Autonomous language of exhibition architecture
The report presented is an edited extract from an email conversation we were having intensively for several days without a direct intention of another use. (Before this appeal was announced). It reflects a rich experience with institutional art operation we went through particularly after 2000. Within the conversation we chose from a wide spectrum of possibilities and performed two different identities – positions: an exhibition architect and a methodist of new exhibition strategies. Despite high divergence, efforts for humorous point, historical divagations or pursuit of definitions, the email conversation is predominated by an attempt to gather enough arguments so that the current institutional environment started perceiving exhibitions or „making exhibitions“ with an adequate attention. Methodical questions how to visualize contemporary art in a gallery setting can be thus answered obliquely and no unambiguous suggestions are made. Regardless we are both spontaneously convinced of relation to the theme given at least in the moment when the word „contemporary“ is bracketed for the III. thematic area.
Jakub Stejskal
- Autonomous Speech of Exhibition Architecture00:00:01.473
- 00:00:01.473
- Good morning!00:00:06.893
- 00:00:06.893
- Today I should have been here with Ondřej Chrobák, but00:00:08.835
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- unfortunately, he forgot that he is in Helsinki.00:00:11.812
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- I must express my gratitude to Ondřej Horák who was willing to substitute him.00:00:13.953
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- We will try to read you out a segment of email conversation00:00:18.303
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- that I had with Ondřej Chrobák in March and April,00:00:24.684
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- when we were contemplating exhibition architecture, its language and00:00:30.586
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- the way of thinking about exhibition installation00:00:39.105
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- in the sense of exhibition architecture00:00:46.730
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- and the role of an architect as a co-author of an exhibition.00:00:49.536
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- Exhibition architecture is an autonomous language.00:00:54.051
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- It is a means of communication.00:00:57.363
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- It is a higher form of narration.00:00:59.281
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- It cannot be disturbed.00:01:01.342
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- However, it is just a discourse. It is a type of independent language,00:01:03.278
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- in the same way as the language of film, theatre, comics, and so on.00:01:06.647
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- It develops in time both in its content and form.00:01:11.662
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- It is not resistent to thinking, movements,00:01:15.253
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- and changes in art, exhibition and social operation.00:01:17.797
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- Within its own language it uses different intensity of expressiveness in statements.00:01:21.653
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- In the text we perceive, for instance,00:01:24.661
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- differences between formal language, narration and poetry.00:01:28.303
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- It is necessary to choose an appropriate tone to a statement.00:01:30.344
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- Exhibition language or exhibition as a medium00:01:34.141
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- has its own history, on the one hand, related to the changes of art and society,00:01:37.238
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- and, on the other, forms of presentation00:01:42.936
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- often predetermine and influence the character of artefacts.00:01:45.280
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- Exhibition language is not resistent to strategies of other media,00:01:49.066
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- and neither to pop culture spectacularity.00:01:53.529
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- I am thinking of the most often presented fact00:01:57.113
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- that the way of presentation of paintings in Parisian salons led painters00:02:00.070
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- to the creation of large-format paintings,00:02:03.065
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- which were showy, with drastic or saucy motives.00:02:05.462
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- As a consequence, exhibition or exhibition format, and the way of presentation00:02:09.737
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- may, retrospectively, influence the appearance of art.00:02:14.009
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- Similarly, the Prague's off-spaces of the last decade00:02:16.576
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- have undoubtedly changed the character of art,00:02:19.275
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- unlike the great expectations of the nineties00:02:22.698
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- when large, inflatable Malibu spiders and the like were being made.00:02:27.755
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- This process goes both ways.00:02:32.668
