Jana Želibská Swan Song Now 1 Pavilion of the Czech and Slovak Republics at the 57th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia  Jana Želibská Swan Song Now Lucia Gregorová Stach From “The Crack” by Miloslav Topinka, a collection of poetry. English translation by Jakub Guziur.  The earth cracked open after an earthquake. A crevice, a chink, a issure, a rift, a hole, an opening, a penetration, a pass. The world around abounds with cracks. Blasting whirlwind blows dust clouds on high. Choking. Otherwise the sky is empty. Speech-wind sewed in a sack, over my back, in space. Here and there the sack will rip. I’m sitting here numb and stif. 3 Swan Song Now. Project for the Pavilion of Czech and Slovak Republics in Venice 4 5 Swan Song Now. Project for the Pavilion of Czech and Slovak Republics in Venice 6 7 Swan Song Now. Project for the Pavilion of Czech and Slovak Republics in Venice 8 9 Swan Song Now. Project for the Pavilion of Czech and Slovak Republics in Venice. Stills from the 10 11 videoinstallation (detail) Swan Song or Don’t be Naïve. 2016, multimedia videoinstallation. SODA Gallery, Bratislava 12 13 Untitled. 2016, installation 14 15 The Diferent Life of Goat. 1997, installation, little table, skull, light, mirrors Stones III. 2017, installation 16 17 Rest in .... Peace. 2016, installation, mixed media 18 19 Still Life. 2016, object Time Flies … Save Time. 2016, multimedia installation and performance At Home Gallery, Šamorín 20 21 Time Flies … Save Time. 2016, multimedia installation and performance At Home Gallery, Šamorín 22 23 Time Flies … Save Time. 2016, multimedia installation and performance At Home Gallery, Šamorín 24 25 Time Flies … Save Time. 2016, multimedia installation and performance At Home Gallery, Šamorín 26 27 Pudding for Two. 2016, installation, mixed media 28 29 30 31 Choir. 2016, installation, mixed media 2014. 2014, multimedia installation 32 33 Maybe Alien? 2003–2012, installation, mixed media, wood, stones, plastic, neon light 34 35 Red No I. 2009, installation, colour photography, lighting ixture, carpet 36 37 2x. 2006, mixed media, canvas. Private Collection, Bratislava 38 39 Underwater! 2003, multimedia installation, light box, colour photography, water tanks, dive glasses 40 41 Decorated II. 2004, mixed media, colour photography, digital print, paper 42 43 From the series Underwater! 2003, colour photography, digital print, paper Sisters II. 1999, video-installation, sound, 3 min., loop, furniture, textile, mirror, plastic, light 44 45 (detail). Courtesy Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava Sisters I. 1997, video-installation, sound, 10 min., loop 46 47 Meditation in Year? 1996, video-installation, TV, video, 8 min., loop; wood, metal, artiicial lowers, green 48 49 plexi-glass, light-bulb (detail) Her View on Him. 1996, video-installation, sound, 4 min. 50 sec., loop, wood, glass box, light, plastic, shower pipe. 50 51 Courtesy Museum of Art, Žilina Green Rock. 1994, installation, stones, moss, neon light, glass, wood 52 53 Soirée intime. 1994, installation, table, chairs, breast casts, plates, red light 54 55 Bricked in. 1993, video-installation 56 57 Concert for Cymbals and ‘Breasts’. 1994, video-installation, TVs, video 5 min. 9 sec., loop, sound, mixed media. 58 59 Courtesy Museum of Art, Žilina Dreimal. 1994, site-speciic video-installation, TV, digital print, TV, video 10 min., loop, sound; video stills. 60 61 Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst, Wien Land in Land. 1993, Performance. Borinka. Music: Dominika Ličková, Lucia Havlíková 62 63 Stones. 1993, video-installation 64 65 66 67 Kouros. 1993, installation, mixed media Dialogue. 1993, videoinstallation, digital print, TVs, barrels, copperplate, plaster bust, video 8 min. 45 sec., 68 69 loop, sound Growth of Breast. 1991, installation, photography, soil, light-bulb, mixed media 70 71 Last Feeding. 1992, site-speciic installation, BW photography, plastic, glass, light-bulbs, neon tube, grain, hen 72 73 feathers, sound (detail). Courtesy Linea Collection, Bratislava Bringing a Stone to Life. 1991, event. Borinka (detail) 74 75 Installation. 1991, metal bath-tub, neon tube, plastic, mixed media 76 77 Chair for Guest. 1991, installation, mixed media, neon-tube, brick, gold foil. Courtesy SNG, Bratislava Amateur versus Renaissance. 1989, installation mixed media 78 79 Primal Substance I-II. 1990, installation, mixed media 80 81 Fata Morgana of Breast. 1990, land-art, colour photography 82 83 Fata Morgana of Breast. I-III. 1990, BW photography 84 85 Beasts (Stones). 1988, land-art, stones, golden pigment Eternal Cycle. 1989, installation, neon-tubes, wood, canvas 86 87 Decorated. 