Course detail
Czechoslovakian Art from 1960s till early 1990s 2
FaVU-1PČU60-90-2Acad. year: 2023/2024
The course focuses on the introduction of thematic circuits, within which specific principles and manifestations of art from the 1960s to the early 1990s are presented on the basis of an analysis of specific events, exhibitions and works. Special emphasis is placed on local conceptual art expressions and their connection to international art events. Students will gain a deeper understanding of dematerialized and intermedia art forms, visual and concrete poetry, and the rational tendencies of neo-constructivist art.
Language of instruction
Number of ECTS credits
Mode of study
Guarantor
Entry knowledge
Rules for evaluation and completion of the course
The colloquium, which concludes the course, consists of presentations of short papers (in several small groups) followed by feedback and guided discussion. The assessment is based on preparation for the paper, adherence to the parameters of the presentation and the ability to engage in discussion.
Teaching takes place in the classrooms of the FFA BUT in the hours determined by the schedule. Attendance is compulsory (2 unexcused absences allowed). Higher number of absences can be compensated by submitting an alternative assignment after agreement with the teachers.
Aims
The aim of the course is to introduce students to the forms of Czechoslovak art from the 1960s to the early 1990s, with special emphasis on local conceptually oriented art practice and its international overlaps. In addition to a theoretical overview, the course is designed to familiarize students with primary sources in the form of artworks, archival materials, contemporary catalogues and correspondence, which they will be able to work with in the Jiří Valoch Archive and Collection at the Moravian Gallery in Brno. The opportunity to visit this archive and collection also defines the form of the topics discussed, which, in addition to the events in the art centres, also offers a reflection on progressive artistic approaches carried out on the periphery. The course is thus based on the concept of horizontal art history and aims primarily at presenting artistic practice before 1989 in the non-hierarchical space of Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America.
By completing the course, students will gain an overview of the forms of Czechoslovak art from the 1960s to the early 1990s. They will be familiar with the basic terminology and facts that will enable them to perceive their own artistic activity in the context of the visual arts of the second half of the 20th century in the context of Central and Eastern Europe.
Study aids
Prerequisites and corequisites
Basic literature
Piotr PIOTROWSKI, Významy modernismu, Hradec Králové, 2022. (CS)
Recommended reading
Coelewij MARINETTI, Siegelaub Seth: Beyond Conceptual Art, Amsterdam 2018. (EN)
Helena MUSILOVÁ, Jiří Valoch: curator, theoretician, collector 1965–1980, Praha, 2018. (EN)
J. H. KOCMAN, ART ACTIVITIES 1970–1979, Brno, 2019. (CS)
Jana PÍSAŘÍKOVÁ, Archiv Jiřího Valocha, in: Subjektívné histórie, seba historizácia ako umelecká prax v stredovýchodnej Európe, Daniel Grúň (eds.)., Bratislava, 2020. (SK)
Jana PÍSAŘÍKOVÁ, Neviditelná socha, transcendentní výstava i programované umění: kurátorské aktivity Jiřího Valocha 60. a 70. let, in Sešit pro umění, teorii a příbuzné zóny, 25, 2018. (CS)
Karel CÍSAŘ, Abeceda věcí: poznámky k modernímu a současnému umění, Praha: UMPRUM, 2014. (CS)
Maja and Reuben FOWKES, Central and Eastern European Art Since 1950, London, 2020. (EN)
Maja FOWKES, The Green Bloc: neoavantgarde art and ekology under Socialism, Budapest; New York, 2015. (EN)
Nathalie ZONNENBERG, Conceptual art in a Curatorial Perspectives: between Dematerialization and Documentation, Amsterdam, 2019. (EN)
Ondřej CHROBÁK, Pavel KAPPEL, Jana PÍSAŘÍKOVÁ, Computerart1968, Brno, 2018. (CS)
Ondřej CHROBÁK, Petr INGERLE, Jana PÍSAŘÍKOVÁ, Jiří Valoch: Whatever, výběr z textů 1966–1989, Brno, 2020. (CS)
Pavlína MORGANOVÁ – Terezie NEKVINDOVÁ – Dagmar SVATOŠOVÁ, Výstava jako médium: české umění 1957–1999, Praha: Akademie výtvarných umění v Praze, Vědecko-výzkumné pracoviště AVU, 2020. (CS)
Pavlína MORGANOVÁ, Martin ŠKABRAHA, Umění a emancipace: výbor z textů Piotra Piotrowského, Praha, 2022. (CS)
Tomáš POSPISZYL, Asociativní dějepis umění: poválečné umění napříč generacemi a médii (koláž, intermediální a konceptuální umění, performance a film), Praha: Tranzit, 2014. (CS)
Classification of course in study plans
- Programme VUM_B Bachelor's 3 year of study, summer semester, compulsory-optional
4 year of study, summer semester, elective - Programme VUB Bachelor's
branch VU-IDT , 3 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 4 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 3 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 4 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 3 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 4 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 3 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 4 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 3 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 4 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 3 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 4 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 3 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 4 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 3 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 4 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 3 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 4 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 3 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 4 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 3 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 4 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 3 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 4 year of study, summer semester, elective
Type of course unit
Lecture
Teacher / Lecturer
Syllabus
1. From artistic archives to databases; how to talk about East European art? Private archive as an alternative and parallel to official institutions; attempts to revise the history of art in Eastern and Central Europe; finding parallels and differences.
2. Searching for the new sensitivity. Spread of the concept and new approaches to the work with image in Czechoslovakia during the 1970s and 1980s in the context of international affairs.
3. In the nature. Environmental themes in conceptual work of Slovak and Czech authors; processual work in nature and its representatives.
4. Transformations of action art from 1960s to the end of 1980s. The happenings of the 1960s and internalization of the events during the 1970s; arrival of postmodern sensitivity in the 1980s; presentation of the main representatives of the genre.
5. Discourse over documentation, exhibition and accessibility of performative works in the form of their re-enactments
6. Participatory projects and short-term artistic encounters. Sharing of artistic gestures and postures in the course of short-term encounters and participatory projects. Organization of the first open studio of Rudolf Sikora in Bratislava; Balatonboglár or meeting of Hungarian, Slovak and Czech artists; activities of the Young Friends of Fine Arts at the House of Art in Brno; Festival on the Snow; Křížovnická school.
7. In the name of rationality, progress and pure form. Křižovatka exhibition and its guests; activities of the Club of Concretists.
8. Phenomenon of computer art. Max Bense and information aesthetics; New Tendencies movement; beginnings of computer art.
9. Author book as a substitute for exhibition. Phenomenon of author books as a platform for the spread of conceptual art.
10. Gallery in the mailbox. Mail art as a democratic artistic practice and distribution network of art. Comparison of the development of mail art movement in the countries of Eastern, Central and Western Europe and in the USA.
11. Text, script image I. Movement of concrete and visual poetry; work with text and script in visual arts.
12. Text, script and image II. Movement of concrete and visual poetry; work with text and script in visual arts.
13. Forms of minimalist drawings.