Exhibition of Street Reality (Výstava skutečností ulice) by Robert Wittmann

An event, installation and exhibition in one, took place in a public space on the narrow Tržiště street in Prague’s Malá Strana quarter. Robert Wittmann, a member of the Aktual movement, placed empty frames at one end of the street, and let those passing by gaze at life, as if it were an exhibition. Similar to Vladimír Boudník, an enigmatic Czech printmaker of the 1960s and author of early street actions, which provoked those passing by, Wittmann was fascinated by contact with unmediated reality. At the time, he was writing and disseminating such calls-to-action: “Open your window and listen to the composition of life itself.” Wittmann’s actions were intended to bring attention to the immense possibilities of incorporating art into daily life. His events may be interpreted as lyrical happenings, straddling the space between environmental and conceptual art. The artist himself has, however, commented on the fact that he has never considered them to be art. If we include this event in the context of the Czech history of exhibitions, it would have to be considered, as the title implies, one of the most radical exhibition gestures of the 1960s. Petr Štembera referred to this event in his article written for Revista de Arte in Puerto Rico in 1970, which was reprinted in Lucy Lippard’s famous Six Years: The Dematerialization of the Art Object from 1966 to 1972.

Bibliography:

Petr Štembera, “Events, Happenings, Land-Art, etc., in Czechoslovakia,” in: Lucy Lippard, Six Years: The Dematerialization of the Art Object from 1966 to 1972, University of California Press, Berkeley – Los Angeles – London, 1997. 169−170.

Milan Knížák, Actions for which at least some documentation remains 1962-1995, Gallery, Prague 2000.

Pavlína Morganová, A Walk Through Prague: Actions, Performances, Happenings, 1949−1989, VVP AVU, Praha 2017. 76−77.

Pavlína Morganová – Terezie Nekvindová – Dagmar Svatošová, Výstava jako médium. České umění 1957−1999, AVU, Prague 2020.