Ivan Vosecký
Co je umění? Tahle banální a přesto neřešitelná otázka visí ve vzduchu přinejmenším celé jedno století.
Pokud vím, poslední dílo Ivana Voseckého byl nápis na zdi galerie: Umění je nic nechtít.
Bezprostředně poté vyklidil atelier, rozžehnal se s uměleckým prostředím a přesídlil na Šumavu. Část obrazů rozdal, něco použil dál, často k prozaickým účelům. Jeho horská chajda s ovčínem ale připomíná spíš galerijní instalaci, navíc s výrazným autorským rukopisem.Vlastně je to zhmotnělý sen moderny o rozpuštění umění v životě. Duchampovy šachy vedle toho působí jako trapně elitářská a snobská zábava.
Ať už jej chápeme jakkoliv, konec se vždycky podobá úklidu. Ivan navíc třídí odpad, i ten sémiotický a hlavně recykluje. Dělal to tak vždycky, zkuste prosvítit jeho plátna nebo si všímat detailů v instalacích. Ostatně nápis, o němž byla řeč, je vlastně zrecyklovaná verze staršího textu, kde umění nahradilo původní svobodu. To má dost silnou symboliku, což? Možná, že nezamýšlenou…
Trochu to souvisí s povahou Voseckého děl, jeho tvůrčími postupy.
V zásadě jde vždy o těsné spojení nevinného (přirozeného, dětského nebo prostě jen nezáměrného) s hluboce závažným. Subjektivního zážitku či postoje s veskrze holisticky pojímaným světem. Pocit nepochopení u Ivana Voseckého (u zážitku bolesti či víry to dost dobře nejde) splývá s pocitem pochopení (skrze soucit nebo zatajovaná fakta). To jsou dost závažná témata, takže by nemělo nikoho překvapovat, že jeho tvorba působí trochu neotesaně. Vzpomeňme si na toho nešťastného sofistu z Platónského mýtu o jeskyni, Pravdu prostě nejde vyprávět brilantně, chybí slova k popisu, předobrazy. Dá se jen naznačovat, hledat metafory a metonymie: Love – Vole. Izrahell. Soukromé psychodrama ledvinové koliky a neutěšený stav planety. Veteš a genocida indiánů. Nebo prostě jen předat poselství (Všechno je boží vůle. Kill them All…) a začnou se dít nečekané věci…
- I have a nice scythe here.00:00:05.322
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- But I won't cut anything.00:00:08.963
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- He is a grass harvester. You should shoot this.00:00:10.826
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- He's a musician.00:00:21.112
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- When he taught me to sharpen the scythe...00:00:22.708
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- It's music to him. And rhythm.00:00:25.775
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- Me, I'm happy to sharpen it so that it cuts grass.00:00:29.071
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- It's very specific. When I am in Prague...00:00:39.595
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- Perhaps I feel some sort of insufficiency with my life here,00:00:45.182
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- unsatisfaction. Art springs from this.00:00:49.494
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- In the mountains, at Šumava, or when I was in India,00:00:56.924
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- I don't feel the need to deal with such issues.00:01:01.784
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- The landscape there is beautiful. So I take pictures and I tell myself:00:01:09.194
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- Wow, it'd be great to paint some landscapes.00:01:13.690
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- But I know I'll never do it. I have no reason.00:01:18.399
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- It's complete as it is. Unless I wanted to make my living from it.00:01:23.191
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- It might be possible.00:01:27.079
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- I could paint the Šumava landscape and sell it at Prachatice square.00:01:29.810
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- At least, that'd make some sense.00:01:34.409
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- My texts focus on an urban audience.00:01:37.069
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- It's for my surroundings, i.e. the city and artists.00:01:41.828
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- ART IS NOT WANTING ANYTHING00:01:47.148
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- Should I tell you the story?00:01:49.621
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- Originally, it was exhibited at "Restricted Budget," I think.00:01:51.301
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- It said: FREEDOM IS NOT WANTING ANYTHING.00:01:57.960
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- Jirka Ševčík asked me to write it again.00:02:00.030
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- I said I didn't want to write the same thing twice.00:02:02.726
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- He said: Come on, it's a good sign, why are you against it?00:02:07.152
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- Sure, "Freedom is not wanting anything" is still valid.00:02:11.730
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- Then, in a moment of weakness, I said ok, I would.00:02:14.872
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- I started making it and I felt I didn't want to repeat it.00:02:21.642
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- So I re-wrote it and put ART IS NOT WANTING ANYTHING.00:02:26.723
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- Edith said Jirka was a bit upset.00:02:31.826
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- I feel it's pointless to exhibit an old text again.00:02:36.002
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- It was created at a certain time, in a certain constellation,00:02:42.833
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- I had a reason for it...00:02:47.090
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- To create it again, it's...00:02:50.524
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- There is a chapel nearby I want to show you.00:02:56.024
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- It has a lovely inscription.00:02:58.343
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- - You like inscriptions. - Yes, I took a picture of it.00:03:03.551
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- Wonderful, isn't it?00:03:07.648
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- GOD IS LOVE00:03:09.308
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- When I work with text, I need for it to carry a message.00:03:16.733
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- In order for it to convey this message,00:03:21.011
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- it needs to touch on topics I find interesting.00:03:24.042
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- But eventually, what happens is...00:03:27.216
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- It's also exciting.00:03:37.763
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- When I made KILL THEM ALL in Berlin00:03:40.318
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- for an exhibition curated by Ivan Mečl,00:03:45.234
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- I told him: Either I write IZRAHELL or KILL THEM ALL.00:03:49.125
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- He said: "I don't care. Write what you want."00:03:53.728
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- I thought, if I write "Kill Them All", it'll be OK.00:03:55.821
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- - Did you know who owned the building? - No, I didn't.00:04:00.905
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- I didn't want... I wasn't all that sure.00:04:05.139
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- In Berlin... it could cause trouble.00:04:13.274