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- Exhibition strategies not only react to metamorphoses of art,00:02:34.730
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- but the artists also count on presentation possibilities,00:02:37.754
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- already at the time of the ideological origin of the artwork.00:02:41.882
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- Then there is our local particularity00:02:46.119
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- which greatly determines exhibition strategies.00:02:48.790
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- The spaces in our institutions.00:02:51.157
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- They are mostly situated in historical buildings00:02:53.741
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- whose original function is converted for the purpose of art presentation.00:02:56.814
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- The significant part, if not the main,00:03:00.029
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- of the work of an architect consists in the adaptation00:03:02.242
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- of inappropriate conditions inherent to the building,00:03:05.247
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- often emphasized by the badly realized reconstruction.00:03:08.030
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- The space dominates over the architect and the curator00:03:12.124
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- often as a main determining element of the exhibition.00:03:15.657
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- Naturally, it goes so far, that the exhibition dramaturgy00:03:18.842
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- can be dictated not by the interest of general public, but by spatial dispositions.00:03:22.228
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- I think that the subject for a possible study could be the House at the Stone Bell.00:03:27.348
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- It is undoubtedly mutually related.00:03:32.208
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- The manner of presentation influences character and content of artefacts.00:03:35.107
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- Easy examples of the principle of presentation of purpose come to mind00:03:38.867
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- that influence the appearance of an artefact right at the beginning of its origin.00:03:44.149
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- Let¥s start with Altamira, continue to early Renaissance frescos00:03:47.725
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- in Roman catacombs, educative decoration in temples,00:03:51.358
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- intention of personal representation of clients,00:03:54.220
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- autonomous artistic production intended for gallery presentation,00:03:56.860
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- art projects in publications and, finally, works in public space.00:03:59.946
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- All have their clear instructions that,00:04:03.852
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- naturally, influence the final appearance of works.00:04:06.063
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- It is interesting to think of the way of secondary presentation of these works00:04:08.796
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- out of their temporal and local context.00:04:12.539
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- If we take them out of it, at least the temporal perspective is present;00:04:15.259
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- the works begin to age immediately.00:04:19.920
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- What happens?00:04:22.745
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- What will we miss? What do we add?00:04:24.487
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- Witnesses of the age turn into something standing outside time and space.00:04:27.199
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- This museum and gallery selection causes some artefacts to become separated,00:04:29.755
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- gaining institutionally proclaimed immortality.00:04:35.242
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- They enter the hall of fame where they are supposed00:04:39.630
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- to stay for ever next to the similarly priviledged ones.00:04:42.817
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- We shall begin with the matter that you suggested.00:04:45.553
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- Galleries here have at their disposal exclusively historical objects.00:04:48.223
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- The younger the object is, the easier it is to work with it00:04:50.477
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- since it better corresponds to contemporaneous art requirements.00:04:53.371
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- Still, most galleries were built 80 years ago:00:04:56.967
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- The House of Arts in Brno, GVU in Ostrava, M·nes, etc.00:05:01.211
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- I don't know of any new exhibition building.00:05:05.302
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- I propose in all seriousness to sell these00:05:08.106
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- objects, especially the old ones, the least suitable ones,00:05:11.970
