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Author: Daniel Grúň
Keywords: artist as curator, conceptual art, happening, mail art, urban space
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Invitation card for “HAPPSOC I..” (courtesy of Stano Filko)
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The list of objects in things in the city of Bratislava on the “HAPPSOC.I” invite. (courtesy of Stano Filko)
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The twelve-part manifesto for “HAPPSOC I.” titled “What does HAPPSOC mean? Theory of anonymity that in twelve points defines their intentions.” (courtesy of Stano Filko)
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Work documentation: tranzit.cz (courtesy of Stano Filko)
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Work documentation: tranzit.cz (courtesy of Stano Filko)
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Work documentation: tranzit.cz (courtesy of Stano Filko)
Date: 2–8 May 1965
Participants and organizers: Stano Filko (b. 1937), Alex Mlynárčik (b. 1934)
Location: Bratislava, Czechoslovakia
The legendary “HAPPSOC I.” Was a pivotal work by Stano Filko and Alex Mlynárčik that took the form of an invitation card. Those invited were asked to participate by turning the city of Bratislava into a work of art for seven days between May 2–8, 1965. This is the time where two important national holidays are celebrated: Labour Day and Liberation Day. The invitation for “HAPPSOC I. “ contained a list of all things found in the city (including their statistical number) that were to be used to produce the artwork. The list included the total number of: women, men, dogs, houses, balconies, agricultural estates, plant buildings, flats, water supply in flats, water supply out of flats, kitchen ranges electric, kitchen ranges gas, washing mashines, refrigerators, Bratislava as a whole city, a castle, Danube in Bratislava, street lamps, TV aerials, cemeteries, tulips, theaters (including amateur theaters), cinemas, chimneys, trams, motorcars, inns, trolleys, buses, typewriting machines, broadcasting sets, shops, libraries, hospitals, etc.
In collaboration with Zita Kostrová, Filko and Mlynárčik wrote a manifesto to accompany the happening titled “What does HAPPSOC mean? Theory of anonymity that in twelve points defines their intentions.”
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Author: Daniel Grúň
Keywords: non-art venue, urban space
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Street view of Július Koller’s work at the Anti-Gallery in 1968, B&W photograph. (courtesy of Květoslava Fulierová, Bratislava)
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Street view of Július Koller’s work at the Anti-Gallery in 1968, B&W photograph. (courtesy of Květoslava Fulierová, Bratislava)
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Street view of Július Koller’s work at the Anti-Gallery in 1968, B&W photograph. (courtesy of Květoslava Fulierová, Bratislava)
Date: 1968-1969
Participants and organizers: Július Koller (b. 1939), Peter Bartoš (b. 1938)
Location: The display window of the Hosiery Express Repair shop – Výklad komunálnej rýchloopravy pančúch, Bratislava, Czechoslovakia
Let’s imagine a pedestrian casually walking along Klobúčnicka Street in Bratislava near the end of 1968. It’s late November; traces of the August disturbances that were provoked by the occupying army invasion are still visible. The display window of the communal Hosiery Express Repair shop becomes an exhibition space for ”anti-pictures” by Július Koller and photo paintings by Peter Bartoš. Koller and Bartoš continue to exhibit their work regularly here between 1968–69. For the two young artists, this presentation of their own work in an informal setting dissolved the boundaries between art, advertising, and merchandise. The exhibition space was called the Display Window or The Permanent Anti-gallery. Although not their most their spectacular show, in terms of their later work, it represented a crucial shift toward presenting work and ideas in a non-traditional way, in alternative exhibition spaces..
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Author: Daniel Grúň
Keywords: fluxus, interactivity, thematized role of the audience
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Július Koller: JK, Gallery of the Youth, Bratislava, exhibition bulletin with text by Igor Gazdík.
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Július Koller: JK, Gallery of the Youth, Bratislava, exhibition bulletin with text by Igor Gazdík.
