once east now west

The political system of the Czech Republic drastically changed with the Velvet Revolution of 1989.
Since 13 years that complex upheaval has not only provided the basis for new conditions of living, but has also confronted the Arts with the question for liberty in an ambivalent way.

How do artists respond to the production and distribution conditions of free market economy? How is this expressed in their works and artistic attitude? Have a new, particular position, a critical attitude and a distinct aesthetic, with a specific regional component evolved on the way from the east to the west, or do artistic means and approaches with respect to the discourse about society become more and more alike?

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Brief visits

Despite the opening of borders between the Czech Repuplic and Austria 13 years ago Czech art is still largely unknown in the Linz area. We therefore invite Czech artists - in four blocks until the fall of the borders in April 2004 - to present current new works respectively to develop new works on site. To give those works the publicity they deserve the Linz centres for art, like OK. Centrum für Gegenwartskunst, Kunstraum, transpublic and Stadtwerkstatt, as well as Backwood Association (pioneer in the east west integration) have resolved to jointly present Czech art for four days.

Through interdisciplinary co-operation, confrontation and comparison the works are made accessible to the public of Linz. The Czech artists will have the possibility to establish contact to the Upper Austrian arts and culture scene as well as to individuals, vice versa.

The title “czech_in“ includes the preparation for the various visits and the advertising related to it, in the form of invitation cards in Linz and its surroundings, as well as a homepage, arrival and departure of the artist, setting up the exhibition, presence of the artists during their brief visits, for which an exhibition time of four days is scheduled.

During the Czech artists' stay accompanying interviews with the guests will be aired on the radio station FRO in their show FROzine. It is intended to have local artists and persons engaged in the cultural sector initiate those talks to make those visits encounters of intense examination and reflection on the works.

The quality, total and variety of the works will be made accessible for a longer term through the czech_in homepage which will be updated regularly.
Currently the roll of cultures is about to undergo a change in the current global basic conditions.
A great number of artistic and cultural confrontation of the past years concerned reference values like national identity / cultural identity / what is native or alien.

Konzept und Realisierung: Olivia Schütz
Projektassistenz: Dagmar Schink
Consulting: Georg Ritter

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