The artist Jiří Sozanský came to Most in 1981 to reflect with the help of interventions this north-west town's destiny, later also depicted on photographs and in films. At that time there were just few houses and authorities, small factories and quarters for labourers. The streets gradually gave way to expanding brown coal mines. When Sozanský came, the work was almost finished. In 1964 the government decided to demolish the town and to build a new one in the south from the Bílina corridor. The demolition started a year later.
At that time Jiří Sozanský gained experience with space installations in the Small Fortress in Theresienstadt where he was working from 1976. There he dealt mainly with the topic of a man in critical situations which he depicted in expressive and forceful sculptures from metal and plaster. His schoolmate from the Academy of Fine Arts Jiří Novák and Jiří Borl from the Academy of Arts Architecture and Design cooperated with him at the interventions in Most. He subjected the sculptures, drawings and installations to the space for which they had been created. He placed plaster figures with iron skeletons into relatively expressive ruins of abandoned houses. The figures expressed the situation hopelessness through ecstatic gestures. Names of the installations are more than telling: The Fall, The Demolition, The Panic, The Tying Down, The Escape etc.
Sozanský was aware it was necessary to document thoroughly his interventions because only through films or photographic documentations it was possible to present his work to public. In July 1981, when Sozanský created his first work in Most, Jiří Putta came to take photographs at the place and the Film and TV School graduate Michal Baumbruck together with the cameraman František Brabec recorded on film there. The resulting film depicts not only the sculptures but also performances with actors which Sozanský staged for the film purposes. The film was called Evacuation and it was shown just few times during the 1980s at meetings of the artist's friends.
Anna Remešová
Jiří Sozanský(*1946) graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied in the studio of Prof. František Jiroudek. He entered the Czech art scene in the mid-1970s. His art expression isn't restricted just to a single medium, he engages also in painting, plastic art, drawing, graphic arts and in complex installations. In his work he reacts to specific places which is determining for him. Well known are his environments and performances in Theresienstadt and Most from the 1980s. Between 1976 and 1996 he worked with the Small Fortress in Theresienstadt, he mainly dealt with the topic of a man in critical situations. At the beginning of 1980s he created expressive sculptures for Most reacting to the town's tragic destiny.
Acknowledgements to: Jiří Sozanský, Michal Baumbruck, Olga Sozanská, Marianna Placáková
In the Window to the Archive programme the AVU Research Center in Prague (VVP AVU) in conjunction with Artyčok.tv regularly release works from the VVP AVU video archive. The selection for Artyčok.tv focuses on older works (materials from the end of the 20th century), works bordering on video art, film and documentation, or on purely documentary materials related to the recent development of Czech and Slovak visual art.
