A White Space in a White Space

Author: Daniel Grúň
Keywords: abstract art, avant-garde, environment / installation, painting

Date: 1973-1974

Participants and organizers: Stano Filko (1937), Miloš Laky (1948–1975), Ján Zavarský (1948)

Locations: Studio of Stano Filko, Bratislava; House of Arts, Brno; Young Artists Club, Budapest

The joint initiative of three artists—Stano Filko, Miloš Laky, and Ján Zavarský—left behind the sphere of science and technology in order to reach a spatial experience of the color white, and to equate painting to a mystical experience. White paint was applied, without any personal gesture, onto various objects and materials (i.e., carton tubes, felt)—it considered as a sign of transcendence beyond the the boundaries of the objective world. In a joint manifesto, the authors removed themselves from all systems of representation in order to fulfill the following goals: to create a visual equivalent of an empty space and in a sense to dematerialize art objects to exceed individuality; to clear away a single author’s personal perspective; and to negate traditional means of painting in visual art. The project was exhibited in the House of Arts, Brno (1973) and in the Young Artists Club,  Budapest (1977). Two self-published catalogs by the artists were published, accompanied by a manifesto, and texts written by Jiří Valoch, Tomáš Štrauss, and László Beke.

The Dialogue – street action for film by Anna Kutera

Author: Ewa Malgorzata Tatar
Keywords: conceptual art, documentary film, humor, institutional critique, interactivity, performance

Date: 1973

Participant: Anna Kutera

Location: Wrocław

In wintertime the artist engages passersby and provokes very simple interactions with them in busy but not significant places in of Wrocław. The six-minute black-and-white 16 mm silent movie documenting this action is divided into five parts and every one of them is marked by a caption with a slogan describing the artist’s actions. The first étude, “Good morning!,” shows simple welcome signs. The second one, “Presentation,” introduces the viewer to longer conversations (that are not heard) between the artist and the chance acquaintances. We can assume, according to one of the captions, that the artist accosts them, saying, “My name is Anna Kutera. Here is my photo. I am a student of the Fine Arts Academy and just right now I am shooting a movie about how I am introducing myself to you.” After that she hands her portrait photo to everyone. Some of them laugh or smile, some have further questions, but all the interactions are absolutely friendly. Other études are entitled “What time is it?” and “Where is Anna Kutera’s street?” The latter one, the funniest, shows a group of passersby trying to help. The last episode is the most tautological one: it refers mostly to the medium itself. It is entitled “Goodbye!” and we see the artist herself in the similar frame as that of the photo. She smiles, laughs, saying something to the person behind the camera while saying goodbye by a gesture of nodding the head. After cutting, which gives the impression of some rehearsal, we see her now serious, just nodding and turning her back to the camera.

Through the simplest gestures and the category of a chance encounter, the artist asks here about the role of the artist in society and puts the accents not on the art piece itself, but rather on social interactions. Kutera was a member of the Polish group of Contextual artists who participated in the exhibition “Contextual Art” in 1976 in Lund with Jan Świdziński. She also represented the Polish Contextual movement in Toronto at the Center of Experimental Art and Communication, during the meeting and discussion with Joseph Kosuth in 1976.

László Beke, Miklós Erdély, György Jovánovics, Péter Legéndy, János Major, Gyula Pauer, and Tamás Szentjóby – exhibition and actions

Author: Dóra Hegyi - Zsuzsa László
Keywords: actionism, avant-garde, collective actions, conceptual art, environment / installation, irony, non-conformist art, semi-public event, site-specificity

Date: 24 June 1973

Participants: László Beke (1944), Miklós Erdély (1928-1986), György Jovánovics(1939), Péter Legéndy (1948), János Major (1936-2008), Gyula Pauer (1941), Tamás Szentjóby (1944)

Location: Chapel Studio of György Galántai, Balatonboglár

This exhibition – presented two months before the Chapel Studio was occupied and closed by the police – did not have any title and was completed spontaneously with works and actions during two weeks. The works exhibited were used as props for theatrical performances in the next few weeks.

Documents:

Miklós Erdély: What is avantgardism? (1973)

Tamás St. Auby – interview (1998)

György Jovánovics – interview (1998)

Source: Törvénytelen avantgárd. Galántai György balatonboglári kápolnaműterme 1970–1973 [Illegal Avant-garde, the Balatonboglár Chapel Studio of György Galántai 1970–1973], eds. Júlia Klaniczay and Edit Sasvári  (Artpool–Balassi, Budapest, 2003): 150-5.

Freedom Industry Broadcast, Channel 4 – reading action and happening by Tibor Hajas

Author: Dóra Hegyi - Zsuzsa László
Keywords: actionism, collective actions, semi-public event, social criticism

Date: 21 July 1973

Participant: Tibor Hajas (1946-1980)

Location: Chapel Studio of György Galántai, Balatonboglár

The text was read as part of an action performed in the Chapel Studio in Balatonboglár in 1973. While reading out the text Hajas tied the audience together, then burned the ropes according to a guestbook entry.

Documents:

Tibor Hajas: Freedom Industry Broadcast, Channel 4 (1973)

Miklós Haraszti: Guest-book entry about Tibor Hajas’s reading action (1973)

…Time I… and …Time II… – cosmological probes, futurological prognoses / discussion forums and conceptual interventions

Author: Daniel Grúň
Keywords: artist-publication, conceptual art, site-specificity

Date: June 1973

Participants: Ján Zavarský (b. 1948), Rudolf Sikora (b. 1946), Miloš Laky (1948–1975), Július Koller (b. 1939), Stano Filko (b. 1937) with Peter Bartoš (b. 1938), Michal Kern (1938–1994), Tomáš Štrauss (1931–2013)

Location: Moravský Kras / Moravian Karst and Studio of Rudolf Sikora, Bratislava, Czechoslovakia

Cosmological visions, meditations on the future of civilization, the implementation of information from the natural sciences, and inquiries into cosmic communications were of great importance for Bratislava-based conceptual artists. Using the medium of offset print, the artists also utilized visual signs, photography, diagrams, scientific ideas, codes, and numerals. In the beginning of 1970s, Rudolf Sikora became acquainted with a samizdat translation titled Limits to Growth, which was edited by Dennis L. Meadows. It was the first publication of its kind to highlight the effects of rapid population growth and limited natural resources. It was Sikora who brought together artists and theoreticians, organized closed discussion forums, and took responsibility for printing large posters of their collective that was composed as a somewhat pseudoscientific cosmological probe and future prognoses. The joint project was spurred by the upcoming congress of speleologists in Brno, and composed as a collection of conceptual interventions in the caves of Moravian Karst.