Vojtěch Fröhlich
Česká umělecká scéna má svého Spider-Mana. „Fröhlich? Jo, to je ten, co leze, že jo?“ Ano, představa modrookého svalovce s lezečkami a rukama od maglajzu, jak visí hlavou dolů například z osvětlovací lišty někde v galerii, je asi v souvislosti s Vojtěchem Fröhlichem (nar. 1985) nejtypičtější. Proto také nepřekvapí, že se nabízí otázka: kde končí sport, popřípadě akrobacie a začíná umění? Je Fröhlich „opravdový umělec“, nebo prostě jenom kaskadér a šoumen? Hranice mezi těmito rolemi může být tenká, Fröhlichovi se ale daří velmi umně balancovat na straně umění.
Mohli bychom toto tvrzení podepřít historickým exkurzem, který by se věnoval konceptuálnímu umění a body artu. Když Fröhlich, který před studiem na AVU absolvoval tři roky na FAMU, realizoval pro výstavní projekt Křehké kino nejprve 24-hodinovou performance a pak týdenní pobyt v uzavřené a zatemněné galerii Jelení, testoval tím vlastní výdrž fyzickou i duševní. Podobně se tělo stalo „médiem“ i v projektech Srdíčko a 42,195, kdy důležitou roli hrál pohyb v krajině. Někdy pak můžeme mluvit o až minimalisticko-zenových cvičeních, jako v případě oooOOO°°°…000. Medidativní charakter měl i Úklid – vyklizení umělcova obytného vozu před absolvováním křížové cesty Na Kalvárii.
Samotné akademické vzdělání nás také opravňuje jej řadit mezi umělce. Především je to ale onen „avantgardistický étos“ prolínání umění se životem. Jaký je rozdíl mezi lezením po skále nebo chůzí po laně venku a obdobnou činností v galerii, resp. v uměleckém kontextu? Mnozí se asi nezbaví dojmu, že jde jen o prvoplánovou exhibici, pokud je ale významnou devízou umění, že vyvolává silné emoce, zde se to daří měrou vrchovatou. Už jen pohled na napnuté lano nad hlubinou Malé dvorany ve Veletržním paláci a představa po něm přecházejícího člověka, může u diváka způsobit psychofyzickou reakci, závrať. Je tu samozřejmě také aspekt testování institucionálních podmínek, případně jejich implicitní kritika.
Tyto kaskadérské výkony, ale nejsou samoúčelné, nejde jen o podívanou. Dá se říct, že Fröhlich pracuje především s tím, co se odehrává v mysli. To dobře ilustroval třeba v realizaci H013 v rámci výstavy Cesta nebo v akci, jíž uskutečnil v rámci výstavy v Drdova Gallery, kdy vyšplhal na vršek budovy skrze byty nájemníků.
Někdy jsou fyzické schopnosti prostředkem k uměleckému aktivismu jako v případě kolektivních projektů Kolotoč a Osvícení.
Fröhlich se nebojí gest, která provokují svou „neuměleckostí“, jako v případě jeho klauzurního počinu, kdy založil dnes už tak nějak samozřejmé bistro na AVU, nebo „anti-uměleckostí“, jako když pro výstavu Konec světa „nepřipravil nic“.
Fröhlich se s tím prostě moc nemaže – zapráší si ruce magnesiem a už leze. Přitom si ale udržuje neuvěřitelnou lehkost, schopnost jít k věci a přitom překvapit.