1988, neon-tube, mixed media Sign – Its Origin and Decline. 1984, event. Vicinity of Bratislava (detail). Participation in the set of land art 88 89 events Terrain III. Spring 1984 Anticipated Mystery I-III. 1982, BW photography, collage, corrugated cardboard. Participation in the 90 91 5th Bratislava Championship in Shifting the Artifact. 1982 Doubled Space I. 1981, BW photography. Courtesy Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava 92 93 Doubled Space II. 1981, BW photography. Courtesy Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava 94 95 Grass Taken from Place A is Growing in Place B in the Designated Shape. 1981, event. Bratislava (detail) 96 97 Metamorphoses I (Swans). 1981, event. Senec Lake 98 99 A Piece of Land II-III. 1974, BW photography, corrugated cardboard. Courtesy Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava 100 101 Le goût du paradis / Taste of Paradise. 1973 / 2012, environment, mixed media 102 103 Maritime Greeting. August 8, 1970, event. St. Stephen’s Isle, Yugoslavia. Letters in bottles. 104 105 Cooperation: Ivica Ozábalová Silkworm. 1970, silk tricotine, thermo-plastic, hanging objects. Exhibition Poly-Music Space – Sculpture, Object, 106 107 Light, Music, Piešťany. Courtesy Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava Amanita muscaria – for saving all through 1971. Nov. 19, 1970, installation, event, plastic coin banks, black 108 109 ribbons. Participation in the 1st Open Studio, house of Rudolf Sikora, Tehelná Street, Bratislava Opening of the exhibition Kandarya – Mahadeva. 1969, environment, mixed media, plastic, mirrors, paper, neon 110 111 lights. Václav Špála Gallery, Prague Opening of the exhibition Kandarya – Mahadeva. 1969, environment, mixed media, plastic, mirrors, paper, neon 112 113 lights. Václav Špála Gallery, Prague Opening of the exhibition Kandarya – Mahadeva. 1969 / 2015, environment, mixed media, plastic, mirrors, 114 115 paper, neon lights. Tate Modern, London. Courtesy Linea Collection, Bratislava Triptych. 1969, mixed media, textile, metal, hardboard. Courtesy Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava 116 117 Possibility of Discovery. 1967. Venus. 1967, mixed media, mirror, plastic, golden pigment, wood. Walker Art 118 119 Center, Minneapolis. Courtesy First Slovak Investmet Group (PSIS) Collection, Bratislava Possibility of Discovery. 1967. Toiletta. I-II. 1967, mixed media, textile, hardboard. Walker Art Center, 120 121 Minneapolis. Courtesy Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava Possibility of Discovery. 1967, environment, textile curtains. Retrospective exhibition No Touching at the Slovak 122 123 National Gallery, Bratislava 2012 Possibility of Discovery. Cyprián Majerník Gallery, Bratislava 1967. Object I. 1967, mixed media, mirror, 124 125 hardboard. Object II. 1967, mixed media, mirror, textile, wood. Courtesy Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava Possibility of Discovery. Cyprián Majerník Gallery, Bratislava 1967. Breasts. 1967, mixed media, hardboard. 126 127 Courtesy Museum of Art, Žilina Hollows, Spirals, Crinkles, Cracks, and Breaks Objects and Installations by Jana Želibská Swan Song Now The objects, installations and videos of Jana Želibská often employ antithesis and paradox. Their notably gen- der-based symbolism gradually crystallized in the central meta-theme of time, particularly subjective human time measuring out life and arranging all desires, dreams and experiences into the vestiges of memory. They are con- templations of unstoppable time, of the impermanence of all things. Yet typically there is no lack of remove, even of ironic distance, absurdity and wit. There is also a trace of chronophobia in her works as a typical meta-subject of the art of 1960s, with an updated reference to a new kind of anxiety about time in our era (Time Flies... Save Time, 2016). For the pavilion, Želibská has created an installation dominated by a monumental projection of the sea, ilmed in Venice. An array of luminous swans rests on islets, representing the implacable human yearning for con- stancy in a world driven by unremitting change, bringing in its wake unavoidable losses as we traverse the breach between past and present. The doubled video-image of the pubescent girl radiates youth and newness – a presence reminiscent of the distressing rhythm of the siren. Swan Song Now is composed with the artist’s characteristic industrial aesthetic. She makes thoughtful use of gender symbolism, making a reined appearance in coinciding antithetical semantic motifs. In the girl is sub- sumed the antitheses of child and woman, in the swans woman and man coalesce; and