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- all those Renaissance and baroque palaces which all cost a fortune to run,00:05:14.928
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- and whose sole advantage consists of their placement in the city center.00:05:25.269
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- Let's use the proceeds to build new galleries00:05:30.896
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- situated on large, more accessible plots, better suited for contemporary art.00:05:35.944
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- Let us not contract the so-called prestigious00:05:40.801
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- architects studios, but rather those builders who trade in00:05:43.592
- 00:05:43.592
- the cluttering of our country landscape with storehouses and commercial halls.00:05:48.512
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- Let's build a large, easy construction with large, empty spaces.00:05:52.247
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- Saved money could be used for the programme,00:05:57.340
- 00:05:57.340
- its development, production and realization.00:05:59.221
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- Let's not build expensive, representative buildings00:06:01.575
- 00:06:01.575
- because we'd gradually fall into the same trap in which we are now.00:06:04.131
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- The building will stop being suitable for future requirements, now unknown to us.00:06:08.207
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- It will be impossible to adapt, to rebuild, or to replace it,00:06:13.604
- 00:06:13.604
- which would not be a problem in case of a basic hall.00:06:17.877
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- We should treat the artefacts in a similar way.00:06:20.556
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- They should be got rid off the rest of the aura still00:06:22.821
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- perceived by the bourgeois and art historian society.00:06:26.872
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- Let's tell stories, human, social, and so on,00:06:29.309
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- but let's not make the artefacts something they're not and never have been.00:06:32.907
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- The reaction of artists to the exhibitional spaces00:06:36.199
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- of prefab halls would be interesting.00:06:41.764
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- Should we follow the clever book,00:06:44.965
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- the commercial trend "discount" could be traced,00:06:47.313
- 00:06:47.313
- when people refused the culture of00:06:51.189
- 00:06:51.189
- old shopping centers in the name of the lowest price.00:06:53.064
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- The discount hypermarket model, distributional warehouse, is a parallel,00:06:55.255
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- which would not work on ideological similarity.00:06:57.549
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- I was thinking of the hall mainly because of practical reasons.00:07:00.108
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- It is a cheap, neutral, large, pure space making possible any built-ins00:07:03.278
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- resulting from individual needs of a particular exhibition.00:07:08.239
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- It does not look like a temple, so00:07:10.971
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- there is no attractivity that would draw attention to itself.00:07:13.039
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- Should we think of a gallery as of a place for articulation of ideas00:07:16.554
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- taking place in space and time,00:07:20.665
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- then the neutral building is an ideal place.00:07:23.607
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- The line in the clever book could be defined as follows:00:07:26.179
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- For the possibility of clear, undisturbed articulation00:07:28.953
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- of exhibition projects it is more suitable to use the most neutral environment.00:07:32.254
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- Like consumers00:07:36.702
- 00:07:36.702
- who give up more luxurious, spectacular and aesthetic way of shopping00:07:38.530
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- in favour of the low-priced goods in discount hypermarkets,00:07:43.319
- 00:07:43.319
- gallery viewers give it up too in favour of better programme and quality.00:07:47.119
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- In both cases it brings with it lesser financial burden00:07:55.576
- 00:07:55.576
- for the construction and operation.00:08:00.169
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- If today's people go for a trip to IKEA or other suburban shopping centres,00:08:02.924
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- it won't be because of their box-like architecture.00:08:06.156
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- The requirements for leisure time are higher.00:08:09.308
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- They go to a discount store to shop, to the mall to spend time.00:08:12.188
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- In IKEA you are a part of your own story.00:08:15.697
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- You see an exhibition of ideal flat compositions whose parts00:08:19.142
