Page 56 - The Black Box Book

an artistic program, or at least an approach to be actively encouraged. convey it in the usual modus operandi, i.e., in the form of an exhibition,
It is incredible how close the global crisis was. Except perhaps for curatorial interpretation, discussion or another public event? Motivational
the spread of the HIV virus that causes AIDS in the 1980s, the pandemic posts on social media cannot solve this. There was only one option: to
was not on the register of catastrophic threats that local society faced. give individual support in the form of creative scholarships. However, this
The current threat of climatic collapse was preceded by the fear of nuclear is not standard gallery practice, as only two financial transactions be-
war, which had weighed heavily on the generation of Husák’s children tween galleries and artists are standard so far: either purchases of works
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and which has recently been revived with the outbreak of war in Ukraine. for collections or support for the creation of artworks for exhibition in
Pandemics did not figure in the catastrophic models but were relegated the respective gallery. Scholarships for creative work are, by the way,
to history, to third-world countries, or to the subjects of action thrillers . a relatively neglected genre in the Czech environment , and yet they
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The belief in the omnipresent power of medicine and the self-evident sense of should be one of the pillars of public support for the visual arts, which
the inviolability of ‘our advanced civilisation’ prevailed in society, and such
dangers were somehow not accepted.

ONLY ARTISTS WILL SURVIVE 9 The Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic awards creative schol-
arships with the paradoxical condition that the applicant is only allowed
to use them twice in their lifetime. Municipalities or regions do not grant
In March 2020, when the first lockdown was announced, we began similar scholarship support at all, and their only activity in this area is
the quite exceptional offer of subsidized studios within municipal
to experience something unprecedented: fear, constant uncertainty properties.
and enforced loneliness as a consequence of anti-pandemic measures.
Some, however, also took this forced shutdown as a unique opportunity
to experience the desired slowdown, to learn the concept of no growth,
and to experience spring, which was particularly lovely that year. Others, Figure 3: Self-help sewing of
aware of the failures of public institutions, threw themselves into help- masks (2020). Vojtěch Kundrát’s archive
ing the needy in every way imaginable and saw this period as proof of
the vitality of civil society. In the costume shops of theatres and some
galleries, masks were being sewn, of which there was an acute shortage
in the Czech Republic then. My colleagues and I met in the empty building
where our gallery was located and thought about what to do next. Is it
necessary to find sewing machines and learn to sew? How can the art we
do in our various professional capacities be useful in these times? And
can it be beneficial at all?
Consequently, we proceeded to reassess what the content and mis-
sion of curatorial work and cultural institutions should be. We realized that
if art is an important tool for understanding the world, then we do not only
need epidemiologists and economists to understand or accept the cur-
rent situation but also artists. What then is the task of the contemporary
art gallery in this situation? First of all, is it to signal to artists that their
work (or profession) is demanded even in these exacerbated conditions?
Or rather, that it is required right now? But how to communicate this
attitude at a moment when we cannot officially meet anyone, let alone

7 “Husák’s children” is a name given to the generation born during
the period of the so-called political normalization, when Czechoslovakia
was led by President Gustáv Husák. This phase of the 1970s and 1980s,
following the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact forces
in 1968 and the subsequent end of social reforms, is characterized by
a sharpening of power and ideological surveillance.

8 Contagion (2011) Official Exclusive 1080p HD Trailer – YouTube
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