a seemingly tranquil meditation on transcendence and eternity in a moment reveals an apocalyptic vision that takes the breath away. 128  An apocalypse is a revealing of mysteries that brings a radical change in the ordering of the world and in spiritual growth. For Jana Želibská, the swan is a messenger of change as a symbol of inner beauty, love, depth, purity, faithfulness and a symbiosis of antitheses. The motif of the swan, which can live on land, in water and ly in the air, bears the trope of inner freedom. Swans through the ages and in various cultures are sacred and mystical creatures, sometimes giving people the ability to traverse diferent worlds. Their whiteness in this exhibition evokes a reference to the future as another chance for humanity. In the video-installation, with its contrasting luminous swans and gilt wooden object, the artist sardonically draws attention to the omnipresent ‘ready-made’ objects that surround us and compose our increas- ingly artiicial, one-of world of semblances. The piece’s theme is the political and ecological cataclysm of the planet, yet rather than being a commentary on an abject condition it challenges us to relect and to hope. It intimates that once we have gotten past the diferences that divide people, tremendous energy will be released, selless love and natural respect, leading to a newly deepened life. From the series Swan Song Now. 2017, mixed media 129 Possibility of Discovery From her early work in the mid-1960s, Želibská has been concentrating on space and how to shape it in relation to the spectator. She constructed situations obliging spec- tators to perceive as aesthetic experience, but in which they moved and responded subjectively to the themes she ofered up. She entered the Czechoslovak art scene of the end of the 60s period in two respects: socio-politically and – particularly due to the openness of her art pro- gram of sexuality, female sensuality and erotic iconog- raphy – in gender terms. Relating to Nouveaux réalisme in Paris, she used fragments, veneers, unstable materials and loral ornaments and motifs. Flat morphology, limited colour of large areas and the relief-like nature of assemblage opened up for her new ways of artistic work as a playing ield to interlink various spheres of life. This not only tested a new model of art work, but also made for a thoroughly new type of woman artist in the Slovak, Jana Želibská at the installation of and Czechoslovak art scene. Kandarya – Mahadeva. 1969 Environment, mixed media, plastic, mirrors, paper, neon lights. Želibská’s approach oscillates between fascination Václav Špála Gallery, Prague with the present and ironic distance, which is visually represented by kitsch as a quotation of the realistic and monsters as a demonstration of the real in a new visual coding. In his deliberation from 1971 regarding pop-art, the Czech philosopher and psychologist Petr Rezek noted that ‘… kitsch is not decadent in general; in contrast to other relations to rendering… the advantageous thing about kitsch is the fact that kitsch is possible – it is a fascination with the present to which kitsch relates, which kitsch in fact is.’¹ In the 1960s art gained a cultic position as a social, cultural and spiritual sphere. Several male as well as female artists in work ranging from the informel, through new iguration, to neo-realistic objects worked 1 REZEK, Petr: Tělo, věc with the ‘altar’ and ‘cathedral’ as a form relecting upon a skutečnost v současném umění. (Prague: Jazzpetit, the present or on male fantasies. From today’s perspec- 2006), p. 54. tive we can clearly see that Jana Želibská’s works from the 1960s have made a place for themselves in the wide range of international female pop art. In this regard, a 130  radical shift in viewing the pop art phenomena around the globe has taken place over the past 20 years. A new interpretation of female pop artists’ works led to a new ield of research, which has ever since been brought up at conferences, exhibition projects, etc. The second wave feminism of the 1970s practically neglected or ignored the work of female pop and conceptual artists within American and Western European art (such as Pauline Boty, Marisol, Niki de Saint-Phalle, Kiki Kogelnik, Evelyn Axell, Rosalyn Draxler, Jann Haworth, and Dorothy Iannone) as well as in Eastern European art (Maria Pinińska-Bereś, Natalia LL, Alina Szapocznikow, Sanja Ivekovic, Ilona Keserű and others). The oeuvre of these artists has eventually become a subject of the new contextualization, leading to ground-breaking changes of the canon. Erotic motifs were not rare in the Slovak art of the 1960s²; however, artists such