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- you can take home as a souvenir.00:08:21.442
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- Projection of yourself into an ideal, pure interior, quality lunch for a low price,00:08:23.445
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- the possibility to put your children into a kindergarten.00:08:28.630
- 00:08:28.630
- You don't have to buy a new sofa, a flower pot for a hundred will do.00:08:31.440
- 00:08:31.440
- You are a member of the IKEA FAMILY.00:08:34.936
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- You have lots of friends, of the "I like", facebook variety.00:08:36.398
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- It could be similar in case of an exhibition.00:08:41.170
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- You walk around viewing arts whose copies00:08:43.270
- 00:08:43.270
- you can find at the end in a self-service section.00:08:47.111
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- You can see a movie, have lunch, drink coffee in a café.00:08:49.472
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- Children can play with fun tutors.00:08:52.159
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- You become a friend of the gallery, subscribe to the weekly bulletin, etc.00:08:54.542
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- I think there is a parallel from the clever book, which can be applied.00:08:58.443
- 00:08:58.443
- I think that the similarity of a building does not play a role there.00:09:01.567
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- To defend historical buildings as a residence for a museum of art,00:09:06.045
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- it is necessary to say that they can be a natural place for presenting00:09:10.287
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- contemporary art, let's say of art created at the same time as the buildings.00:09:13.887
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- Many artefacts were created on the request of the owners of these palaces,00:09:18.792
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- and were moved there right after being made.00:09:22.828
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- There is a problem with large alter paintings and enormous sculptures00:09:25.996
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- originally meant for exteriors,00:09:33.576
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- due to their imcompatibility with the maximum load of the ceilings.00:09:37.261
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- It is possible to generalize that authentic space00:09:40.380
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- can be seen as an adequate environment to present time relevant art creation.00:09:42.301
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- Altars look best in churches for which they were painted.00:09:46.838
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- Braun's Nativity scene in the forest, mosaics on the floor and fresco on the wall.00:09:50.724
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- It is necessary to emphasize the word "authentic".00:09:55.472
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- If the object was built in the baroque time,00:09:58.188
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- however its reconstruction was done by Metrostav, like in case of GASK,00:10:01.614
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- we can no longer speak of an authentic space.00:10:06.521
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- Today's art in historical buildings looks best00:10:10.401
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- when the time continuity hasn't been interrupted,00:10:14.459
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- when von Habsburg buys Mančuška for his collection.00:10:16.505
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- It can be presumed that there is a kind of relation and it adds authenticity00:10:19.122
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- to the new constallation by its family tradition.00:10:25.736
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- It is true. The attempt to adapt historical buildings results in hybrids,00:10:27.391
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- where a white cube is implemented due to the impossibility to change the space.00:10:31.878
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- The authenticity is decreased because of the interference.00:10:38.091
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- In practice it works like this: stucco decoration is surppressed,00:10:42.017
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- the halls are laid by plasterboard, windows are hidden,00:10:44.321
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- lights are hung, and all is covered in white paint.00:10:48.024
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- The exterior of the house then looks different than from the interior.00:10:52.248
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- Then it is just a step away from the knocking down of the interior,00:10:55.619
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- see the former Holešovice town hall opposite the Veletržní Palace,00:10:58.498
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- or the Berlin's town hall plan00:11:02.217
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- to built a replica of a palace that used to stand there00:11:04.438
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- instead of the Palace of Republic.00:11:06.814
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- I see the problem of these spaces especially in their ground plan.00:11:08.917
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- Even if we have an authentic environment, works, and exhibition - all time related,00:11:12.660
