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NG 2
In this video Artyčok.TV examines Artbanka with a critical eye. Artbanka defines itself as being a non-profit project that helps young artists to get their foot in the door of this competitve art world. Under closer inspection one discovers the project is not as charitable as it first appears. After purchasing young Czech and Slovak artists' work, Artbanka rents or lends the work to individuals and companies. Artbanka has closely colaborated with City Gallery Prague, and this video scrutinises the two institutions' relationship through a series of interviews that highlights their somewhat sketchy partnership.
Whereas Marina Abramović will continue to benefit from her position of a stock market player who invested well her hard earned capital into a lucrative mega-corporation called Art World, Václav Pišvejc, on the contrary, will, in his fight for acknowledgement, forever remain mainly a Sisyphus-like figure and a question mark hovering above normality and normalization of contemporary culture.
They are often presented as condescending patrons of arts, who have decided to put aside a couple of their millions and contribute to public welfare and the promotion of exquisite culture. However, their seemingly good intentions should be seen with view to the context of the troubled political and economic past of our (and not only our) country. We should know how they acquired their property and what social or ecological damage they caused while amassing their fortune.