Tereza Jindrová
- It's terrible. Really terrible.00:00:04.863
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- It is some kind of ritual for me.00:00:16.403
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- My goal is to create some special experience,00:00:20.601
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- special moments for me to cling to,00:00:24.939
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- even though I don't have to, because as long as I know00:00:29.228
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- I can't touch the ground, I don't do it.00:00:33.076
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- And even though you don't really do it, notwithstanding00:00:37.167
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- the fact you actually can, there starts to pile up00:00:40.738
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- some kind of ritual, you know, that interests me somehow.00:00:44.351
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- I work often with image,00:01:09.536
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- I have been working with photography,00:01:13.132
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- but I came to realize the mountain climbing00:01:16.506
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- is probably more natural a kind of an expression for me.00:01:20.167
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- So I think it would be a pity to not to take advantage00:01:23.568
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- of the fact when it is possible. But it's not as if I was saying00:01:27.324
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- to myself that I am coming up with climbing,00:01:31.022
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- it's more like a part of my life, so I use it naturally.00:01:34.798
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- In the climbing you can find a parallel of my approach,00:01:37.945
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- every time I am not touching the ground in the space00:01:41.604
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- I am occupying it's sort of an opening of a new dimension,00:01:45.588
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- a new plateau,00:01:49.617
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- a new world of space, or a space in general.00:01:53.945
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- It's as if you... I don't know who says it,00:01:57.962
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- some monk or whoever, you enter some other world.00:02:01.722
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- I create this parallel of new dimension in the art world00:02:05.540
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- and there you can do a lot of things.00:02:09.321
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- Climbing allows you to transcend the limits00:03:12.675
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- of a mundane perception, a mundane idea of reality,00:03:16.625
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- that's why I see it as a medium propre.00:03:20.900
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- Because I can't do the same thing with a pencil.00:03:25.080
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- But again, there are people,00:03:29.195
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- painters capable and skillful enough to take people00:03:33.537
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- on this trip to another world.00:03:37.694
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- They simply take you there, they are able like that.00:03:41.752
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- Well, people work differently and I do it like this.00:03:45.857
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- But it doesn't mean I am going to work00:03:49.963
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- with the climbing forever.00:03:54.084
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- It's just that once in a time it suits me.00:03:58.099
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- It's the most beautiful of all, dude... totally straight,00:04:56.304
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- just awesome. On the left over there,00:05:03.728
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- it can't be seen because of the trees,00:05:06.352
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- what hangs there behind the boomerang,00:05:10.710
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- it's the wave. I will show you,00:05:14.816
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- when we will go down the canyon, from down there.00:05:18.004
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- I was wondering which ones should I take,00:05:21.022
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- but I will take these. They are quite dirty,00:05:25.135
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- but they still have the knuckle.00:05:28.388
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- The other ones are completely worn down.00:05:32.241
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- The things I work with or try to explore in the fine art...00:05:49.458
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- when climbing, you are very close to the fundamental things.00:05:53.610
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- You know, there on the cliffs,00:06:03.026
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- it's the last place of pure nature, as it always was.00:06:07.255
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- There is no mining there. And those cliffs are00:06:11.556
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- one of the last utterly inaccessible places,00:06:15.659
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- you know when you are climbing there,00:06:19.918
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- that since this planet came to be nobody has ever00:06:24.086
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- climbed there. The cliffs were formed for billions00:06:28.330
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- of years and nobody has ever been there. And the nature00:06:32.240
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- you can find there is absolutely fundamental.00:06:35.568
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- You touch an utterly different kind of purity.00:06:39.195
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- But, logically, it's not the case if you follow the paths00:06:43.640
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- taken by other people before you. There are rings,00:06:47.103
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- someone has left a mark there, a lot of people were00:06:50.698
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- there sooner than you. But still, the feeling of those00:06:54.226
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- people ahead of you is very minimal. It's clear.00:06:57.390
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- The contact with nature is very close there.00:07:12.077
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- Your life depends on whether the rock tears off00:07:15.999
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- and you approach the cliff and the climbing accordingly.00:07:24.898
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- You start to perceive the material of the rock00:07:29.240
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- up to the very detail, because if you don't00:07:33.485
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- and you grab a hold that could tear off00:07:37.684
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- and it does tear off, you fall down,00:07:41.711