as Stano Filko and Alex Mlynárčik, that were closest generationally to Želibská, used the language of pop-art and New Realism, and they mixed their iconography with local folklore motifs as well as the other speciics in an entirely difer- ent way. Yet using the term pop-art still seems somewhat 2 According to Grzegorz problematic with reference to Eastern/Central European Dziamski one of the main themes of Slovak pop-art art of the period. As Piotr Piotrowski put it, there was is eroticism; he especially a wide range of igurative approaches especially within mentioned Jana Želibská and her ‘decidedly erotic the Czechoslovak context, associated with the local- exhibition,’ the Possibility of Discovery n (1967). ly-used term ‘new iguration’ or ‘re-iguration’ which DZIAMSKI, Grzegorz: marked ‘the rejection of Modernism combined with a Lata dziewięćdziesiąte [English translation] turn towards iguration.’³ According to him, ‘the range (Poznan: Galeria Miejska of practices which has been gathered under this label has Arsenał, 2000), p. 64. Quoted in PIOTROWSKI, been so broad that achievement of terminological preci- Piotr: In the Shadow of Yalta. Art and Avant- sion has been, as in other cases of East-Central European Garde in Eastern Europe, art, virtually impossible.’⁴ 1945–1989 (London: Reaction Books, 2009), p. 168. The image of the female body in Želibská’s irst solo show titled Possibility of Discovery (1967)⁵ was presented 3 PIOTROWSKI, p. 168. in a new way using the tools of the aforementioned art 4 Ibid. tendencies. Some of the objects were created as ‘anthro- pometries’ (resembling works by Yves Klein from the female perspective) – created by a contour line along a living body, and thus also containing an element of 131 action and performing by the body. The latness, wall- paper-like character, ornamentality and overall stifness and lifelessness of the naked or gradually exposed body or its fragments juxtapose with their origin in the act of recording the imprinted living body – emphasizing the moment when the female subject passes through the petrifying act of anesthetization and objectiication. Želibská’s open minded approach to sexuality and the body reminds us of the surrealist Meret Oppenheim and her attitude to the body, female sexuality and women masquerades. The pigments and garments in Želibská’s objects from this period are applied in the way women dress or undress and apply their make-up in an ‘everyday ritual of getting herself up,’⁶ or a ‘self-creation in front of the mirror’⁷ – the objects are in fact covered with Jana Želibská at her happening Betrothal of Spring. 1970 make-up and they seem to be a substitute for the living performing body that is only present through its traces. But it is evident that even here the ‘temporary transfor- mation … through the application of make-up represents 5 Parts of the environment a form of masquerade’ and also that ‘cosmetic self-cre- were recently presented in the exhibition projects ation in the painting medium evokes analogies between International Pop in the applying the make-up and applying paint that correlate USA (Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, April – skin and picture surface, the cosmetic powder and colour August 2015, touring to pigments.’⁸ The environment as a synthetic artistic form Dallas Museum of Art October 2015 – January invited visitors to take part in it – they selected their 2016 and Philadelphia Museum of Art, February own route and duration of experience; they put their – May 2016) and The view in active communication with the work, which was World Goes Pop in the Tate Modern in London also reinforced by mirror relections. In Possibility of (September 2015 – Discovery, which is about intimacy, their gaze is inten- January 2016). tionally driven back to them. Peeking into the central 6 EIPELDAUER, Heike: ‘Meret Oppenheim’s object through a small peep-hole, the viewers encounter Masquerades,’ in a women’s image inside, which generates the pleasure EIPELDAUER, Heike – BRUGGER, Ingried – derived from the possibility of seeing the hidden/for- SIEVERMICH, Gereon (eds.): Meret Oppenheim. bidden (Object I. 1967). The ‘furniture’ creates the irony Retrospective (Vienna: – the woman inds her body hidden in the wardrobe Hantje Cantz, 2013), p. 11. (Object II. 1967), stuck at home; and the mirror plays yet 7 Ibid. a diferent role when the female spectator’s gaze comes 8 Ibid. into consideration. Želibská’s works thematize the act of gazing into the mirror in yet another way: thus experi- encing that instant of alienation necessary to encounter the self and to comprehend it as one’s face and/or body. 132  The theme