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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