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Július Koller: J.K. Ping-Pong Club (U.F.O.) Environment, 1970, B&W photograph on paper, 18.5 x 21 cm. Photo: Milan Sirkovský (courtesy of Květoslava Fulierová)
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Július Koller: J.K. Ping-Pong Club (U.F.O.) Environment, 1970, B&W photograph on paper, 18.5 x 21 cm. Photo: Milan Sirkovský (courtesy of Květoslava Fulierová)
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Július Koller: J.K. Ping-Pong Club (U.F.O.) Environment, 1970, B&W photograph on paper, 18.5 x 21 cm. Photo: Milan Sirkovský (courtesy of Květoslava Fulierová)
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Július Koller: J.K. Ping-Pong Club (U.F.O.) Environment, 1970, B&W photograph on paper, 18.5 x 21 cm. Photo: Milan Sirkovský (courtesy of Květoslava Fulierová)
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Július Koller: J.K. Ping-Pong Club (U.F.O.) Environment, 1970, B&W photograph on paper, 18.5 x 21 cm. Photo: Milan Sirkovský (courtesy of Květoslava Fulierová)
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Július Koller: J.K. Ping-Pong Club (U.F.O.) Environment, 1970, B&W photograph on paper, 18.5 x 21 cm. Photo: Milan Sirkovský (courtesy of Květoslava Fulierová)
Date: March 1970
Participants and organizers: Július Koller (b. 1939), Květoslava Fulierová, Igor Gazdík, Milan Sirkovský
Location: Galéria Mladých / Gallery of the Youth, Bratislava, Czechoslovakia
Since 1965, Július Koller has been dissolving boundaries between sporting and artistic events. In March 1970, he used the independent exhibition space Galéria Mladých to play table tennis with visitors at regular intervals for the duration of the exhibition. For “J. K. Ping-Pong Club,” Koller turned the gallery into a sports club complete with a ping-pong table, sports flags decorated with the initials J.K., and a list of playing conditions posted on the wall.
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Author: Daniel Grúň
Keywords: artist as curator, collective practices, documentary film, environment / installation, participatory practices, private venue, processuality, semi-public event, site-specificity
Otvorený ateliér / The First Open Studio, 16 mm film transferred onto DVD, 7:04 min. (courtesy Marian Mudroch, Bratislava)
Date: 19 November 1970
Participants and organizers: Milan Adamčiak (b. 1946), Peter Bartoš (b. 1938), Václav Cigler (b. 1929), Róbert Cyprich (b. 1951-1996)), Milan Dobeš (b. 1929), Igor Gazdík (b. 1943), Viliam Jakubík (b. 1945), Július Koller (b. 1939-2007), Vladimír Kordoš (b. 1945), Ivan Kříž-Vyrubiš (b. 1941), Otis Laubert (b. 1946), Juraj Meliš (b. 1942), Alex Mlynárčik (b. 1934), Marián Mudroch (b. 1945), Jana Shejbalová-Želibská (b. 1941), Rudolf Sikora (b. 1946), Ivan Štěpán (b. 1937), Dezider Tóth (b. 1947), Miloš Urbásek (b. 1932)
Location: Private house of Rudolf Sikora, Tehelná 32, Bratislava, Czechoslovakia
The collective exhibition ”1st Open Studio,” opened on 19 November, 1970, in Rudolf Sikora’s house—with an adjoining courtyard and garden—on Tehelná Street 32 in Bratislava. It was the first organized protest (in the form of an exhibiton) against the intervention of power over the visual arts, following the events of 1968. The nineteen participants, who gathered there at the invitation Rudolf Sikora, one of the young, emerging artists, shaped the unofficial art scene in the following years. Through the ”1st Open Studio” the artists declared their adherence to the progressive, Slovak art scene in the 1960s. In their work they developed experimental creativity, playfulness, a sensitivity to civilistic poetics of the painting, the art of object and the environment. On the threshold of the period of normalization, in the stifling atmosphere of a closed society and ongoing political purges, the artists’ studios became, not only a place to confront individual artistic practices, but also a space for participation in creative, collective experiences.
(Eugénia Sikorová, ”The Coming of a Generation,” in 1. Otvorený ateliér. Sorosovo centrum súčasného umenia (Bratislava, 2000), 31.