of vanitas – the opposite pole of referring to the present, the just-experienced – is also found in fragments of bodies exhibited for uncovering and examining. This is emphasized by the spolia of the older artisan objects, ornaments, lowers (hippie style) and mirrors, teasing but also interrupting the scopophilic act of looking. The theatre-like staging of the objects in the space suggests a new understanding of the concept of the art itself as it literally provides a spectacle while ofering monstrous beauty. The process of sinking into the labyrinth, the gradual uncovering of what has been shown and confrontation with the ephemerality of one’s own picture is not only encoded by the eroticism – it also contains the tension between the mythical Eros and Thanathos. In the environment Kandarya Mahadeva (1969), which Želibská set at the invitation of Jindřich Chalupecký at the Gallery of V. Špála in Prague, the handmade work was replaced by multiple industrial plastic reliefs. The artist’s original intention was based on the grandiose expansion from an exhibition hall to the public space of the street by the pink silhouettes of painted female igures, which are signiicant parts of this work though they were not realized due to the political situation. Kandarya Mahadeva was inspired by the 11th-century Kandariya Mahadev temple in Khajuraho in India, tantric Hinduism and its gender-balanced erotic ritualism. The male principle is represented by the column of Shiva, and the entire environment is dominated by repeating motifs of ‘heavenly female dancers’, apsaras in hippie style. The ‘low’, non-durable pop-culture materials – plastic, crêpe paper (lower garlands) – are used inten- tionally, as is the role of gazing into the mirror in both cases: either the private worshipping of the encounter with self (women) or the encounter with the self trapped in the vagina (men). The Indian civilization is based on Jana Želibská at the three fundamental concepts: sacred, universal and ritual. installation of the Silkworm. 1970 In the framework of its concepts everything with which the human can be connected is divine. Art does not appear as a mere aesthetic fact. It rises as a phenomenon 133 inseparable from the life that it depicts. It is an image or rather an emanation of the divine. The motif of constant co-habitation also inds expression in the well-known symbol of lingam, which can be observed in many Indian temples: the base is created by the female symbol of yoni in which the vajra is erected. The god Shiva, Mahádéva and Párvatí, is androgynous because he provided half of his body as a dwelling to his wife. In spite of rich iconography and interpretational ambiguity, the pop-art language of the work is evident in the sense Hal Foster put it: ‘pop-art often suggests paradoxical structures of feeling, looking, and meaning: an afect that is lat one moment and intense the next; a gaze that is deadpan at times and desirous at others; a signiicance that seems all but absent at irst glance and superabundant a second later, with the viewer positioned as a blank scanner one moment and a frenetic iconographer the next.’⁹ Breasts – Stones The scope of work of Jana Želibská, who began to actively participate in the art scene in the middle of the 1960s, extends from graphic art, drawings, paintings, objects, environments and installations, to video and hybrid media expressions. She has developed sign sys- tems and themes unique not only on the domestic visual art scene, but also in the context of the Central European 9 FOSTER, Hal: The First Pop Age: Painting and neo-avant-garde. Her approach is labelled ‘latent femi- Subjectivity in the Art of nism,’ as it has been analysed by Zora Rusinová, because Hamilton, Lichtenstein, Warhol, Richter, and no real feminist platform existed under communism Ruscha (Princeton: Princeton University in Slovakia. Želibská, aware of the privileged status of Press, 2010), p. 8. the male gaze, has relected on the stereotypical visu- 10 RUSINOVÁ, Zora: ‘Body alization of femininity since the mid-1960s, criticizing Language or Diferent Reading (On the Birth not only male dominance but also female passivity. The of Body and Gender iconography of her spectacular environments is based on in Slovak Fine Arts,’ in Galéria – Ročenka enlarged female nudes captured in provocative poses and Slovenskej národnej fragments thereof, in combination with paper lowers galérie v Bratislave (Bratislava: SNG, 2003), and mirrors, emphasizing the primary signalling func- p. 31. tion of sexual attributes as an equivalent of the general concept of pleasure and commodity. In later events and 134  concepts using a poetic metaphoric outline, she often worked semantically with the adolescent physiology of girls between 14 and 15 years, in the state of virginity, purity, ‘uncodiied femininity.’