentation.00:42:31.200
• 00:42:31.200
• Certain policies should also be created towards the state, as the state behaves unkindly to citizens00:42:43.337
• 00:42:43.337
• who are engaged in art: possibly in despair....00:42:55.645
• 00:42:55.645
• The Foundation evidently didn't manage a lot during the past twenty years.00:43:16.826
• 00:43:16.826
• The worlds of art (or rather the world of culture) and politics passed each other successfully,00:43:22.457
• 00:43:22.457
• and all the objections to the methods of politicians in the cultural sphere00:43:28.342
• 00:43:28.342
• took place at different levels for the Foundation.00:43:32.625
• 00:43:32.625
• The initiative, 'Mánes for Artists' has been the only defiant movement so far.00:43:38.974
• 00:43:38.974
• The two-day, symbolic occupation of the Mánes building took place on the 18th and 19th April; on the riverbank00:43:47.370
• 00:43:47.370
• in front of the building; and attracted a lot of attention.00:43:53.727
• 00:43:53.727
• Although it was supported by a wide and relevant spectrum of personalities in a short time,00:43:58.048
• 00:43:58.048
• they couldn't avoid several, remarkable, critical reflections.00:44:04.604
• 00:44:04.604
• When the initiative was being established, there were many fundamental debates about00:44:09.757
• 00:44:09.757
• how to proceed and perform in the whole matter.00:44:14.503
• 00:44:14.503
• We didn't need to win the building to our own hands,00:44:21.132
• 00:44:21.132
• but to return the Mánes building to the initial purpose it was built for.00:44:26.026
• 00:44:26.026
• We appealed to the Foundation to link the building they administer with union life again.00:44:30.573
• 00:44:30.573
• We wanted the Foundation to initiate change and to find a solution00:44:42.299
• 00:44:42.299
• to reach unification again.00:44:46.403
• 00:44:46.403
• If there were any means of achieving the change from inside, or in a democratic way,00:44:49.703
• 00:44:49.703
• we would've made reasonable use of them of course,00:44:58.130
• 00:44:58.130
• but we were driven into a situation where it was impossible.00:45:01.637
• 00:45:01.637
• That's why we had to take such measures to appeal to their conscience;00:45:05.709
• 00:45:05.709
• and we had to do it from the street as we were divested of the interior of the building.00:45:11.229
• 00:45:11.229
• It's a pity that such an event didn't take place in 1995, 199600:45:37.365
• 00:45:37.365
• or 1997 when we wrote analytical articles about the embezzlement, in the Artist magazine00:45:43.868
• 00:45:43.868
• - but nobody reacted to it then. Nobody...00:45:51.704
• 00:45:51.704
• People should have seen the lawyers who invented the entire theft,00:46:11.501
• 00:46:11.501
• and how they laughed at the hipsters having a party there and then going home;00:46:20.182
• 00:46:20.182
• because from the viewpoint of the law, it was private property,00:46:28.623
• 00:46:28.623
• and democracy protects property nowadays.00:46:35.411
• 00:46:35.411
• If something is going to change, democracy always goes by the book.00:46:40.958
• 00:46:40.958
• When people are afraid to perform radically because they don't want to lose00:46:51.138
• 00:46:51.138
• what they have, nothing happens...00:47:03.582
• 00:47:03.582
• This shows that history changes only when there's nothing to lose:00:47:06.894
• 00:47:06.894
• then democracy isn't mentioned anymore and something must be done.00:47:13.935
• 00:47:13.935
• I think that minor radical acts of individuals or groups keep society healthy.00:47:17.725
• 00:47:17.725
• Radical gestures don't mean destroying or burning something down.00:47:26.138
• 00:47:26.138
• Breaking the law isn't a crime in the eyes of the people, but in the eyes of the law...00:47:33.232
• 00:47:33.232
• - but there are moments when stealing something that has already been stolen is not a crime.00:47:44.964
• 00:47:44.964
• If someone acts legally but not legitimately, should you react by the rules or illegally?00:47:51.658
• 00:47:51.658
• This question and discussion is crucial for the initiative.00:48:08.540
• 00:48:08.540
• If you try to act by the rules, it doesn't really work I guess.00:48:13.706
• 00:48:13.706
• The ambition of the 'Mánes for Artists' initiative was to join as wide a spectrum of people active in art as possible,00:48:54.638
• 00:48:54.638
• so that they could try to achieve radical change in the Czech Visual Art Foundation together,00:49:02.678
• 00:49:02.678
• and reappraise the existing opinion of union life principles.00:49:09.286
• 00:49:09.286
• Its actual act was the election that took place a month later in Prague Divus: onto the so-called00:49:15.343
• 00:49:15.343
• shadow board of administration for the Foundation. At first, the art community was called on00:49:21.770
• 00:49:21.770