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- and with any luck you just thrash yourself painfully,00:07:45.984
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- but if you didn't tie your knot properly you can kill yourself.00:07:49.089
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- It's simple as that. Just because you weren't00:07:52.247
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- sensitive enough and perceptive enough of the material00:07:55.602
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- and your surroundings. And this is exactly00:07:58.927
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- the parallel you can find in the fine art and things related.00:08:02.385
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- Once, when I was in Finland, we were doing this thing,00:09:09.450
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- I was there with my schoolmates taking part in a workshop,00:09:13.616
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- and everybody was supposed to work on his art piece00:09:17.849
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- and everybody did something, or he showed what he is doing,00:09:21.924
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- and it occurred to me, well, this is what I do,00:09:25.274
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- it was a studio full of things, the whole building was,00:09:28.951
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- so I told them, let's go, join me on an expedition.00:09:32.283
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- The basic rule is you cannot touch the ground00:09:35.791
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- and let's go climbing through this space.00:09:39.206
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- We have to solve it somehow and we will have to00:09:42.777
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- do it on the spot. The only thing I have00:09:46.160
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- is a rope if we needed to draw something closer.00:09:49.573
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- We will take camera and record it. We went outside00:09:52.832
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- the building and from the start we were only climbing,00:09:56.064
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- over barrister, doors, or we have piled up chairs in there.00:09:59.483
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- There was a mobile pallet we turned into a flatboat00:10:03.199
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- and moved it around and we were journeying00:10:06.583
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- around the building, around the studio,00:10:09.900
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- until we came across the door leading outside.00:10:13.251
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- There was a writing on the door saying00:10:16.423
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- Do not open this door or knock on them00:10:19.760
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- under any circumstances. Except in emergency.00:10:23.135
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- There is some alarm installed, so it can't be opened.00:10:26.255
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- So there we are, in front of the door,00:10:29.557
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- and I say, well we are doing an expedition, because00:10:32.822
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- I had noticed the door before, and I wanted to do an expedition00:10:35.437
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- leading to this door and see what is behind them.00:10:38.741
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- And the supervising girl says: You can't go there.00:10:41.752
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- And I say: What is there? And she says: I don't know,00:10:44.806
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- but it is prohibited to go there. And I say: Well, let's open it.00:10:47.727
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- And she says: No, we will be in trouble.00:10:50.785
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- There is an alarm installed. It will cost a lot of money00:10:53.983
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- and whatnot. And I say: You see, what we are doing00:10:57.537
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- here now, is a performance, right? Nobody touched the ground,00:11:00.560
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- everything will be alright. It's OK. And she says:00:11:03.665
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- But it is not allowed. And in that instant I opened the door...00:11:06.876
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- the door turned out to be leading to a restaurant.00:11:34.550
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- Big abandoned restaurant. There was some event00:11:37.650
- 00:11:37.650
- being prepared at the moment. But there was nobody there.00:11:41.125
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- And some chef peered from the kitchen,00:11:45.186
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- and he was like, what are you doing here?00:11:49.477
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- He was in rage. And I say to him,00:11:53.614
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- we are doing an expedition beyond these door,00:11:57.665
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- we wanted to see what is behind them.00:12:01.834
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- He looked into the door and saw us, fifteen people,00:12:06.093
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- standing on those chairs and tables, leaning on walls,00:12:09.343
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- stacked in various ways on top of each other,00:12:12.678
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- nobody touching the ground, someone on a step ladder.00:12:15.814
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- He couldn't believe his eyes, he was very angry,00:12:19.197
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- like, what do we want, and I say, we wanted to see00:12:23.567
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- what is there. And at first, he was, like, ironical,00:12:27.918
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- not to mention I was saying all this in my bad English,00:12:31.448
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- but he has suddenly changed and said:00:12:34.986
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- Well, come then. And he took us, like, asked us00:12:38.542
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- whether we want to see the ball room upstairs.00:12:41.693
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- There is an old big theatre there. And he took us for a walk00:12:45.323
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- through a big abandoned hotel, utterly vacated at the moment.00:12:48.745
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- And then, we went back through the same door00:12:52.097
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- and, again, without touching the floor we came back00:12:55.551
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- to the front of the building, where we stepped on the ground.00:12:58.972
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- And that was the end of the performance,00:13:02.405
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- and I was like, thanks for your participation in the expedition,00:13:06.025
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- and everybody was like... because, you know,00:13:09.618
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- we were very excited, it was awesome.00:13:12.805