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- This is more general.00:04:17.358
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- I was very surprised by the reaction it stirred.00:04:24.295
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- If you place a sign "Kill Them All" on a building owned by gun manufacturer...00:04:30.049
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- But I didn't know that!00:04:38.761
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- Yes, it was a coincidence.00:04:42.241
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- And the slogan "IZRAHELL"?00:04:47.185
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- I made a detailed description in a declaration I published.00:04:53.447
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- First, I don't hate Israelis.00:04:59.824
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- In my opinion, they live in a sort of hell.00:05:04.789
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- They harm another ethnic group.00:05:10.133
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- They deny what Jesus had been crucified for: all men are equal.00:05:12.984
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- Or "Love your neighbour as yourself."00:05:23.469
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- To me it means "All men are equal."00:05:29.243
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- If you don't acknowledge this for others, you are wrong.00:05:32.203
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- If a state and its hierarchy is built on that...00:05:42.969
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- It is built on a primary sin...00:05:48.958
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- To come and chase people away who've lived there...00:05:53.223
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- It has always been like that, but to do that after WWII00:05:59.293
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- and say: genocide, Hitler... We have the right to...00:06:03.747
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- And you go and do the same thing to somebody else...00:06:12.429
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- This is what I meant. I didn't think it'd stay there long.00:06:16.269
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- I thought 2-3 days, I didn't think it'd be destroyed within hours.00:06:23.527
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- It was an urge... I couldn't fight it.00:06:29.511
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- I felt I couldn't do anything else... I couldn't paint until I did this.00:06:35.803
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- At the exhibition "Shadows of Humor" in Wroclav I wrote:00:06:44.240
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- "SIN DOES NOT EXIST".00:06:55.421
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- This was done in the context of Poland.00:06:57.228
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- I wanted to write it in Polish,00:07:05.277
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- but the curator asked me to write it in English,00:07:07.569
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- because a church stood nearby. He said the Polish would cause trouble.00:07:10.924
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- I said, ok, I'll flip a coin and act accordingly.00:07:15.127
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- So it was English. Of course, Polish would have been better.00:07:20.944
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- I wanted to come forward to the curator, so I flipped a coin.00:07:25.969
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- If it said Polish, I would have written it in Polish.00:07:31.250
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- But the text was written for Polish people and for Poland.00:07:35.461
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- The text "YOU CAN LOVE US" in Berlin was written in German.00:07:40.935
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- In London it said: "LIES LIVE IN ME".00:07:48.629
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- You asked about the line.00:08:02.060
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- I feel I often deal with death.00:08:05.771
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- Death is often present in my work.00:08:09.857
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- It touches me, too: how to deal with death?00:08:15.523
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- I often deal with it in my texts and paintings.00:08:20.225
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- My crop froze.00:08:25.875
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- In ETC Gallery this was displayed in the glass showcase?00:08:32.381
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- -Yeah. -Yes, with the pieces of wood.00:08:35.181
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- The cabinet... we had it in our cottage,00:08:40.350
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- then I moved it here.00:08:46.538
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- Everything in it was taken from the apartment.00:08:48.818
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- Things I collected: pieces of wood, mushrooms,00:08:54.723
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- bones, etc.00:09:04.572
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- I've always loved to pick up things in nature.00:09:09.198
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- Feathers... I enjoyed the horns and bones, too.00:09:14.818
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- I'd find a bore's head with fangs...00:09:21.622
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- I displayed it in my flat.00:09:26.470
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- It was displayed in ETC, but there was also the cabinet...00:09:29.383
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- The text was very personal. Too much, in fact.00:09:34.402
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- Some people told me that and I also thought so.00:09:37.917
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- You open up to people...00:09:43.649
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- Eventually, I used parts of the text in other places.00:09:50.680
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- I found this part where I complain of not selling any paintings,00:09:59.885
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- and being upset about it.00:10:06.286
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- I've always imagined you can't separate art from your life.00:10:10.953
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- I thought it should be a part of my life,00:10:17.791
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- or, ideally, to experience everything, even shopping, as an artistic act.00:10:26.545
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- It doesn't always work that way.00:10:37.360
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- But this is what I've imagined.00:10:40.803
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- This is why I included such personal issues.00:10:44.737
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- Many peple reproached me for that, including my wife.00:10:51.796
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- She thinks art shouldn't be personal. She isn't an artist herself, though.00:10:55.634
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- I wouldn't write the texts in the same way again.00:11:02.431
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- It's not due to lack of courage. They seem stupid to me now.00:11:06.145
