KDYŽ JSEM BYL MALEJ, HRÁL JSEM SI S HOLKAMA
Výstava Jiřího Kovandy nenaplní žádný koncepční žánr. I když na ní bude k vidění co možná nejširší kolekce toho, co se z díla Jiřího Kovandy v českých soukromých i veřejných sbírkách nachází, nepůjde o klasickou retrospektivu. A to i přesto, že bude zahrnovat všechny oblasti jeho tvorby (kresba, koláž, malba, objekt, instalace, intervence, akce, performance) od 70. let po současnost. Záměrem výstavy je „nekritický“ přehled díla a samovolné nacházení vnitřních souvislostí mezi jednotlivými uměleckými projevy a časovými periodami. Prvotní zamýšlená koncepce výstavy o výstavách Jiřího Kovandy se v expozici nakonec uplatní méně výrazně a naplno zazní v připravovaném katalogu, který také přinese jednotlivé příspěvky a pohledy na Kovandovu tvorbu od českých i zahraničních teoretiků, kurátorů, galeristů a umělců.
Zároveň jsme se rozhodli uplatnit nepietní přístup k uměleckému předmětu a v případě jeho nedostupnosti nebo dostatečné prezentovanosti jej nahradit informativním digitálním tiskem. Na výstavě budou zastoupeny některé dokumentární záběry z výstav a instalací, katalogy, několik rekonstrukcí jeho starších děl a jedna zcela nová realizace. Součástí koncepce je i autorův vlastní kurátorský vklad. Jiří Kovanda oslovil za účelem „intervencí“ do své výstavy také umělkyně, jejichž tvorba i osobnost jsou mu blízké. Jsou to Silvina Arismendi, Nina Beier a Marie Lund, Sylva Brodiová, Veronika Dolanská, Ladislava Gažiová, Eva Humlová, Alena Kotzmannová, Eva Koťátková, Denisa Lehocká, Jitka Mikulicová, Barbora Motlová, Markéta Othová, Adéla Svobodová a Toyen.
- Artyčok presents00:00:01.466
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- Exhibition of Jiří Kovanda WHEN I WAS LITTLE, I USED TO PLAY WITH GIRLS00:00:03.812
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- We said that this exhibition has a beginning00:00:08.364
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- and that we'll start at the beginning.00:00:13.641
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- I'm not sure if there is a beginning and an end.00:00:16.571
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- There is no chronological order,00:00:20.803
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- there are no units00:00:25.562
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- that would be based00:00:29.590
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- on anything else than a certain feeling.00:00:36.950
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- In some rooms,00:00:42.757
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- there is a certain special atmosphere00:00:44.991
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- or whatever you want to call it,00:00:47.687
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- but there is no beginning and end00:00:51.419
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- and no chronological connection.00:00:57.033
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- Everything has been mixed together.00:01:01.313
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- As you must surely know,00:01:05.902
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- there are also many works by female artists00:01:08.735
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- who are guests at this exhibition,00:01:12.443
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- and we have decided to mix their works00:01:15.033
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- with the rest, without any separation00:01:18.676
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- from my own works.00:01:21.929
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- The genesis of the exhibition00:01:25.047
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- has been quite long and difficult.00:01:28.454
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- This is the result.00:01:31.906
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- All artworks I have ever done00:01:36.881
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- are completely intuitive,00:01:41.910
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- not based on any kind of reasoning00:01:44.290
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- or a path to follow.00:01:47.734
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- I don't try to find solutions to problems.00:01:50.895
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- My works draw from immediate ideas00:01:55.410
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- that occur to me and I note them00:01:58.474
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- or sketch them to work on them later.00:02:01.428
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- This is the way I work.00:02:05.566
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- Very often I even forget00:02:08.113
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- the exact moment when an idea was born.00:02:11.170
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- No doubt, there is also a connection00:02:16.861
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- with my older works,00:02:20.249
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- like some performances from the 70's,00:02:22.646
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- that were also dealing with relationships00:02:26.801
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- between individuals,00:02:31.589
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- between an individual and the crowd,00:02:34.348
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- between strangers,00:02:39.741
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- that is relationships and contacts00:02:43.784
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- born from sharing a common space.00:02:47.589
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- I'd like to ask you one more thing.00:02:53.081
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- When you say your work is intuitive,00:02:55.832
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- does it mean that you have to realize00:03:00.133
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- your ideas immediately?00:03:04.118
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- My experience is that some ideas00:03:08.914
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- can fade over time00:03:12.009
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- or move to a different context.00:03:14.981
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- Well, I don't have this sort of problems.00:03:20.119
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- I think that when an idea is born,00:03:23.498
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- there's no need to realize it immediately.00:03:30.436
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- On the contrary, it can take quite a long time.00:03:33.848
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- The act of carrying it out00:03:37.372
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- is not the moment where the work is created.00:03:40.315
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- It was created already when I did00:03:45.155
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- the first sketch.00:03:47.993
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- Of course, what happens after00:03:49.985
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- can also surprise me in a way,00:03:52.871
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- it is also interesting.00:03:55.614
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- I think these works are somehow different00:04:01.561
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- from traditional paintings00:04:05.101
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- that require a special state of mind.00:04:08.799
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- This is not the case.00:04:12.902
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- Even my older works00:04:17.566
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- were about crossing some borders,00:04:21.245
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- which was not always pleasant,00:04:24.554
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- both for me and other people.00:04:27.272
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- But you can do this anytime.00:04:31.579
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- When doing a painting,00:04:37.579
