Jan Švankmajer (born in 1934) belongs to the prominent representatives of the Czech film and art platform of the past 40 years. His work is predominantly determined by the philosophy and creative techniques of Surrealism.
The exhibition presents his entire work and points out the inseparable connection between films and artwork, whether it’s drawing, collage, frottage, objects or the author’s unique experimenting with perception of artwork through the sense of touch (tactile art).
Švankmajer’s work is the epitome of synergy or in the surrealistic terms – the universality of artistic expression. He fulfilled such synergy in a creative dialogue with his wife Eva Švankmajerová, indispensably included at the exhibition as well. The exhibition should present his imagination as a constantly renewing source of his work which is universal not only due to the means of expression he uses but also to his ability to appeal to the viewer and draw him into an inspirational dialogue.
The exhibition conception is based on individual films and presents not only artifacts and scenes from his films but also fine artwork (objects, collage, frottage, graphic and tactile objects) that builds on the films or precedes them.
The exhibition reveals the author’s sources of inspiration and the importance of working together with his wife Eva on the artistic facet of films. Such comprehensive perspective on the creative process also gradually reveals constant and obsessional themes of his work (childhood, dream, food, eroticism, puppet show, etc). The exhibition is supplemented with a film documentation (photographs, films about the film, examples of technical and animation screenplays, work diaries, publications, reviews, posters etc) and counts on projections of the film previews.
