Michal Novotný

• Did you have an idea what the program should look like?00:00:04.336
• 00:00:04.336
• Or how you would like to run the institution?00:00:09.450
• 00:00:09.450
• Yes, I expected you to ask.00:00:13.922
• 00:00:13.922
• I feel that the local context is important,00:00:16.502
• 00:00:16.502
• the local context is given,00:00:25.572
• 00:00:25.572
• we belong to the four art centres in Prague,00:00:27.461
• 00:00:27.461
• the other three are Tranzit Display, Meet Factory and DOX.00:00:31.119
• 00:00:31.119
• I think in this order they also cover the spectrum from art for art00:00:36.427
• 00:00:36.427
• to the instrumentalization of art.00:00:44.154
• 00:00:44.154
• Perhaps, in general we are closer to Tranzit Display and Meet Factory.00:00:48.055
• 00:00:48.055
• but we still find research and experiments important,00:00:56.735
• 00:00:56.735
• we don´t lay emphasis on visitor numbers,00:01:05.018
• 00:01:05.018
• I don´t think visitors have to understand everything,00:01:09.761
• 00:01:09.761
• they should mainly be able to experience art.00:01:12.645
• 00:01:12.645
• We don´t focus on a certain type of art such as Tranzit Display.00:01:15.982
• 00:01:15.982
• From the very start Futura aimed at covering the art spectrum,00:01:21.767
• 00:01:21.767
• which is a wild goose chase,00:01:27.562
• 00:01:27.562
• but we try to cover the wide spectrum of concepts in contemporary art.00:01:29.289
• 00:01:29.289
• Of course, what is symptomatic of this institution00:01:34.728
• 00:01:34.728
• is the fact that when it opened the other three art centres didn´t exist,00:01:39.606
• 00:01:39.606
• and neither did most of the institutions, projects and galleries that exist today.00:01:43.491
• 00:01:43.491
• It was established in order to fill this gap,00:01:49.023
• 00:01:49.023
• which to a certain degree still exists at present.00:01:54.937
• 00:01:54.937
• That´s why we keep trying to fill in these gaps,00:01:57.771
• 00:01:57.771
• because there´s still no museum of contemporary art here,00:02:02.330
• 00:02:02.330
• The National Gallery works but not on a standard, professional level,00:02:08.019
• 00:02:08.019
• when compared with the Prague City Gallery.00:02:14.110
• 00:02:14.110
• In this respect we concentrate more on the local art scene,00:02:16.552
• 00:02:16.552
• above all on older artists, on exhibitions which are in a way retrospective shows,00:02:22.755
• 00:02:22.755
• but due to our financial capacity we are not able to show the artist´s work00:02:29.073
• 00:02:29.073
• in such a broad context as a large institution can.00:02:34.372
• 00:02:34.372
• But we have the space to do it.00:02:36.553
• 00:02:36.553
• We can present the work to the public in a large space.00:02:38.425
• 00:02:38.425
• And another thing - Alberto founded Futura00:02:41.955
• 00:02:41.955
• also with view to foreign art which wasn´t presented here in those days.00:02:48.648
• 00:02:48.648
• We still show foreign art but now it´s more selective.00:02:55.600
• 00:02:55.600
• The goal is to introduce only a certain type of foreign art,00:03:02.628
• 00:03:02.628
• which is either somehow linked to the local art scene,00:03:06.003
• 00:03:06.003
• or Central and Eastern Europe,00:03:10.802
• 00:03:10.802
• or it has something to tell us.00:03:14.355
• 00:03:14.355
• I think the works have to be carefully selected.00:03:17.810
• 00:03:17.810
• You said the visitors do not have to understand what is shown at the exhibition,00:03:20.831
• 00:03:20.831
• they should rather feel the experience.00:03:27.556
• 00:03:27.556
• If we forget for the time being the role of the curator00:03:29.622
• 00:03:29.622
• and the Futura institution00:03:34.964
• 00:03:34.964
• and if we generalize your curator´s work in other institutions and abroad,00:03:37.023
• 00:03:37.023
• do you think about the public in advance, do you think about "the ideal viewer"?00:03:45.265
• 00:03:45.265
• And if so, could you describe him?00:03:56.462
• 00:03:56.462