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- you have to be in a certain state of mind00:04:39.864
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- to be successful.00:04:43.173
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- But here, you don't need anything00:04:45.379
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- to cross the borders.00:04:47.806
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- Although I have to admit00:04:50.430
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- that on two occasions,00:04:53.899
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- I was asked to repeat the performance00:04:56.514
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- and I did it, it was possible,00:05:00.618
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- but for me, something was missing.00:05:03.382
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- I think people who saw it for the first time00:05:07.414
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- couldn't have noticed it, but I did.00:05:10.950
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- I missed the thing I had found interesting00:05:15.007
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- for the first time00:05:18.154
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- because I already knew what to expect.00:05:21.110
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- Would you be able00:05:26.428
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- to redo the performances nowadays,00:05:30.017
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- to reuse this format?00:05:34.501
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- Have you felt compelled to do this?00:05:41.635
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- Well, it's hard to say.00:05:44.920
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- You ask me whether I would do00:05:55.329
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- some new performances now,00:05:57.842
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- if the performances from the 70's didn't arouse00:06:00.583
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- so much interest nowadays, right?00:06:04.201
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- I don't know, I might.00:06:06.975
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- So you're still interested in it,00:06:11.386
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- you still think about it?00:06:14.402
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- Yes. Although the performances00:06:17.035
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- are quite scarce now,00:06:20.544
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- they are only designed for particular occasions.00:06:24.169
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- This is the difference: Now I only do it00:06:28.729
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- for special occasions00:06:32.272
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- and it is always set in the context of art,00:06:35.956
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- in a gallery and so on.00:06:41.775
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- This is different compared to the 70's,00:06:44.249
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- due to the fact that it wasn't considered00:06:47.620
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- normal in the 70's.00:06:50.871
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- If the political situation were different,00:06:53.104
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- the context wouldn't be the same.00:06:56.276
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- It was a way out of the misery,00:06:59.092
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- taking place in basements and so on.00:07:01.433
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- There was no other way.00:07:04.244
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- The older performances were based00:07:07.332
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- on body art, right?00:07:11.849
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- According to your colleagues Štembera, Mlčoch00:07:18.469
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- and Miler, there was a strong influence00:07:22.406
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- of zen and other Eastern philosophies,00:07:25.491
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- quite popular at the time.00:07:29.471
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- But today... Is it still there?00:07:33.016
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- As for traditional body art,00:07:41.094
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- it has never been my thing.00:07:45.088
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- Of course, I liked works00:07:49.732
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- of people like Chris Burden,00:07:51.629
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- an important artist for me.00:07:54.415
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- However, I didn't really use this form.00:07:57.955
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- I was more interested in certain situations,00:08:03.460
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- as I said a moment ago,00:08:08.479
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- situations people can get in,00:08:11.148
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- not only connected with the corporeality,00:08:14.654
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- such as in Štembera's work.00:08:19.590
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- For me, the closest person of the three00:08:22.339
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- was Karel Miler who, like me,00:08:25.773
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- didn't do much body art.00:08:28.173
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- As for zen,00:08:30.337
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- it's true that at the time00:08:32.612
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- it was a big theme for us.00:08:35.661
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- But I didn't practise it,00:08:38.228
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- I only read some books.00:08:40.854
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- This philosophy surely had an influence on me,00:08:45.619
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- the whole zen way of thinking.00:08:50.952
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- I use quite heterogenous forms,00:08:56.229
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- like drawings, paintings, prints,00:09:00.867
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- performances, objects...00:09:04.740
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- But I still think there is something00:09:09.888
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- that is present in all my works,00:09:16.443
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- a certain unifying element or elements.00:09:19.566
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- An important connection consists00:09:25.776
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- in recycling everything I work with.00:09:32.017
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- Nothing is new,00:09:39.646
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- nothing is my invention,00:09:42.698
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- everything is reused.00:09:45.095
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- As for the paintings, for instance,00:09:48.995
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- every theme comes from a source00:09:53.738
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- and I only change the circumstances00:09:58.364
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- and put it into a new context.00:10:02.017
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- This is my way of creating meaning.00:10:09.976
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- It's not painting as such,00:10:14.156
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- the means of expression doesn't consist00:10:17.861
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- in painting.00:10:21.265
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- Over there there is some color running down,00:10:23.296