¹⁰ In 1970 Želibská was invited to the legendary outdoor exhibition titled Poly-Music Space – Sculpture, Object, Light, Music in Piešťany (Czechoslovakia), which in fact summarized the issues of artistic synthesis and the interdisciplinary eforts of the 1960s. Želibská responded to this challenge with Silkworm (1970) which, similarly to her previous Kandarya Mahadeva, she based on rep- etition of elements and suppressed colourfulness, albeit inserted in an open structure. The biomorphic shapes of cocoons made of tricotine fabric illed with hollow ther- mo-plastic balls, set in juxtaposition of the natural and the artiicial, which was later viewed as a dialogue with the art of sculpting based on natural materials, organic shapes and secrets of birth and death. In cocoons hang- ing on the trees, the artist was trying to use the natural motion of the wind, which was an active component of this work. At the same time they signalled a new tone and artist’s intention, built on the individual experienc- ing of the themes of land and society that transformed Jana Želibská preparing the bottle messages for her great subjects – woman, the present moment, myth, the Maritime Greeting. garden, and connecting of opposites. By accumulating 1970 motifs, forms and objects that artists had begun to use in this period, Želibská seemed to reduce her artistic gesture to spatial repetition of the object, and thus emphasized the aspect of the game as her conceptual and action baseline (Silkworm, Betrothal of Spring, Maritime Greeting, Amanita muscaria, and Christmas Presents, all 1970). This game, depriving the work of art of its aura of artiness and the originality of the artefact in the adoption of everyday objects and materials, also eliminates the connection with the hierarchical structure of the world of art, and establishes a new understanding of ‘living art’ in an unoicial, non-institutionalized horizontal com- munication system of thoughts and experiences. 135 Želibská participated in the First Open Studio in the house of Rudolf Sikora at Tehelná Street in Bratislava (1970) with an intervention made up of the accumulated objects of plastic coin banks in the ultimate pop-art shape of the mushroom, bearing the inscription ‘amanita muscaria – for saving all through 1971.’ This work also referred to the intervention of the Warsaw Pact armies in 1968 and simultaneously represented a cryptic self-por- trait of the artist as this beautiful but toxic fungus that will spread with no consideration for its surroundings. Želibská made several statements on experiencing the magic of the present moment and experience with the landscape in all its transformations, shapes and colour through concepts and events that emphasized a connec- tion with nature. In contrast to the HAPPSOC concepts (1965 – 1966) of Alex Mlynárčik (1934) and Stano Filko Jana Želibská at the (1937 – 2015), who declared reality and life a work of art, installation of the in Želibská’s land art the human being is removed from Amanita muscaria. 1970 experienced existence. At its utmost it presents love and sexuality as fullness of existence, as a longing for the new harmony of body and soul, and as the male and female principle in her own version of the eco-feminist approach. In the subsequent period she focused more thoroughly on nature itself while sharing the interest of her whole generation in ecology, which from an ideolog- ical aspect represented the unoicial intellectual scene’s alternative agenda regarding the scientiic and technical progress proclaimed by oicial institutions. Naturally she has done this not only from the position of a consciously female perspective, but also with deliberate impregna- tion of conceptual art strategies with female creativity and sensitivity. This augmented her pop-art ‘girl power’ from the sixties with the matured ‘woman power’ in conceptual art, video and installations since the 1970s. Želibská’s installations in the 1980s built mainly on the artist’s experience with nature, or on the typical Jana Želibská shooting postmodernist contrast of the urban and the natural. the Double Space. 