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- still there is a problem with dramaturgy, tempo, etc.00:11:16.694
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- All must adapt to the space: number of rooms, their size, ranging...00:11:20.795
- 00:11:20.795
- all that represents the dictate for the script of the exhibition.00:11:26.344
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- All formats of the dialogue with historical context00:11:29.918
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- could be considered heavily00:11:33.564
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- especially the further they go from the performative events,00:11:38.950
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- and have a character of a normal exhibition.00:11:42.985
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- I suspect that they are just those events that cause the origin00:11:45.992
- 00:11:45.992
- of the legendary artefact - a pile of sand in the corner.00:11:50.410
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- As well as we don't like deprivation00:11:54.601
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- 00:11:54.601
- Yes, dialogue with space today00:12:00.968
- 00:12:00.968
- is a challenge only for bad contemporary artists.00:12:05.208
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- I can recall a few places where it functions well even today.00:12:08.871
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- They were not historical buildings but new construtions, e.g. Berlin's bienalle.00:12:11.968
- 00:12:11.968
- From another perspective.00:12:17.984
- 00:12:17.984
- Why do all the minerals, coins, fossils, canned and pickled things look best00:12:20.130
- 00:12:20.130
- in old schools windows - dark wood, glass?00:12:25.715
- 00:12:25.715
- Why do they look so desperate in the high-tech aluminium new ones?00:12:28.386
- 00:12:28.386
- Is it not because the objects started to be collected in a certain time,00:12:32.007
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- when it was considered to be serious and scientific work,00:12:38.234
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- not empty fetishism.00:12:44.087
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- As a whole it creates an authentic model00:12:46.861
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- of an otherwise artificial situation - systematicized nature.00:12:49.129
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- A law should be passed that one who would like to throw out00:12:52.902
- 00:12:52.902
- these old windows and order new ones00:13:02.661
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- for tens of millions from that certain company00:13:05.648
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- should be punished with a double-digit jail sentence.00:13:08.613
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- New exhibition model won¥t be created00:13:11.282
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- by giving a facelift to an old exhibition model.00:13:13.459
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- Here we get on the thin ice of museum of museum,00:13:15.744
- 00:13:15.744
- and musealization of musealization.00:13:18.198
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- I fully agree.00:13:20.248
- 00:13:20.248
- Facelift or tuning of space without any deeper concept00:13:21.652
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- doesn't solve anything. It is just a waste of money.00:13:24.549
- 00:13:24.549
- Can we speak about scenographic exhibition solutions of expositions?00:13:28.386
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- For instance, the practice of Prague's National Museum where00:13:34.763
- 00:13:34.763
- concrete artefacts often play the role of decoration of the whole design.00:13:38.114
- 00:13:38.114
- However, the design itself communicate a lot -00:13:42.505
- 00:13:42.505
- with reduced number of exhibits or by their different selection.00:13:45.282
- 00:13:45.282
- On the other hand, the tradition of00:13:49.437
- 00:13:49.437
- scenographic exhibition, despite our despect,00:13:51.522
- 00:13:51.522
- has a rich and interesting history. Many reknowned people have focused on it.00:13:56.270
- 00:13:56.270
- Lisick˝, Mies Van Der Rohe, JI¯Ì Kroha.00:14:03.346
- 00:14:03.346
- Much of its aestetics is used by artists classified by Karel CÌsa¯ as00:14:06.511
- 00:14:06.511
- archive expression. For instance, Groöka Matzuga and00:14:11.284
- 00:14:11.284
- in the spirit of the age, Dominik Lang¥s Sleeping Town.00:14:17.194
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- I feel a certain despect against exhibition realization in its most vulgar appearance:00:14:20.416
- 00:14:20.416
- auto salon, travel expo, etc.00:14:23.741
- 00:14:23.741
- Should we study its better forms, I am in favour of it, but00:14:26.349
- 00:14:26.349
- I do not see anything like it today.00:14:30.454
- 00:14:30.454
- Even the largest and most expensive world presentations such as the World EXPO00:14:32.981
- 00:14:32.981
- are from this kind of perspective quite hopeless.00:14:35.649
- 00:14:35.649
- What else can be a state presentation in the form of a copy of a sculpture00:14:37.906
- 00:14:37.906
- from the Charles bridge, props from the subway with 3D graphiti,00:14:41.562
- 00:14:41.562
- or a big exhibition about the Earth in the National Museum, where a big00:14:44.278
- 00:14:44.278
- flashing paper volcano can be found.00:14:46.885
- 00:14:46.885
- This is a very bad kind of exhibition realization00:14:49.082
- 00:14:49.082
- on the level of a museum of torture.00:14:51.492
- 00:14:51.492
- It is meant retrospectively, in the time between wars,00:14:53.864
- 00:14:53.864
- border between art and the commercial was not drawn as sharply as nowadays.00:14:57.003