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- which might remind you of a means of expression,00:10:26.694
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- but in fact it is not,00:10:30.315
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- it is just one use of a certain language.00:10:32.422
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- The same applies to the wooden objects.00:10:39.795
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- The material has been already used,00:10:45.075
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- I only found it and put it into a new context00:10:48.410
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- and placed it in a different environment.00:10:52.307
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- From this results the meaning of the works.00:10:58.909
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- Therefore, although the works look00:11:07.492
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- very different from each other,00:11:11.068
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- the actual difference is not so significant.00:11:15.462
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- For me it is essential00:11:20.944
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- to work only with what is available.00:11:27.691
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- For me it is essential00:11:37.084
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- to work only with what is available,00:11:43.774
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- with things that are not hard to get.00:11:49.904
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- I only do what I know how to do,00:11:54.585
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- what I don't have to learn,00:11:56.865
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- what I can do immediately.00:12:00.209
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- From the point of view of crafts,00:12:06.720
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- my objects have always been quite primitive.00:12:12.056
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- For me it is important to create the object00:12:19.224
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- and to create it from things00:12:25.754
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- that are available at the moment.00:12:29.643
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- I think this is important in general.00:12:36.589
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- One should be able00:12:40.708
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- to build on what is available.00:12:44.197
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- It goes around the room.00:12:49.543
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- The beginning is close to conceptual art.00:12:52.116
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- And these are the events from the 70's.00:13:00.085
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- Next come the installations as I called them then.00:13:04.135
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- Then it continues in a chronological order,00:13:12.947
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- here you can see some exhibitions,00:13:16.509
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- the last two photos are from Brno,00:13:19.006
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- from the Dům pánů z Kunštátu gallery.00:13:22.977
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- Then come these objects-installations00:13:31.074
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- and performances I have done recently,00:13:34.507
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- that one is from the end of last year.00:13:38.776
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- Who took pictures of those events?00:13:44.706
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- Some photographers you know?00:13:49.265
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- You mean the performances?00:13:52.255
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- They were all captured00:13:54.593
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- by a friend of mine00:13:56.753
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- who is a photographer.00:13:59.403
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- I think the photos look quite good.00:14:02.763
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- His name is Pavel Tuč.00:14:08.382
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- Nowadays, he doesn't do art anymore.00:14:11.726
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- I would always ask him to document00:14:15.651
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- one of my performances00:14:20.190
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- and he roughly knew what was going to happen.00:14:23.142
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- However, I never gave him00:14:26.883
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- any particular instructions for the photos,00:14:29.800
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- I just wanted him to capture the situation.00:14:33.898
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- I would like to ask about the relationship00:14:40.314
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- between the paintings and the performances,00:14:43.884
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- how the two intertwined in your life.00:14:48.005
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- Were these preoccupations parallel00:14:52.221
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- or did you have periods dedicated00:14:55.761
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- only to painting, for example?00:14:58.488
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- No, they followed one after another.00:15:00.770
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- Of course, when I did performances,00:15:03.393
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- I used to sketch some drawings.00:15:06.259
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- But no paintings, no objects,00:15:08.709
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- just very simple drawings.00:15:11.227
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- The main thing is00:15:18.789
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- that there is no relation whatsoever00:15:20.386
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- between the performances and the paintings,00:15:23.422
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- other than the implicit connection00:15:27.013
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- I mentioned earlier.00:15:30.409
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- Otherwise, the form of a performance00:15:33.016
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- has nothing to do with paintings.00:15:36.350
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- They belong to different periods for me.00:15:39.312
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- The particular method of rendering my ideas00:15:42.870
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- depends on what I find the most expressive00:15:46.759
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- at the moment.00:15:50.568
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- No two languages have the same meaning.00:15:57.739
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- In different periods,00:16:06.274
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- there is emphasis on different aspects.00:16:08.625
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- I think it's good to use things00:16:12.290
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- that are the most suitable for the time.00:16:16.524
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- But I don't think00:16:20.908
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- this could be the right recipe00:16:23.838
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- for everyone, it's individual.00:16:26.626
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- Did you start as a painter?00:16:30.248
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- At the beginning, I did drawings00:16:33.963
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- and collages.00:16:36.921
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- Camera Editing00:16:38.931