• Perhaps it sounds arrogant, but I don´t think so.00:04:02.131
• 00:04:02.131
• A couple of years ago, perhaps ten, I went with a friend to the National Gallery00:04:04.899
• 00:04:04.899
• to see the permanent exhibition00:04:16.919
• 00:04:16.919
• and he´s a guy with no education,00:04:19.413
• 00:04:19.413
• who has no idea what00:04:21.184
• 00:04:21.184
• 00:04:21.184
• But his observations were much more profound than mine.00:04:27.659
• 00:04:27.659
• I can´t avoid categorizing,00:04:33.131
• 00:04:33.131
• if there´s purple it must be Art Nouveau and so on.00:04:36.014
• 00:04:36.014
• So you certainly can´t expect ideal types of viewers,00:04:40.292
• 00:04:40.292
• but there is a great demand on openness.00:04:44.978
• 00:04:44.978
• In fact, I almost never verbalize what art is00:04:47.975
• 00:04:47.975
• because I think it´s not right00:04:56.247
• 00:04:56.247
• and I try to guide the viewers in different ways,00:04:59.968
• 00:04:59.968
• by the exhibition design or by the selection of art works00:05:05.152
• 00:05:05.152
• or by the text, which is, however, never explicit,00:05:08.639
• 00:05:08.639
• and I enable them to gain some kind of experience.00:05:10.690
• 00:05:10.690
• I think that art is a kind of science,00:05:13.330
• 00:05:13.330
• since it is a comprehensive domain of human endeavor,00:05:18.418
• 00:05:18.418
• and which produces knowledge.00:05:22.928
• 00:05:22.928
• But it is not that positivist, exact, quantifiable knowledge,00:05:26.809
• 00:05:26.809
• and that means that art historians00:05:31.712
• 00:05:31.712
• should not relate to it in this way.00:05:36.367
• 00:05:36.367
• It doesn´t mean it cannot be expressed by words,00:05:39.985
• 00:05:39.985
• but perhaps it´s better done indirectly than explicitly.00:05:45.830
• 00:05:45.830
• I hope the visitors will be able to experience00:05:49.772
• 00:05:49.772
• or understand - that´s the wrong word again -00:05:56.363
• 00:05:56.363
• too rational again and I´d like to avoid this,00:05:59.930
• 00:05:59.930
• perhaps intuitively feel what I´m trying to say through the exhibitions.00:06:03.891
• 00:06:03.891
• One of the things I find specific, which may sound arrogant again,00:06:08.635
• 00:06:08.635
• is the fact that the exhibitions I do are not thematical.00:06:16.652
• 00:06:16.652
• And they are neither illustrative.00:06:21.034
• 00:06:21.034
• This means that most curators in the Czech Republic00:06:27.423
• 00:06:27.423
• work the following way:00:06:32.713
• 00:06:32.713
• they start with a thesis and then they try to find some corresponding works.00:06:34.297
• 00:06:34.297
• But what I do is I start with the art works,00:06:39.350
• 00:06:39.350
• which means there are works I´m interested in,00:06:46.530
• 00:06:46.530
• sometimes it´s just one single work,00:06:49.624
• 00:06:49.624
• and then I start gathering the other things.00:06:51.424
• 00:06:51.424
• I can mention the last exhibition in Karlin Studios as an example.00:06:55.780
• 00:06:55.780
• Preliminary Sadness.00:07:00.531
• 00:07:00.531
• The key work which shaped the exhibition00:07:02.264
• 00:07:02.264
• was the video by Jaspers Spicero,00:07:05.794
• 00:07:05.794
• which has a specific atmosphere,00:07:09.448
• 00:07:09.448
• and which refers to different topics00:07:11.642
• 00:07:11.642
• such as sadness, youth, emptiness00:07:15.077
• 00:07:15.077
• but at the same time they have a specific, cinematic sensitivity,00:07:20.148
• 00:07:20.148
• which we all know well, because we grew up watching movies,00:07:26.985
• 00:07:26.985
• and so we understand different genres.00:07:30.193
• 00:07:30.193
• We are able to decode messages in a spontaneous and very sophisticated way.00:07:35.207
• 00:07:35.207
• Even as regards fashion, for instance,00:07:42.398
• 00:07:42.398
• we immediately find a historical context for everything.00:07:44.620
• 00:07:44.620
• So I create a grouping of other art works around one particular work of art00:07:47.437
• 00:07:47.437
• which are meant to further develop it in a certain way.00:07:52.555