- 00:14:57.003
- Especially, in the home context, either public or private sector.00:15:02.085
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- The difusion was far bigger and less incriminating.00:15:05.919
- 00:15:05.919
- The formal language of avantgarde was very quickly applied.00:15:09.952
- 00:15:09.952
- For instance, a commercial product photo was composed on a diagonal.00:15:13.777
- 00:15:13.777
- Josef Sudek often took photos like this.00:15:18.014
- 00:15:18.014
- Progressive firms quickly sensed the potential.00:15:21.090
- 00:15:21.090
- Also a significant part of public tenders ended up in hands of avantgarde artists.00:15:24.122
- 00:15:24.122
- Even the Stalinists understood that for the presentation on EXPO00:15:28.719
- 00:15:28.719
- it was necessary to use the capacity available on the margin.00:15:31.847
- 00:15:31.847
- Super & Co projected exposition of the National Gallery that00:15:36.876
- 00:15:36.876
- at least in George¥s monastery, Gothic and Baroque, were highly00:15:43.982
- 00:15:43.982
- above the standard of the age.00:15:47.715
- 00:15:47.715
- They codified the standard, mentally, at least.00:15:49.923
- 00:15:49.923
- The border between art and commerce00:15:55.027
- 00:15:55.027
- was not perceived as a programme by the avantgarde.00:15:56.341
- 00:15:56.341
- The fusion of art with life, photos, commercials, graphics, design of toys.00:15:59.562
- 00:15:59.562
- Architecture served to solve social problems,00:16:02.443
- 00:16:02.443
- Kroha thinking about structure and relationships in society.00:16:04.324
- 00:16:04.324
- ZlÌn, large capital paying for the solution raising00:16:08.075
- 00:16:08.075
- from the inter-war avantgarde.00:16:11.936
- 00:16:11.936
- Would Kellner employ Keller today?00:16:14.104
- 00:16:14.104
- Today¥s desperation relates generally00:16:19.546
- 00:16:19.546
- to the absence of a great idea that would be able to stand00:16:22.708
- 00:16:22.708
- against the corrupted presence.00:16:25.776
- 00:16:25.776
- As an author of exhibition stands, stages and corporate parties,00:16:27.921
- 00:16:27.921
- I am always confronted with the pressure for a solution corresponding00:16:30.608
- 00:16:30.608
- to fears of clients and their company manuals.00:16:32.965
- 00:16:32.965
- The difusion is zero which is why00:16:36.656
- 00:16:36.656
- I do not boast about this line of my work.00:16:38.636
- 00:16:38.636
- Actually, the difusion is here.00:16:42.219
- 00:16:42.219
- However it is delayed by at least one decade.00:16:43.905
- 00:16:43.905
- I read that the official music for the Olympic00:16:46.147
- 00:16:46.147
- Games in London was by Underworld.00:16:48.785
- 00:16:48.785
- Music, visualization, graphics come from the work of people00:16:50.632
- 00:16:50.632
- who create authentic things here and now00:16:53.016
- 00:16:53.016
- that are only taken up at the time when they stop being new and political,00:16:55.555
- 00:16:55.555
- when they¥re accepted by wider public,00:17:00.979
- 00:17:00.979
- when the public gets used to them.00:17:03.145
- 00:17:03.145
- I will never forget photos from the trance party Sensation in White00:17:05.612
- 00:17:05.612
- where Milan Richter hugs his Miss World.00:17:09.523
- 00:17:09.523
- I think it is necessary to see and use these kinds of movements in culture,00:17:12.321
- 00:17:12.321
- and try to establish them before00:17:18.059
- 00:17:18.059
- they¥ll be taken up and exploited by the commercial sector.00:17:21.068
- 00:17:21.068
- It involves engaging good authors, graphic designers, and architects, and00:17:23.584
- 00:17:23.584
- giving them the opportunity to cooperate on the creation of the look and feel00:17:26.920
- 00:17:26.920
- of these institutions that shouldn't be mainstream even in these kinds of aspects.00:17:30.827
- 00:17:30.827
- Also today's neoliberals try to exploit the progressive capacity on the margin.00:17:34.105
- 00:17:34.105
- See the EXPO in Shanghai or Entropa at the seat of the EU.00:17:40.142
- 00:17:40.142
- However, I think it's a bit off the mark.00:17:44.043
- 00:17:44.043
- I think what we're doing now, is more like a presentation in Bauhaus00:17:47.037
- 00:17:47.037
- than an Oriflame stand in a shopping centre.00:17:50.475
- 00:17:50.475
- Perhaps, we should define the term better.00:17:53.703
- 00:17:53.703
- Yes, undoubtedly.00:17:57.301
- 00:17:57.301
- Prefab stands with labels do not possess even a perverse quality for our sensitivity.00:17:59.055
- 00:17:59.055
- I'd like to add something to the EXPO -00:18:03.948
- 00:18:03.948
- extraordinary and good quality expositions of the past few years,00:18:06.278
- 00:18:06.278
- intuitively accepted also by the viewers, were on the border00:18:11.281
- 00:18:11.281
- between exhibition and conceptual art work.00:18:13.373
- 00:18:13.373
- For example, the British pavilion with flower seeds00:18:15.190
- 00:18:15.190
- resembling a hedgehog from inside and outside,00:18:18.338
- 00:18:18.338
- or Zumthor's Swiss pavillion in Hannover.00:18:20.767
- 00:18:20.767
- Historically, the field is a temple for visual adventure.00:18:23.577
- 00:18:23.577
- 00:18:27,457 --> '0:18:31,202 For example, Filko¥s cathedrals have an intuitive relationship for me00:18:23.577
- 00:18:23.577
- to the similarly complex installations in the pavilions of EXPO00:18:31.606
- 00:18:31.606
- from the end of the fifties to the beginning of the seventies.00:18:35.496
- 00:18:35.496
- This is the language of an exhibition architect and a curator spoken to a viewer.00:18:39.640
- 00:18:39.640
- The architect is the curator's partner in articulation of the communication.00:18:44.475
- 00:18:44.475
- Basically, there are three basic approaches00:18:48.119
- 00:18:48.119
- toward an exhibition, and three types of architects.00:18:50.356
- 00:18:50.356
- One deals primarily with space,00:18:53.422
- 00:18:53.422
- the other with artefacts, the third with content.00:18:56.467