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Author: Daniel Grúň
Keywords: abstract art, avant-garde, environment / installation, painting
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Spatial model constructed for the exhibition. (courtesy of Stano Filko and Ján Zavarský)
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Spatial model constructed for the exhibition. (courtesy of Stano Filko and Ján Zavarský)
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Spatial model constructed for the exhibition. (courtesy of Stano Filko and Ján Zavarský)
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Spatial model constructed for the exhibition. (courtesy of Stano Filko and Ján Zavarský)
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Self-published catalogue to coincide with the project. (courtesy of Stano Filko and Ján Zavarský)
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Self-published catalogue to coincide with the project. (courtesy of Stano Filko and Ján Zavarský)
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Black-and-white photographs of the exhibition. (courtesy of Stano Filko and Ján Zavarský)
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Black-and-white photographs of the exhibition. (courtesy of Stano Filko and Ján Zavarský)
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Black-and-white photographs of the exhibition. (courtesy of Stano Filko and Ján Zavarský)
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Black-and-white photographs of the exhibition. (courtesy of Stano Filko and Ján Zavarský)
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.
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Author: Daniel Grúň
Keywords: artist-publication, conceptual art, site-specificity
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”…Time I…” (Moravian Karst), collective project: Ján Zavarský, Rudolf Sikora, Miloš Laky, Július Koller, Stano Filko, June 1973, offset, paper, 123 x 83.5 cm. (courtesy of Rudolf Sikora)
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”…Time I…” (Moravian Karst), collective project: Ján Zavarský, Rudolf Sikora, Miloš Laky, Július Koller, Stano Filko, June 1973, offset, paper, 123 x 83.5 cm. (courtesy of Rudolf Sikora)
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”…Time I…” (Moravian Karst), collective project: Ján Zavarský, Rudolf Sikora, Miloš Laky, Július Koller, Stano Filko, June 1973, offset, paper, 123 x 83.5 cm. (courtesy of Rudolf Sikora)
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”…Time I…” (Moravian Karst), collective project: Ján Zavarský, Rudolf Sikora, Miloš Laky, Július Koller, Stano Filko, June 1973, offset, paper, 123 x 83.5 cm. (courtesy of Rudolf Sikora)
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”…Time I…” (Moravian Karst), collective project: Ján Zavarský, Rudolf Sikora, Miloš Laky, Július Koller, Stano Filko, June 1973, offset, paper, 123 x 83.5 cm. (courtesy of Rudolf Sikora)
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”…Time I…” (Moravian Karst), collective project: Ján Zavarský, Rudolf Sikora, Miloš Laky, Július Koller, Stano Filko, June 1973, offset, paper, 123 x 83.5 cm. (courtesy of Rudolf Sikora)
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”…Time I…” (Moravian Karst), collective project: Ján Zavarský, Rudolf Sikora, Miloš Laky, Július Koller, Stano Filko, June 1973, offset, paper, 123 x 83.5 cm. (courtesy of Rudolf Sikora)
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”…Time I…” (Moravian Karst), collective project: Ján Zavarský, Rudolf Sikora, Miloš Laky, Július Koller, Stano Filko, June 1973, offset, paper, 123 x 83.5 cm. (courtesy of Rudolf Sikora)
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”…Time I…” (Moravian Karst), collective project: Ján Zavarský, Rudolf Sikora, Miloš Laky, Július Koller, Stano Filko, June 1973, offset, paper, 123 x 83.5 cm. (courtesy of Rudolf Sikora)
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”…Time I…” (Moravian Karst), collective project: Ján Zavarský, Rudolf Sikora, Miloš Laky, Július Koller, Stano Filko, June 1973, offset, paper, 123 x 83.5 cm. (courtesy of Rudolf Sikora)
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”…Time I…” (Moravian Karst), collective project: Ján Zavarský, Rudolf Sikora, Miloš Laky, Július Koller, Stano Filko, June 1973, offset, paper, 123 x 83.5 cm. (courtesy of Rudolf Sikora)
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”…Time II…,” joint project: Ján Zavarský, Rudolf Sikora, Miloš Laky, Július Koller, Stano Filko, Peter Bartoš, Michal Kern, Tomáš Štrauss, 1973, offset, paper, 1230 x 700 mm (courtesy of Rudolf Sikora)
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”…Time II…,” joint project: Ján Zavarský, Rudolf Sikora, Miloš Laky, Július Koller, Stano Filko, Peter Bartoš, Michal Kern, Tomáš Štrauss, 1973, offset, paper, 1230 x 700 mm (courtesy of Rudolf Sikora)
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”…Time II…,” joint project: Ján Zavarský, Rudolf Sikora, Miloš Laky, Július Koller, Stano Filko, Peter Bartoš, Michal Kern, Tomáš Štrauss, 1973, offset, paper, 1230 x 700 mm (courtesy of Rudolf Sikora)
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.
