The waste land
The Waste Land exhibition offers a few examples of text in works of art. The name of the show is taken from the poem by T. S. Eliot. With its powerful dramatic potential, Eliot’s text represents the search for lost wholeness, which, paradoxically, is mirrored in fragments that resonate one after another. The five artists in the exhibition work with performance art, video, photography, minimalism, magic and post-conceptual thought. The fact that the textual component is not self-evident only enhances the power of the statement. While the text opens cracks in reality and inverts the senses, it is not subversive – though clear expression in words always has subversive potential.
- The exhibition is a part of my doctoral studies00:00:06.301
- 00:00:06.301
- about texts in visual arts.00:00:11.258
- 00:00:11.258
- I wanted it to contain texts00:00:15.069
- 00:00:15.069
- having the power to put you in the middle of a poetic image,00:00:18.640
- 00:00:18.640
- to make something happen, or to change something.00:00:24.290
- 00:00:24.290
- The texts are important, they are mostly poetry.00:00:29.333
- 00:00:29.333
- When thinking about the title for the exhibition,00:00:34.611
- 00:00:34.611
- I remembered my initiation experience00:00:40.013
- 00:00:40.013
- with a certain way of using text that intrigued me.00:00:44.513
- 00:00:44.513
- This experience was T. S. Eliot's Wasteland.00:00:49.997
- 00:00:49.997
- From the beginning I knew that I wanted to include texts00:00:55.808
- 00:00:55.808
- from certain Czech authors.00:01:01.523
- 00:01:01.523
- I've been fascinated with texts written by Jan Nálevka00:01:05.200
- 00:01:05.200
- to go with his artworks.00:01:10.980
- 00:01:10.980
- I found out that currently he makes works containing dots00:01:14.480
- 00:01:14.480
- and I liked the idea of using one as a punctuation mark.00:01:20.161
- 00:01:20.161
- It's a dot but it also looks like something cosmic.00:01:25.672
- 00:01:25.672
- I also knew I wanted to include this photo by Jiří Thýn.00:01:31.257
- 00:01:31.257
- I like the title "Me Going Home the Way You Don't Know Me".00:01:37.179
- 00:01:37.179
- This video from 1988 is very intense.00:01:42.428
- 00:01:42.428
- There's a tombstone with the head of Christ00:01:46.928
- 00:01:46.928
- behind which Libera suddenly appears.00:01:51.428
- 00:01:51.428
- That's his typical motif - toys and saviorship.00:01:55.864
- 00:01:55.864
- In Berlin I saw an exhibition by Rashid Johnson.00:02:02.499
- 00:02:02.499
- I really like his way of working with books.00:02:07.838
- 00:02:07.838
- This work contains two volumes of the book "Our Kind of People".00:02:12.351
- 00:02:12.351
- He must have had the cover especially made00:02:18.306
- 00:02:18.306
- because it looks much older than the book really is.00:02:22.908
- 00:02:22.908
- The work has many levels of meanings00:02:28.526
- 00:02:28.526
- because you can put anything on it,00:02:32.755
- 00:02:32.755
- like shea butter or this brass rhombus.00:02:37.255
- 00:02:37.255
- It has something of an altar.00:02:41.678
- 00:02:41.678
- Artist: Sue Tompkins00:02:45.363
- 00:02:45.363
- I've seen some of her performances online.00:03:03.709
- 00:03:03.709
- She always reads or sings some snatches of texts.00:03:08.992
- 00:03:08.992
- She also makes these odd movements00:03:15.332
- 00:03:15.332
- in a sort of rhythmic dance.00:03:19.332
- 00:03:19.332
- Artist: Jiří Valoch00:03:25.038
- 00:03:25.038
- Someone you know with no one you know.00:03:28.709
- 00:03:28.709
- No one you know with no one you know.00:03:33.751
- 00:03:33.751
- No one you know with someone you don't know.00:03:39.287
- 00:03:39.287
- No one you know with no one you don't know.00:03:44.630
- 00:03:44.630
- No one you don't know with someone you know.00:03:49.677
- 00:03:49.677
- No one you don't know with no one you know.00:03:55.158
- 00:03:55.158
- No one you don't know with someone you don't know.00:04:00.142
- 00:04:00.142
- No one you don't know with no one you don't know.00:04:05.207