1991 Even here, as in her objects and environments in the 1960s and photographic work in 1970s, the artist often included elements shaped as instrumentalized 136  fragments of the female body (Growth of Breast, 1991). The artist’s approach, supporting open possibilities of interpretation for spectators and reviewers in her videos and video-installations, is also manifested by holding a mirror to the artistic medium itself. She thematizes time, sound, methods and the protagonists of videos, by means of which she achieves agitation, and excitement. She closely links the objects and installations with photography and natural materials; the hybrid elements and media in them are composed in a hierarchy of well thought-out puzzles or riddles (Reminiscences I, II, 1988; Revelation, 1991) and in many she returns by a diferent route to her iconographic system of Piece of Land (1974) in Temple of Breast (1992), to the land, and protecting its continuity and man’s expansion in it (Stones, 1993; Bricks – Bricked in, 1993; Green Rock, 1994). She also returns to taboo and bans (Warning, Do Not Excavate!, 11 See BÜNGEROVÁ, 1991; No Touching, 1992). New media enabled Želibská Vladimíra: ‘Sex, príroda a video / Sex, to fully utilize her relation to classical and alternative Nature and Video’, in music and theatre and production and to direct her gaze BÜNGEROVÁ, Vladimíra – GREGOROVÁ, Lucia toward the bodies of girls, women and men.¹¹ Her spatial (eds.): Zákaz dotyku / arrangement of installations frequently derives from No Touching. (Bratislava: SNG, 2012), pp. 24-39. either the axial symmetry of the human body (Dialogue, 1993; Concert for Cymbals and Breasts, 1994) or the motif of a ritual path. Time Flies… Save Time The political breakthrough of the Velvet Revolution in 1989 and the end of the unoicial culture era allowed Želibská to formulate her standpoints more sharply and to create a new apparatus of themes and tools, a well thought-out orchestration of works as ideas and visions addressed to both male and female spectators. For this she used new iconographic elements of hens, roosters and the snake, as well as her typical motifs of the heav- enly fruit of knowledge (Impaired Watering, 1991; 1992; Under Wings, 1992; and Diferent Temptation, 1995), and the frameworks of feeding, watering, and poisoning, as well as seduction and conlict. 137 In her videos and video installations the body became central both as a medium and as a subject for the works. The puberty and virginity that interested her in land art events in the 1970s appeared again in her video art, in a monumental demonstration of intimacy but also of ‘girl power’ (Sisters I-II, 1997, 1999). On the other hand, she also referred to later stages of a woman’s life, accompa- nied by changes to her body (Cash on Delivery, 1978; Last Feeding, 1992). In these and other multimedia instal- lations, her private mental spatial conceptual art, she returns to the woman‘s ‘room of her own’. She often uses the imagery of media, advertisement and popular culture to express herself on political and social issues. The artist’s swing from urban folklore to nature, for which Pierre Restany titled her ‘a Fiancé of Spring’ in 1973, was an expression of her political attitude towards the so-called normalisation of the communist system in Czechoslovakia after the invasion in 1968. This move- ment was typical for the radical neo-avant-garde of the 1970s and 1980s in Czechoslovakia. Since then until the present day she has been projecting iconographic motifs from pictures and environments onto found natural objects and themes (Stones – Breasts, 1988), working also with ‘second nature’ in photographic and ilm imagery. In the privacy of her home and studio, from that time on she has continuously worked in the intimate small-scale compositions of chance found objects or parts and pieces of them, from plants and minerals and vernacular by-products. In their micro-installation scale, she delicately teases out the signs of her universe, fer- tilized by man/woman relations. In material and shape, Želibská’s eye sensitively detects correlated constella- tions of contrasting qualities, using all their hollows, spirals, crinkles, cracks, and breaks for her humorous, critical, yet essentially existential considerations. 138  My Name is Written in Me Only. 1985, mixed media, neon tube, wood 139 Courtesy First Slovak Investment Group (PSIS) Collection, Bratislava Jana Želibská Collective Exhibitions Slovenské výtvarné umenie 1965–1970. Valdštejnská jízdárna, Born on May 3, 1941 in Olomouc 1965 III. kolektívna výstava Palác Kinských, Mánes, Prague 1959–1965 západoslovenských Polymúzický priestor I. Academy of Fine Art and výtvarníkov. Exhibition hall – Socha, Objekt, Svetlo, Design, Bratislava SSVU, Bratislava Hudba. Kúpeľný park, Piešťany 1968 Study Stay, Paris 1966 Graika, kresba. Výstavní síň Soudobá československá Fronta, Prague graika. Dům umění, Hodonín Malarstwo, rzeżba, graika 25 lat slowackiej graiki. Solo Exhibitions Bratislawy. Pawilon Cracow wystawowi, Cracow 