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Author: Daniel Grúň
Keywords: artist as curator, artist-publication, collective practices, conceptual art
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The poster/exhibition ”Symposion 74.” (courtesy of Rudolf Sikora)
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The poster/exhibition ”Symposion 74.” (courtesy of Rudolf Sikora)
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The poster/exhibition ”Symposion 74.” (courtesy of Rudolf Sikora)
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The poster/exhibition ”Symposion 74.” (courtesy of Rudolf Sikora)
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The poster/exhibition ”Symposion 74.” (courtesy of Rudolf Sikora)
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The poster/exhibition ”Symposion 74.” (courtesy of Rudolf Sikora)
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The poster/exhibition ”Symposion 74.” (courtesy of Rudolf Sikora)
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The poster/exhibition ”Symposion 74.” (courtesy of Rudolf Sikora)
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The poster/exhibition ”Symposion 74.” (courtesy of Rudolf Sikora)
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The poster/exhibition ”Symposion 74.” (courtesy of Rudolf Sikora)
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The poster/exhibition ”Symposion 74.” (courtesy of Rudolf Sikora)
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The poster/exhibition ”Symposion 74.” (courtesy of Rudolf Sikora)
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The poster/exhibition ”Symposion 74.” (courtesy of Rudolf Sikora)
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The poster/exhibition ”Symposion 74.” (courtesy of Rudolf Sikora)
Date: 28 February 1974
Participants and organizers: Peter Bartoš (b. 1938), Róbert Cyprich/Hervé Fischer, Stano Filko (b. 1937)/Miloš Laky (1948–1975)/Ján Zavarský (b. 1948), Vliam Jakubík (b. 1945), Juraj Meliš (b. 1942), Katarína Orlík, Rudolf Sikora (b. 1946), Dezider Tóth (b. 1947), Jana Želibská (b. 1941)
Location: Bratislava
“Symposion 74” was the outcome of meetings held between participants, and took the exhibition-as-poster format, juxtaposing both individual and collective works by “unofficial” Slovak artists. Contributing artists’ work appeared on a poster in a grid format. Often artists worked collaboratively. The contributing artists and the title of their artwork is as follows: Peter Bartoš: Zooparticipations (1974); Róbert Cyprich/Hervé Fischer: Ninnananna, Ružomberok-Paris (1973); Stano Filko/Miloš Laky/Ján Zavarský: A White Space in a White Space (1973–74); Viliam Jakubík, Many Greetings for Poster Collectors (1974); Juraj Meliš: We Think thus We Are (1974); Katarína Orlik: Love (1974); Rudolf Sikora:-5 000 000 000 ? +5 000 000 000 ?, (1974); Dezider Tóth: Realization of Reality (1974); Jana Želibská: The Taste of Paradise, Galerie Jean-Gilbert Jozon, Paris (December 1973).
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Author: Daniel Grúň
Keywords: absurdity, artist as curator, conceptual art, institutional critique, site-specificity
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The organizational committee for Július Koller’s U.F.O. Galéria Ganek—Organizačná komisia / U.F.O. Ganek Gallery in 1982 Photo: Květoslava Fulierová, B&W photography on paper (courtesy of Květoslava Fulierová and the Július Koller Society, Bratislava)
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Július Koller: U.F.O. Galéria (Galéria Ganku) / U.F.O. Gallery (Ganek Gallery), 1980, handwritten invitation on paper, 14.5 x 21.1 cm. (courtesy of the Július Koller Society, Bratislava)
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Július Koller: UFO Galéria – Galéria Ganku / UFO Gallery – Ganek Gallery, 1982, typescript on paper A (typed by Igor Gazdík); 21 x 29,8 cm. Courtesy of the Július Koller Society, Bratislava.
