Introspective
Erik Sikora’s (*1986) videos organically connect the genres of news reporting, instructional film and video essay. In them the artist presents himself to us as an inventive entrepreneur, an improver or an instructor. He accompanies us from the phase of defining the “problem” on through its analysis and a proposal for a solution. The collection of videos, Tvoridlo (Creatidlo, 2011), plays a paradigmatic role in his work. Sikora characterises Tvoridlo as an instrument-tool-person and he confronts it with varied conditions and situations that allow it to open up to creative activity and spontaneous behaviour. Tvoridlo as if it stood in the background of his later work. Perhaps therein he focuses on sorting out specific topics; so we should begin to consider him as an engaged artist. He continually carries out the same research: what is creativity and what forms can it assume, when it is confronted with impulses from the real world.
Sikora agreed with Jiří Ptáček on a ground-breaking exhibition including his work from his time studying at Prague’s AVU to the present. Sikora lives in Košice, Slovakia. This year he was a finalist for the Oskar Čepán Award, the Slovak version of the Jindřich Chalupecký Award for artists 35 years old and younger.
- It's a retrospective exhibition, Jirka Ptáček came up with00:00:10.999
- 00:00:10.999
- this concept, I hadn't expected it so soon.00:00:16.352
- 00:00:16.352
- It starts with my diploma work "Creatidlo" I made two years ago.00:00:20.866
- 00:00:20.866
- I decided to teach myself to be00:00:33.040
- 00:00:33.040
- the most creative being in the world.00:00:37.619
- 00:00:37.619
- Other videos are dealing with the creativity00:00:43.809
- 00:00:43.809
- not only through the super- being but also other things00:00:52.275
- 00:00:52.275
- such as making business plans.00:00:55.299
- 00:00:55.299
- My recent video is about a creative use00:00:58.029
- 00:00:58.029
- of floating stones I found near Košice.00:01:02.608
- 00:01:02.608
- I found a lake surrounded by heaps of building waste,00:01:11.187
- 00:01:11.187
- they dump there everything as it's not any protected area.00:01:17.453
- 00:01:17.453
- I found there a perfect thing, floating stones00:01:21.972
- 00:01:21.972
- which I put in my backpack and00:01:27.555
- 00:01:27.555
- carried them for the whole summer.00:01:30.626
- 00:01:30.626
- I arranged them on water surfaces00:01:34.547
- 00:01:34.547
- because they are really beautiful.00:01:36.677
- 00:01:36.677
- Then I made this decorative business...00:01:38.247
- 00:01:38.247
- I worked in printing works where they print on tiles00:01:41.912
- 00:01:41.912
- and I became absorbed by thinking up decorative00:01:47.051
- 00:01:47.051
- patterns on tiles and came up with my own business plan.00:01:50.883
- 00:01:50.883
- Kiss from the chancellor.00:01:56.607
- 00:01:56.607
- Then I made these tiles, it's not a real stone00:02:00.500
- 00:02:00.500
- but washed away building waste, Ytong blocks.00:02:04.486
- 00:02:04.486
- It was beautifully washed away and00:02:09.415
- 00:02:09.415
- I appreciate the Nature which knew how to cope with it00:02:14.270
- 00:02:14.270
- and changed such an ugly thing into a nice one.00:02:19.870
- 00:02:19.870
- There are four videos of Creatidlo00:02:24.057
- 00:02:24.057
- I spoke about before, it's a summary of my00:02:27.160
- 00:02:27.160
- diploma work called Banging from Joy.00:02:29.882
- 00:02:29.882
- In other rooms are my recent videos00:02:32.567
- 00:02:32.567
- I made in Košice,00:02:34.663
- 00:02:34.663
- there is a video called Square Without a Horse.00:02:37.469
- 00:02:37.469
- In Košice there is a square with a statue missing,00:02:40.984
- 00:02:40.984
- there used to be a horse, the same one on which00:02:46.198
- 00:02:46.198
- St. Wenceslaus is seated in Prague,00:02:51.491
- 00:02:51.491
- they used to have it Košice as well,00:02:54.325
- 00:02:54.325
- then they moved the horse to another square00:02:56.689
- 00:02:56.689
- and an empty plinth remained there.00:02:59.202
- 00:02:59.202
- In the video I speak about my business plan00:03:01.220
- 00:03:01.220
- to place a stand with lump sugar on the square00:03:05.723
- 00:03:05.723
- and people would buy expensive sugar cubes00:03:11.825
- 00:03:11.825
- and place them on the plinth00:03:14.092
- 00:03:14.092
- to lure the horse back.00:03:15.769
- 00:03:15.769
- It's important to say I feel close to his work,00:03:21.831
- 00:03:21.831
- because he deals with greatly fundamental matters,00:03:26.003
- 00:03:26.003
- which is transforming human activity00:03:31.020
- 00:03:31.020
- into something we call creative.00:03:36.409
- 00:03:36.409
- I'm thoroughly confident it is something we have00:03:41.905
- 00:03:41.905
- to explore, not only again and again but00:03:44.246
- 00:03:44.246
- it's also important today, as creative activities are00:03:48.524
- 00:03:48.524
- changing into something which is being compared00:03:56.588
- 00:03:56.588
- with efficiency and productivity.00:04:02.000
- 00:04:02.000
- When Erik touches this applied creativity00:04:05.205
- 00:04:05.205
- or creative industry there is some very00:04:11.584
- 00:04:11.584
- interestingly staggered but present critical accent.00:04:16.271
- 00:04:16.271
- I am also convinced he represents a generation00:04:24.755
- 00:04:24.755
- which handles the kitsch in a new way.00:04:28.258
- 00:04:28.258
- Together with pop-culture products and everything00:04:32.726
- 00:04:32.726
- which is still considered extremely poor in the culture.00:04:38.488
- 00:04:38.488
- He belongs to the generation which00:04:46.063
- 00:04:46.063
- understands all this as a base and00:04:47.498
- 00:04:47.498
- they start creating something new on it.00:04:49.554