- 00:18:56.467
- Naturally, never in the pure crystalline form,00:18:59.503
- 00:18:59.503
- there are always all three elements present in the architectonic solution.00:19:01.750
- 00:19:01.750
- When choosing an architect the curator should consider00:19:04.345
- 00:19:04.345
- which of the approaches is most suitable00:19:07.040
- 00:19:07.040
- for the specific place, character of artworks,00:19:09.942
- 00:19:09.942
- and an idea of the exhibition.00:19:12.626
- 00:19:12.626
- Also it is about the00:19:14.706
- 00:19:14.706
- formal acknowledgement of the exhibition status00:19:16.459
- 00:19:16.459
- as a fully-fledged output.00:19:18.369
- 00:19:18.369
- Basically, it is a problem mainly of an academic field.00:19:21.235
- 00:19:21.235
- It does not consider exhibition as a goal,00:19:24.240
- 00:19:24.240
- completion of a long-lasting activity,00:19:26.612
- 00:19:26.612
- but only as an appendix of research, its extension towards the public.00:19:28.222
- 00:19:28.222
- Exhibition is seen as a mediation activity, popularizing.00:19:33.297
- 00:19:33.297
- Popular, meaning substandard.00:19:38.735
- 00:19:38.735
- Even though hardly anyone would admit it openly.00:19:40.902
- 00:19:40.902
- In academic operation, it often means that a scientist gathers findings,00:19:43.516
- 00:19:43.516
- and from the beginning he thinks of the outputs -00:19:47.548
- 00:19:47.548
- article in a prestigious magazine, or a monography.00:19:50.190
- 00:19:50.190
- Finally, when he is asked and even persuaded, when it is all ready,00:19:53.849
- 00:19:53.849
- it can be exhibited.00:19:59.390
- 00:19:59.390
- At that time, many scientists get in trouble, because00:20:01.593
- 00:20:01.593
- they don't know how the exhibition is prepared00:20:04.858
- 00:20:04.858
- from the practical perspective,00:20:08.132
- 00:20:08.132
- and also because while preparing it00:20:10.171
- 00:20:10.171
- they often realize that the object of their research00:20:12.315
- 00:20:12.315
- is visually unattractive, generally non-communicable,00:20:14.360
- 00:20:14.360
- non-functional and often half-baked.00:20:17.803
- 00:20:17.803
- Or, their practice, when they work00:20:21.480
- 00:20:21.480
- in their texts mainly with reproductions00:20:26.669
- 00:20:26.669
- of artworks, can't made into an exhibition.00:20:29.277
- 00:20:29.277
- Because their comparing material either physically does not exist,00:20:31.603
- 00:20:31.603
- or it isn't accessible, or it cannot be lent, or,00:20:35.422
- 00:20:35.422
- from the perspective of format and media, it is disparate.00:20:38.716
- 00:20:38.716
- For instance, a large format painting, drawing on a beer coaster,00:20:45.804
- 00:20:45.804
- gothic Madonna, a magazine photo, commercial TV spot, etc.00:20:47.506
- 00:20:47.506
- The author's desperate state is often transfered to the architect,00:20:53.091
- 00:20:53.091
- in this case, the saviour.00:20:57.288
- 00:20:57.288
- Here it is necessary to think of two traditions.00:21:00.282
- 00:21:00.282
- The older, so-called exhibition management,00:21:02.449
- 00:21:02.449
- with scenographic base, the EXPO tradition,00:21:04.782
- 00:21:04.782
- and the newer one - i.e. the more conceptual, multimedia artist.00:21:09.472
- 00:21:09.472
- The show Spectacle can bridge discrepency between incompatible author¥s thinking00:21:13.325
- 00:21:13.325
- mirrored in the gathered material for exhibitions00:21:19.670
- 00:21:19.670
- and the exhibition as a medium, a language.00:21:23.993
- 00:21:23.993
- In worst cases, the author of the exhibition transfers the responsibility00:21:27.768
- 00:21:27.768
- to the architect due to the ostentative lack of interest in exhibition -00:21:33.713
- 00:21:33.713
- this sounds almost absurd -00:21:36.390
- 00:21:36.390
- or due to alleged lack of time.00:21:38.215
- 00:21:38.215
- It is the same as if when writing an article,00:21:41.774
- 00:21:41.774
- the notes were handed to a writer who would articulate it in words, ideas.00:21:44.628
- 00:21:44.628
- The acknowledgement of exhibition as a language00:21:50.078
- 00:21:50.078
- is important to the setting of the system of work evaluation inside art history.00:21:52.884
- 00:21:52.884
- This language is superior to the artefacts,00:22:00.155
- 00:22:00.155
- it itself creates a meta artefact - the exhibition itself.00:22:03.861
- 00:22:03.861
- The feeling, experience, are superior to art history.00:22:07.104
- 00:22:07.104
- For me, the superiority is a search for00:22:10.922
- 00:22:10.922
- the optimal translation from language to language.00:22:13.837
- 00:22:13.837
- Good quality translation is a complex transfer with minimum losses.00:22:15.963
- 00:22:15.963
- The greatness of a curator could be measured by the00:22:19.966
- 00:22:19.966
- fact that the significant sources would not be published at all.00:22:22.566
- 00:22:22.566
- He will keep them to himself,00:22:25.701
- 00:22:25.701
- not willing to show himself in favour of the exhibition, and00:22:29.549
- 00:22:29.549
- as a need of empathy to the viewer.00:22:31.968
- 00:22:31.968
- It is not correct to make the content easier, but to find its adequate form.00:22:33.991
- 00:22:33.991
- I think it is necessary to strive00:22:38.512
- 00:22:38.512
- for a multiple level mode of exhibition perception.00:22:40.947
- 00:22:40.947
- If I simplify it, it could be expressed by interjections like this:00:22:45.405
- 00:22:45.405
- Nice pictures, wow, nicely hung in an interesting space.00:22:50.574
- 00:22:50.574
- Yeah, an interesting content, hmmm, the result of research, aha.00:22:55.496
- 00:22:55.496
- If we process higher in the levels, the layers are put over each other.00:23:02.324
- 00:23:02.324
- So it means that with aha I perceive yeah, wow and hmmm.00:23:05.982
- 00:23:05.982
- As a basic problem I perceive that we do not speak just about viewers00:23:13.048
- 00:23:13.048