• to nominate suitable candidates and vote to elect00:49:28.658
• 00:49:28.658
• 00:49:28.658
• onto the Foundation's shadow board of administration.00:49:35.639
• 00:49:35.639
• The voter turnout consisted of 304 rightful electors.00:49:39.079
• 00:49:39.079
• We appealed to their responsibility for the organisation.00:49:44.101
• 00:49:44.101
• We wanted them to elicit a process of self-removal from office and to accept new members.00:49:51.110
• 00:49:51.110
• This had to be done in three moves so that the majority of the board00:49:59.543
• 00:49:59.543
• would be able to remove the minority.00:50:04.730
• 00:50:04.730
• This process had to be launched. They needed to be told that a representative00:50:08.490
• 00:50:08.490
• sample of artists, theorists and curators didn't consider them competent,00:50:20.660
• 00:50:20.660
• and that they had a chance to redress after 20 years, the decline;00:50:26.927
• 00:50:26.927
• that may not have been caused by them personally; but that they were liable for by being there at the moment.00:50:34.480
• 00:50:34.480
• Of course cynics may ridicule us for of our naivety,00:50:41.736
• 00:50:41.736
• but I call it conceptual naivety when you make use of naive means to00:50:46.272
• 00:50:46.272
• make them realise what happened, and what they're responsible for, and that conscience exists.00:50:54.289
• 00:50:54.289
• I'm a member of the shadow board at the moment, and I feel that this argument works00:51:00.576
• 00:51:00.576
• when minimal communication is happening. When we spoke to Mr Kuthan00:51:06.899
• 00:51:06.899
• before the TV appearance, I could feel that he was overtaken00:51:13.229
• 00:51:13.229
• by the fact there were more people supporting us than them.00:51:17.556
• 00:51:17.556
• The aim was to intensify the furore over Mánes and the building reconstruction;00:51:22.573
• 00:51:22.573
• and at the same time to get the Foundation's current management to make their elections00:51:29.689
• 00:51:29.689
• onto the board transparent, so it could bring about a gradual re-election of members00:51:37.065
• 00:51:37.065
• in the future, and make the Foundation progressively meaningful and purposeful.00:51:43.971
• 00:51:43.971
• After the elections in August, we wrote a letter to the board of administration00:51:50.790
• 00:51:50.790
• asking them to meet us and uncover the economical background of their activities:00:51:56.327
• 00:51:56.327
• predominantly the conditions under which they suspended the building00:52:01.909
• 00:52:01.909
• and how they saw the repayment. We didn't get an answer, even00:52:07.905
• 00:52:07.905
• after sending a reminder, so we wrote an open letter that we also published on web pages00:52:14.742
• 00:52:14.742
• and sent to everyone on the board: but nobody replied to that either.00:52:23.496
• 00:52:23.496
• The only reaction was by Mr Siegel, who asked us not to use their private addresses and to contact the director00:52:28.739
• 00:52:28.739
• - but no specific answer or proposition to meet was made.00:52:36.989
• 00:52:36.989
• I think we all had a positive approach as we didn't want to criticise,00:52:44.837
• 00:52:44.837
• but to try to arrange a meeting that would open the situation00:52:50.462
• 00:52:50.462
• not only to us; a fragment of the art community; but also to the public.00:52:58.818
• 00:52:58.818
• There should be a discussion on what this chain of events, resulting in Mánes' indebtedness, had taught us.00:53:05.801
• 00:53:05.801
• We learned a lot about the way they did things, there was a certain determination and energy00:53:19.560
• 00:53:19.560
• when the Fund was being transformed into the Foundation.00:53:26.480
• 00:53:26.480
• In 1995 it seemed that there was a certain good-will to do something for the art community,00:53:32.267
• 00:53:32.267
• and if everything had continued as well as it had started, it wouldn't lie in ruins today.00:53:39.286
• 00:53:39.286
• After the elections for the shadow board of the Czech Visual Art Foundation,00:54:21.893
• 00:54:21.893
• the nine members of the shadow board tried to make contact with the current Foundation's board,00:54:25.967
• 00:54:25.967
• and to solve the hopeless situation through different, available, official means.00:54:32.172
• 00:54:32.172
• The increased urge for union life by the art community, resulted in the establishment of a new union00:54:39.471
• 00:54:39.471
• with all the requirements needed to be operational and have a beneficial effect.00:54:48.387
• 00:54:48.387
• At present, both lines of demand and interest pervade and complement each other.00:54:53.945
• 00:54:53.945
• The shadow board of the Foundation is trying to save everything valuable that was left from the past,00:55:00.209
• 00:55:00.209