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- And I was hoping that, taking up the challenge like this,00:13:15.761
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- nothing wrong can happen, and if there was a trouble,00:13:19.083
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- and the alarm went off, and so what, we made00:13:22.434
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- the alarm go off, and if there was a fine, I would pay it.00:13:25.511
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- But you know, like... it gets stuck.00:13:28.680
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- When it's a bit harder.00:13:36.151
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- Wait, maybe I can stop it in the middle. It's not possible.00:13:41.132
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- And I can't even wash your window.00:13:44.681
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- Wait then. We'll turn it off. How do you turn it off?00:13:47.799
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- I was afraid it had broken down.00:13:51.094
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- That it would do this all the way back to Prague.00:13:54.567
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- It's like the things that happen to me sometimes.00:13:57.895
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- - The colour of the sky, right?00:14:03.674
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- The one that was now or generally.00:14:09.492
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- - He has different glasses. - Put your glasses on, David,00:14:12.802
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- maybe then you will see it better. - Oh, right!00:14:16.116
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- - No, you must tell it by heart. - I think it is this one.00:14:19.691
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- I like the idea of the general concept,00:14:23.386
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- that, you just imagine it was like that,00:14:26.787
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- then you don't need to tell it all00:14:30.205
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- by providing some documentation.00:14:33.768
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- Like when I was working with the blue ceiling in MeetFactory,00:14:36.726
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- I went to see the parachutists00:14:39.906
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- and we were choosing the colour of the sky00:14:44.152
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- right after their experience of jump and sky dive,00:14:47.776
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- after they landed, in that moment of euphoria.00:14:50.963
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- So I came up to them with that colour sampler00:14:55.340
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- and we talked about the sky.00:14:59.632
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- And you can shoot this, right, you can even shoot it00:15:05.332
- 00:15:05.332
- in quite a visual manner. There you have00:15:09.578
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- the parachute falling, and the guy in the harness00:15:12.882
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- looks like a character from a movie by Matthew Barney,00:15:16.256
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- if you are exaggerating. And all of it can be very visual.00:15:19.605
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- But then you say to yourself how it follows00:15:23.923
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- a specific situation, which... Wait a minute, now straight,00:15:28.440
- 00:15:28.440
- right, we are going this way. But that's not what00:15:31.889
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- is it about, right? It's general.00:15:35.356
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- In this case, it seems to me, stating merely the fact,00:15:40.368
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- that it happened like that, with that one colour,00:15:43.841
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- and which one exactly is of no import, really.00:15:47.360
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- It's more about some connection, some relation.00:15:50.869
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- We have a beautiful alley way here, you see?00:16:12.021
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- It has never occurred to me, that I would ever want00:16:28.250
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- to do a pub, you know, not at all.00:16:31.580
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- And that you tell your self: I am doing it like a site specific,00:16:37.311
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- now, a performance, I am going to be an inn keeper00:16:41.661
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- or a restaurant owner, for some period of time.00:16:45.041
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- And as soon as you tell this to yourself,00:16:48.518
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- you realize it is going to be crazy, I don't know how it is done,00:16:51.720
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- it's thousands things, it is difficult, it's crazy,00:16:55.069
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- you have to put money in it, everything,00:16:58.347
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- it's a risk, that exhausts you in the end.00:17:01.607
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- I was telling myself that being at the school00:17:41.388
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- I am going to work on my final examination project00:17:44.887
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- that is going to be tied to that space,00:17:48.181
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- to the event and the moment I have used to find myself in.00:17:51.834
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- So it didn't work, the place in the school,00:17:55.533
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- the food was terrible, and I have a need for,00:17:58.833
- 00:17:58.833
- how to say it, a hearth,00:18:02.342
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- home made meal or something,00:18:05.709
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- where you can go and it provides you a comfort,00:18:08.883
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- where people can meet, be it morning or evening,00:18:12.501
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- and they can spend some time together.00:18:15.975
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- I thought it's a pity there is some tension between studios,00:18:33.252
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- so I told to myself it would be amazing if they would have00:18:37.584
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- a chance to meet and spend time together,00:18:41.848
- 00:18:41.848
- and maybe they would realize, that they maybe do00:18:45.051
- 00:18:45.051
- a similar stuff but in different way.00:18:48.542
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- But conceptualists work quite often00:18:51.922
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- close to some archetypal stuff,00:18:54.957
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- like the stuff sculptors are working with.00:18:58.341
- 00:18:58.341
- See the hens over there, with the pole, it's cool right?00:19:12.767
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- Well...00:19:30.182
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- it's a thrill.00:19:42.578
Jankovi tam nejak vypadl konec tak az bude na netu tak opravi…