- but also about the organisers of the exhibitions,00:23:16.861
- 00:23:16.861
- who cannot speak about other levels that the "yeah" level.00:23:20.164
- 00:23:20.164
- I am interested whether these levels of perception are seen as opposite.00:23:25.643
- 00:23:25.643
- Whether it means that reaching the aha level, the yeah ilevel s reduced.00:23:30.395
- 00:23:30.395
- I don¥t think so, I think the levels interfere each other.00:23:35.917
- 00:23:35.917
- Naturally, each is different.00:23:38.711
- 00:23:38.711
- One is more analytical, other more emotional.00:23:41.054
- 00:23:41.054
- However, t doesn't mean that I could be visually charmed.00:23:43.441
- 00:23:43.441
- After all, we are dealing with a visual format.00:23:47.207
- 00:23:47.207
- I agree to perceive these emotional levels not only within one personality,00:23:51.857
- 00:23:51.857
- but spread out into more persons.00:23:55.957
- 00:23:55.957
- For sure there are people who are not able to accept the level AHA.00:23:58.308
- 00:23:58.308
- Also, AHA people have prejudice, not accepting the yeah emotion.00:24:02.738
- 00:24:02.738
- This opens a question - exhibition for all, and a blockbuster.00:24:09.669
- 00:24:09.669
- I think so. This can be generalized.00:24:13.747
- 00:24:13.747
- Not imagine only the ideal viewer, but the collection of them.00:24:17.127
- 00:24:17.127
- In fact, to somehow satisfy everyone.00:24:21.495
- 00:24:21.495
- The levels in higher degrees can be satisfied not only in the exhibition hall,00:24:24.774
- 00:24:24.774
- but also by the accompanying program.00:24:29.346
- 00:24:29.346
- It can lead to the fact that different types00:24:31.401
- 00:24:31.401
- of viewers will leave the exhibition with different00:24:33.227
- 00:24:33.227
- feelings about what they've just seen.00:24:35.106
- 00:24:35.106
- I am thinking of the Radimsk˝ exhibition in the Prague's City Gallery.00:24:37.476
- 00:24:37.476
- If we forget the reason why it was realized, and who was responsible for it,00:24:40.659
- 00:24:40.659
- this could be the result.00:24:45.417
- 00:24:45.417
- Yeah people leave the exhibition with nice feelings due to impressionist00:24:47.724
- 00:24:47.724
- paintings known from the copies of the French masters.00:24:51.645
- 00:24:51.645
- Wow people admired good lights,00:24:58.482
- 00:24:58.482
- settings, friendly impression of the institution.00:25:00.522
- 00:25:00.522
- Hmm people think of the comparison00:25:06.007
- 00:25:06.007
- of two of the artist's periods, lack of shift in production,00:25:09.172
- 00:25:09.172
- his social status expressed by owning a car, unusual back then, and so on.00:25:11.924
- 00:25:11.924
- Aha people understand that in every age there is burgeois art with copy trends00:25:18.902
- 00:25:18.902
- and which guarantees comfortable living to the artists,00:25:24.903
- 00:25:24.903
- slowly accepted by town middle classes00:25:29.513
- 00:25:29.513
- and feature of progress, and of state of lawyers, dentists, and financiers.00:25:31.298
- 00:25:31.298
- Every exhibition theme potentionally contains all these interjections.00:25:40.210
- 00:25:40.210
- The problem lies in the solution of details.00:25:42.998
- 00:25:42.998
- For instance, how to write accompanying text for people to read them00:25:47.372
- 00:25:47.372
- with the same interest, but of course with different capability of understanding,00:25:49.577
- 00:25:49.577
- by both AHA people and Yeah people.00:25:53.941
- 00:25:53.941
- In other words, there are extensive texts for Aha's and oversimplified ones for Yeah's,00:25:57.225
- 00:25:57.225
- not to be left only with a superficial emotion.00:26:06.235
- 00:26:06.235
- It has to be solved by feeling, by compromise.00:26:09.037
- 00:26:09.037
- Do not overestimate Yeah people, do not underestimate Aha people.00:26:11.445
- 00:26:11.445
- I think that the problem of Aha people can be solved00:26:15.645
- 00:26:15.645
- by extensive captions and different type of presentation:00:26:18.671
- 00:26:18.671
- concertina books, catalogues, reading rooms, accompanying programmes,00:26:22.128
- 00:26:22.128
- lectures, etc.00:26:25.393
- 00:26:25.393
- Still, I can better imagine an exhibition00:26:27.177
- 00:26:27.177
- with a warning label on the door saying "IQ 80 plus".00:26:29.926
- 00:26:29.926
- In the sense that the whole dramaturgy00:26:33.267
- 00:26:33.267
- should satisfy the whole society, yet its segments don¥t have to.00:26:36.250
- 00:26:36.250
- On the contrary - they are focused on: children, blind people ...00:26:41.255
- 00:26:41.255
- Then we are speaking about the dramaturgy of the whole institution.00:26:45.728
- 00:26:45.728
- Let's not solve exhibition as a single act.00:26:50.681
- 00:26:50.681
- It is not possible to make each exhibition as an innovative breakthrough.00:26:53.581
- 00:26:53.581
- I think that an exhibition with respect00:26:57.053
- 00:26:57.053
- to its architecture should be more creative and intelectual than design-driven.00:26:59.909
- 00:26:59.909
- I'd consider whether design is not a subset of the creative work.00:27:02.500
- 00:27:02.500
- It is natural that all exhibitions look a certain way, finally,00:27:06.672
- 00:27:06.672
- it is a visual phenomenon, so it is designed somehow.00:27:09.645
- 00:27:09.645
- From my own experience, I know that if00:27:13.048
- 00:27:13.048
- there is an intelectual solution, design comes out of it, too,00:27:16.412
- 00:27:16.412
- which does not mean that the design should be suppressed.00:27:19.635
- 00:27:19.635
- If the design and final image serves the concept, it is alright,00:27:24.732
- 00:27:24.732
- if not, it is a confusion.00:27:28.179
- 00:27:28.179
- If all is just design without any idea behind it,00:27:30.740
- 00:27:30.740
- we get to the level of showrooms and exhibition stands,00:27:35.214
- 00:27:35.214
- which could be an intention, but if so, it should be declared beforehand.00:27:39.856
- 00:27:39.856
- Thank you.00:27:43.995