WHEN I WAS A LITTLE BOY, I USED TO PLAY WITH GIRLS
This exhibit cannot be categorized into any typical genre. Although it includes the broadest possible range of works by Jiří Kovanda held by public and private Czech collections, and although it includes all areas of his work (drawings, collages, paintings, objects, installations, interventions, actions, performance) from the 1970s to today, it is not a classic retrospective. The exhibit’s objective is to provide an “uncritical” view of his work and to allow for deeper contexts between the individual works of art and time periods to emerge on their own. In the end, the primary intention of this exhibition of Kovanda’s works finds full expression not in the exposition itself but in the accompanying catalogue, which also offers various texts on and viewpoints of Kovanda’s work by Czech and foreign scholars, curators, gallery owners, and artists. Another aspect of the exhibit is the artist’s own curatorial input. With the aim of creating an “intervention” into his exhibit, Jiří Kovanda addressed several female artists with whom he feels a personal and professional affinity.
- 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