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- A painting is something different.00:11:10.179
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- This is the meadow above us.00:11:14.021
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- Třepešín00:11:19.802
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- Keep going straight.00:11:21.575
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- To the right.00:11:28.259
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- Right again.00:11:36.156
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- And right again. Here we are at home.00:11:39.481
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- Come on, come in.00:11:58.311
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- Karolina and I got rid of many things.00:12:00.320
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- There was a lot of junk. It made me feel...00:12:05.419
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- The enclosure is half made of the lathes that laid in the cave.00:12:10.770
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- It's all recycled. Really.00:12:18.283
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- This closet, I saw it at a guy's place, laying there on a pile of things.00:12:24.426
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- I asked what would they do with it and he said "burn it".00:12:30.766
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- So I took it out.00:12:36.818
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- The stairs, I also got them.00:12:40.302
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- A guy who needed them to have construction approved...00:12:43.023
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- He made the stairs and then removed them.00:12:47.471
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- So, this is the way I recycle.00:12:50.531
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- Styrofoam out there is from Mečl.00:12:53.493
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- The iron is also from Karlín.00:13:06.225
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- Here, those "U" shaped ones.00:13:08.959
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- Look, what you can do. It's a great installation.00:13:11.018
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- You can add more if you want.00:13:28.428
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- This white pole was in the basement of Karlin Studios.00:13:32.503
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- Somebody had used it for an installation, to hang a flag.00:13:40.243
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- It was there for three years, so I thought I'd recycle it.00:13:44.383
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- I cleared my whole studio and I wondered...00:13:50.349
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- I wanted to throw away some very old paintings made on fibreboards.00:13:56.348
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- I thought I'd take them to Šumava and use them for the ceiling.00:14:03.494
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- A friend saw them, I told him I was taking them away.00:14:11.440
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- He said: "Are you crazy? These are great paintings!"00:14:15.438
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- My son came and said: "I'll take this board."00:14:19.260
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- It surprised me: You say you want to throw it00:14:24.706
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- and everybody goes "No!". But for ten years nobody cared.00:14:31.207
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- The texts you asked me about, about death, with photographs,00:14:37.040
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- I peeled off the pictures, removed the letters,00:14:43.281
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- and took the boards to Šumava and made shelves of them.00:14:47.861
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- It seemed to me this was the best thing I could do with them.00:14:51.204
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- There it was just gathering dust and decomposing.00:14:56.601
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- It's getting old and falling into dust.00:15:03.455
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- I'll bring you a painting. That'd be fun.00:15:06.262
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- They began to dress in a strange way and everyone started copying them.00:15:09.559
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- They were punks.00:15:16.185
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- But "Sun City" was different:00:15:18.498
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- They flew into a capitalist state and can't believe their eyes.00:15:19.851
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- This is the only painting I made sketches for.00:15:26.183
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- -What is he standing in? A nest? -It's a cloud.00:15:31.744
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- Oh, a cloud. I'm sorry!00:15:35.244
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- OK, it could be a nest.00:15:41.782
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- I see my work as a sort of service provided to the public.00:15:43.994
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- Somebody takes care of old grannies in the hospital.00:15:50.354
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- This is something I am not capable of.00:15:53.066
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- Lately, when I write texts or paint,00:15:55.862
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- I try to consider it as a public service.00:16:01.131
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- I don't produce anything that'd help other people or society.00:16:08.008
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- I don't grow food... I am not contributing.00:16:15.721
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- You are a sort of appendix and live off the others.00:16:21.875
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- You are a drone living off the air.00:16:27.263
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- To feed the artists, the society needs to produce...00:16:33.502
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- Production is necessary: in your studio, you need electricity,00:16:37.279
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- you waste lots of water,00:16:42.133
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- you wash your brushes and paints all the time...00:16:44.192
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- When I make a painting, I use at least 20 litres per day...00:16:49.481
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- So, it's all the colours, glue, frames, electricity and all.00:16:58.178
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- It sounds stupid, but I feel I really have to pay all this back.00:17:04.866
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- At least for myself.00:17:12.589
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- I need to give something back, immaterial or material.00:17:16.077
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- At present, this is the most important thing for me.00:17:24.221
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- I want what I do to have meaning.00:17:29.014
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- To sit in a studio and paint - and call it my living -00:17:32.561
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- doesn't seem OK to me.00:17:38.359