• 00:07:52.555
• The surrounding space is, of course, also a part of it.00:07:56.366
• 00:07:56.366
• The space is not only the space for the works of art,00:08:00.085
• 00:08:00.085
• but a part of the entire situation,00:08:03.696
• 00:08:03.696
• which is perhaps more like scenography00:08:05.271
• 00:08:05.271
• creating a situation into which the visitor enters00:08:07.176
• 00:08:07.176
• and it should be full of overwhelming emotions,00:08:12.292
• 00:08:12.292
• and prepare him for some sort of activity.00:08:14.193
• 00:08:14.193
• I don´t mean any performance, it´s rather a sort of scenography.00:08:16.903
• 00:08:16.903
• In this case, the space of the former Karlin Studios,00:08:21.417
• 00:08:21.417
• which also has an obvious atmosphere,00:08:27.338
• 00:08:27.338
• was a part of the whole situation.00:08:30.519
• 00:08:30.519
• That´s why I´m not really interested in the White Cube.00:08:32.976
• 00:08:32.976
• Maybe I´m interested in its demagogy.00:08:37.689
• 00:08:37.689
• But otherwise I prefer working in other spaces,00:08:42.768
• 00:08:42.768
• which are not neutral00:08:46.484
• 00:08:46.484
• because nothing is neutral,00:08:48.902
• 00:08:48.902
• everything has some sort of style.00:08:50.575
• 00:08:50.575
• And then you need to make the theme visible00:08:53.167
• 00:08:53.167
• indirectly, also through the title and text.00:08:57.792
• 00:08:57.792
• I agree with what Anna Daučíková said,00:09:04.288
• 00:09:04.288
• that art is visualization of the invisible.00:09:11.282
• 00:09:11.282
• I think that exhibitions should also be visualizations of the invisible.00:09:14.292
• 00:09:14.292
• The art works should not illustrate the exhibitions but vice versa,00:09:19.194
• 00:09:19.194
• the exhibitions should illustrate the works.00:09:22.808
• 00:09:22.808
• Everything shown at an exhibition should somehow relate to the approaches,00:09:25.680
• 00:09:25.680
• concepts and mechanisms which are present in the art works.00:09:29.873
• 00:09:29.873
• I have read a review of the exhibition you´re talking about00:09:35.457
• 00:09:35.457
• in which Tereza Hrušková said that you didn´t use labels there00:09:40.430
• 00:09:40.430
• and that it gave her a feeling of collective authorship00:09:45.745
• 00:09:45.745
• and I think that in connection with your name00:09:48.043
• 00:09:48.043
• we often hear about the changing role of curators or artists.00:09:50.287
• 00:09:50.287
• You participate actively, do you work deliberately with your contributions?00:09:55.015
• 00:09:55.015
• Yes, of course. I always claim, with a little bit of irony,00:10:02.998
• 00:10:02.998
• that I´m also an artist.00:10:08.951
• 00:10:08.951
• I think a curator surely is an artist00:10:12.005
• 00:10:12.005
• and perhaps it´s better to admit it in advance00:10:14.497
• 00:10:14.497
• because then he will treat the other artists with the same respect.00:10:16.892
• 00:10:16.892
• The problem is that sometimes the curators feel they have a different position,00:10:22.225
• 00:10:22.225
• and the power they have comes earlier,00:10:29.271
• 00:10:29.271
• than in the case of artists,00:10:32.670
• 00:10:32.670
• the curator tends to show his power a bit,00:10:34.082
• 00:10:34.082
• so this might be helpful.00:10:36.643
• 00:10:36.643
• I also say, and the artists at this exhibition noticed,00:10:39.406
• 00:10:39.406
• that I manipulate the things. Of course I do.00:10:44.585
• 00:10:44.585
• I think everybody is manipulative, and that´s why I intentionally manipulate more intensively,00:10:48.445
• 00:10:48.445
• so that my manipulation is visible.00:10:55.486
• 00:10:55.486
• Because for me this is perhaps the only way how to get rid of it00:10:57.911
• 00:10:57.911
• or how to work with it,00:11:02.379
• 00:11:02.379
• I extrapolate it to such an extent00:11:03.750
• 00:11:03.750
• that everybody must see it´s not like that.00:11:06.102
• 00:11:06.102
• I ��fA��fA00:11:08.590

Zde se můžete vyjádřit. (*nutné)