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Július Koller: UFO Galéria – Galéria Ganku / UFO Gallery – Ganek Gallery, 1982, script on paper A (typed by Igor Gazdík), 21 x 29.8 cm. (courtesy of the Július Koller Society, Bratislava)
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Július Koller: Július Koller 1980: Galéria U.F.O. (Vysoké Tatry) / Július Koller 1980: U.F.O. Gallery (High Tatras), photograph from magazine, marker, 19.3 x 29.6 cm. (courtesy of the Július Koller Society, Bratislava)
Date: 1980–83
Participants and organizers: Július Koller (b. 1939), Igor Gazdík (b. 1943), Peter Meluzin, Pavol Breier (b. 1953), Milan Adamčiak (b. 1946), Rudolf Sikora (b. 1946), Dezider Tóth (b. 1947), Juraj Meliš (b. 1942)
Location: In the residential apartments of Július Koller, Milan Adamčiak, and Igor Gazdík, Bratislava-Dúbravka, Czechoslovakia
The fictional gallery project U.F.O. Gallery—Gallery Ganek was initiated by Július Koller in 1971. It functioned as a visual and physical symbol of the connection between the Earth and the cosmos, and acted as medium to communicate with unknown civilizations. The gallery’s high location at Malý Ganek—an almost three-hundred-meter mountain peak with a northwest wall that attracted climbers—symbolized the encounter between the earthly and the cosmic. Participants collectively drafted the statute for the project and discussed potential exhibitions. In 1980, Koller declared Gallery Ganek to be part of Universal-Cultural Futurological Operation (U.F.O.). An organizational and advisory committee came into being on September 18, 1981, and on March 24, 1982, the commission approved the program and statutory principles. Subsequently a text was produced—the constitution for the gallery which was named ”U.F.O. Gallery—Ganek Gallery, High Tatras (U.F.O.G.),” and signed by Koller, Igor Gazdík (commissioner), and commission members Milan Adamčiak, Pavol Breier, Peter Meluzin, and Rudolf Sikora. In the introduction of the U.F.O. Gallery statute, exhibition activities in the physical Ganek Gallery were ruled out; rather, it was a symbolic location used to communicate a variety of alternative forms of expressions (i.e., images, concepts, signals, etc.) with unknown civilizations on Earth and with the universe beyond. The rules of the gallery statute have a discursive quality. It was based on the assumption that the statute of a socialist institution reflects what the institution is about.
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Author: Daniel Grúň
Keywords: collaboration, environment / installation, non-art venue
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Basement reconstructed into exhibition space (from left: Peter Rónai, Viktor Oravec, Peter Meluzin, Matej Krén, Milan Pagáč). (courtesy of Peter Meluzin)
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Jana Želibská, Untitled, neon light, plinth made of polychrome wood, 1989. (courtesy of Peter Meluzin)
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Peter Meluzin, Untitled, A-frame ladders, spotlight, enamel paint, 1989. (courtesy of Peter Meluzin)
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Radislav Matuštík performing at the exhibition opening. (courtesy of Peter Meluzin)
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Viktor Oravec and Milan Pagáč, Untitled, glass structures, sheets of glass, neon light, 1989. (courtesy of Peter Meluzin)
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Exhibition floor plan of the basement exhibition space. (courtesy of Peter Meluzin)
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Július Koller, Suterénová kultúrna situácia 1 (U.F.O.) / Basement Cultural Situation 1 (U.F.O.), divided ping-pong table in two spaces, 1988. (courtesy of Peter Meluzin)
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Július Koller, Suterénová kultúrna situácia 1 (U.F.O.) / Basement Cultural Situation 1 (U.F.O.), divided ping-pong table in two spaces, 1988. (courtesy of Peter Meluzin)
Date: 14–28 February 1989
Participants and organizers: Milan Adamčiak (b. 1946), Július Koller (1939-2007), Matej Krén (b. 1958), Radislav Matuštík (1929-2006), Peter Meluzin (b. 1947), Milan Pagáč (b. 1960), Peter Rónai (b. 1953), Viktor Oravec (b. 1960), Jana Želibská (b. 1941)
Curator: Radislav Matuštík
Location: Konventná 14, Bratislava, Czechoslovakia
The exhibition was conceived by Peter Meluzin as an Action art piece that would end up in a collective exhibition. Action artists made it known that a new artistic trend was emerging in the heyday of the Neue Wilde movement. In order for this to be true, it was essential that the artworks presented in this show were of a high standard. Radislav Matuštík accepted the role of curator, and most of the participants were Action artists, associated with the group called Terén/Terrain. The entire exhibition, from start to finish, required both conceptual and organizational planning in order to realize the project. This included: discussions with artists; the search for an appropriate location; structural adjustments to the exhibition venue; realization of objects and installations for the show; documentation of the entire process from the initial planning stages to the exhibition opening; press coverage; film journal; catalog printing, etc.
(Exhibition notes according Peter Meluzin.)
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