• and part of the 'Mánes for Artists' initiative focuses on the possibilities of this newly arising union;00:55:05.599
• 00:55:05.599
• based on the synthesis of principal ideas from the past, and entirely new ideas.00:55:12.368
• 00:55:12.368
• All the events surrounding the Mánes exhibition hall and Foundation,00:55:19.208
• 00:55:19.208
• triggered debates on union life and the realisation that we lost something significant00:55:24.728
• 00:55:24.728
• through self preoccupation and extreme individualism.00:55:34.016
• 00:55:34.016
• I consider Mánes to be a symptom of much more general issues.00:55:41.016
• 00:55:41.016
• I regard my generation and my peers as people who entered the art scene and00:55:48.851
• 00:55:48.851
• noticed that there was something wrong. Certain, crucial institutions didn't00:56:00.373
• 00:56:00.373
• work as they should or were just scandalous; or didn't work at all.00:56:06.118
• 00:56:06.118
• We tried to do something about it, but at a specific moment;00:56:13.886
• 00:56:13.886
• and this doesn't only apply for Mánes, but also for the hotel Praha and other institutions;00:56:18.703
• 00:56:18.703
• when we strain to reach our aim, we often find it's too late.00:56:25.240
• 00:56:25.240
• Even the occupation... When we symbolically started the occupation,00:56:34.898
• 00:56:34.898
• we found that we were occupying ruins...00:56:42.334
• 00:56:42.334
• It's hard to say what the intention was: whether it was giving people a reconstructed Mánes,00:56:45.238
• 00:56:45.238
• or presenting the background for its total indebtedness00:56:52.959
• 00:56:52.959
• and showing that there was no money for exhibitions or for continual work on its programme.00:57:03.527
• 00:57:03.527
• Everything had to be generated: the restaurant had to be leased, as well as the other parts00:57:11.034
• 00:57:11.034
• of Mánes, so that the loan could be paid off - if they were successful in refinancing it with another bank loan...00:57:18.876
• 00:57:18.876
• We didn't know if we should try harder to put the ruins back together,00:57:24.108
• 00:57:24.108
• or give up and try to create something of our own...00:57:33.107
• 00:57:33.107
• There was no time to wait for A to be done so that B could follow...00:57:40.287
• 00:57:40.287
• It all had to be done at once, which meant splitting-up the group of people engaged in the issue,00:57:47.429
• 00:57:47.429
• so that everyone could do the things they're more familiar with,00:57:58.876
• 00:57:58.876
• or that they consider to be more important or able to be done better...00:58:02.415
• 00:58:02.415
• We may communicate with the Mánes Visual Artist Association, and with the people who did their best in the 1990s00:58:05.422
• 00:58:05.422
• to have Mánes operating fairly well. I assume they won't be interested in the new union.00:58:10.961
• 00:58:10.961
• Consequently there was a kind of cleansing of the two aims clearly defined00:58:19.156
• 00:58:19.156
• - which is good I guess...00:58:25.423
• 00:58:25.423
• At the same time, nobody knows how the new union will operate.00:58:27.513
• 00:58:27.513
• Everyone expects something and we'll check step by step to see if it's a utopia or if00:58:32.062
• 00:58:32.062
• it is unable to operate within the giant democratic body; and we'll see if it gets interesting to have00:58:39.892
• 00:58:39.892
• a distinctive and sharp view point when it's intended for hundreds of people...00:58:49.422
• 00:58:49.422
• We will see...00:59:00.297
• 00:59:00.297
• In my opinion, this is the biggest problem - and I repeat that I don't feel able to judge it,00:59:05.400
• 00:59:05.400
• let alone to induce dreams...00:59:12.434
• 00:59:12.434
• The younger generation should finally be able to contact institutional connections, so they're entitled00:59:15.222
• 00:59:15.222
• to participate in decision-making. That's my opinion.00:59:24.620
• 00:59:24.620
• That's why I really like the appeal in fact... - but who is it waiting for?00:59:28.357
• 00:59:28.357
• For us? Nothing is waiting for us anymore... The Valley of Death is in view...00:59:36.656
• 00:59:36.656
• You still have the chance to move up and choose your way, but we already see the Valley of Death.00:59:43.035
• 00:59:43.035
• We already know what it looks like and which way to take: whether the steep one, short one or the long one...00:59:51.202
• 00:59:51.202
• Whether to climb, plod or crawl... It varies...00:59:57.757
• 00:59:57.757
• - but the younger generation has the future ahead and should be part of the development.01:00:01.986
• 01:00:01.986
• In spring 2013, the Foundation assigned Mánes to the charitable trust, Apella Fine Arts o.p.s.01:00:42.365
• 01:00:42.365
• which has pledged 130.000.000 CZK to the building company, Skanska, for the reconstruction realisation.01:00:49.064

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