1. otvorený ateliér / First 1967 Možnosť odkrývania Graika 1963–1966. Dom Open Studio. Tehelná 32, / Possibility of Discovery. umenia, Bratislava Bratislava Cyprián Majerník Gallery, Výstava mladých / 1971 Actual Grabado Eslovaco. Bratislava Exposition des jeunes Mexico 1969/1970 (usporiadaná pri príležitosti 1972 Inter-Etrennes. Galerie Lara Kandarya-Mahadeva. Václav IX. medzinárodného kongresu Vincy, Paris Špála Gallery, Prague AICA). Moravská galerie, Dům Ilustračná tvorba knižnej 1973/1974 umění města Brna, Dům pánů produkcie Smeny. Galéria Le Goût du Paradis. Galerie z Kunštátu, Brno mladých SÚV SZM, Bratislava Jean-Gilbert Jozon, Paris Tvorba mladej a strednej 1973 VIII. Biennale de Paris. 1988 Jana Želibská. Rodný dom generácie zo zbierok SNG. Musée d’art moderne de la ville Jána Kupeckého, Pezinok Part of the International de Paris, Paris 1992 Posledné kŕmenie a iné... Congress of AICA in 1977 Fotozáznamy. Klub / Last Feeding and Others... Czechoslovakia. Exhibition hall slovenských výtvarných Galéria Arpex, Bratislava SSVU, Bratislava umelcov, Bratislava 1993 Posledné kŕmenie / Last 1967 13 zo Slovenska. Václav Špála 1979 2. majstrovstvo Bratislavy Feeding. Považská galéria Gallery, Prague v posune artefaktu, umenia, Žilina Malarstwo–1967 – Kraków, téma: zmyselnosť / 2nd 1996 Jana Želibská. Graika Wspólczesne tendencje Championship of Bratislava (60. roky) / Graphic (1960s). w malarstwe. Miejski pawilon in the Shift of the Artefact, Galéria Nova, Bratislava wystaw, Cracow subject: Sensuality. Bratislava 1996/1997 Izložba savremene 1980 3. majstrovstvo Bratislavy Jana Želibská. Výber z rokov čechoslovačke graike. Muzej v posune artefaktu, téma: 1966–1996 / Selection from savremene umetnosti, Beograd dotyk / 3rd Championship 1966–1996. Považská galéria Nové slovenské umenie. of Bratislava in the Shift of umenia, Žilina Václav Špála Gallery, Prague the Artefact, subject: Touch. 1998 Ona = On / She = He. V. Biennale de Paris. Paris Bratislava At Home Gallery, Šamorín 1968 Slovakialaista graiikaa. 1981 V. súčasná slovenská graika. 1999 Sestry II. / Sisters II. Suomen Taiteilijaseura, Oblastná galéria, Banská CC Centrum, Bratislava Helsinki Bystrica 2003 Jana Želibská. Pod vodu! II. Biennale internazionale 1982 5. majstrovstvo Bratislavy Drink Milk. Štátna galéria, dell’ incisione „Il iore nella v posune artefaktu, Banská Bystrica graica contemporanea“. téma: tajomnosť, 2004 Jana Želibská. Instalace / Pescia záhada, tajuplnosť Installations. České muzeum Graická škola Vincenta / 5th Championship of výtvarných umění, Prague Hložníka. Slovenská národná Bratislava in the Shift of the 2012 Jana Želibská: Zákaz dotyku. galéria, Bratislava Artefact, subject: Enigma, / No Touching. Retrospective Contemporary Prints of Mystery, Secret. Bratislava exhibition, Slovenská národná Czechoslovakia. The National 1983 6. majstrovstvo Bratislavy galéria, Bratislava Gallery of Canada, Ottawa v posune artefaktu, téma: 2014 Jana Želibská: The Parts of Izložba savremene spojenie / 6th Championship the Entity. Gandy Gallery, čehoslovačke graike. Muzej of Bratislava in the Shift Bratislava savremene umetnosti, Beograd of the Artefact, subject: 2016 Nebuť labuť / Don´t be Naïve Súčasná slovenská graika. Connection. Bratislava (with Dominika Horáková). New Delhi, Kalkata; Nepal VII. súčasná slovenská SODA Gallery, Bratislava 1969 Súčasné tendencie graika. Stredoslovenská 2016 Time Flies... Save Time. v slovenskom maliarstve. galéria, Banská Bystrica At Home Gallery, Šamorín Dom umenia, Bratislava 1984 7. majstrovstvo Bratislavy 1970 Graveurs tchécoslovaques v posune artefaktu, téma: contemporains. Cabinet des mýtus / 7th Championship estampes, Musées d’art et of Bratislava in the Shift of d’histoire de Genève, Genève the Artefact, subject: Myth. Bratislava 140  1985 8. majstrovstvo Bratislavy Interrooms / Video – vidím – ich sehe. v posune artefaktu, Medzipriestory. Bardejovské Považská galéria umenia, Žilina téma: svetlo – osvetlenie kúpele, Bardejov Disperzia. Súčasné slovenské / 8th Championship of Umění akce. Výstavní síň umenie. Dům umění, Ostrava Bratislava in the Shift of the Mánes, Prague Fragmente / Fragments. Artefact, subject: Light – Oscilácia / Oszcilláció. Hochschule für angewandte Lighting. Bratislava Komárno Kunst, Vienna VIII. súčasná slovenská Umenie akcie. Považská Untitled. Štátna galéria, graika 8. Stredoslovenská galéria umenia, Žilina Banská Bystrica galéria, Banská Bystrica Das Land im Land im Land. Disperzia. Slovenská národná 4. celoslovenská výstava Ofenes Haus Oberwart, OHO galéria, Bratislava kresby. Považská galéria, – Galerie, Oberwart Video – vidím – ich sehe. Žilina Oszcilláció. Műcsarnok, Dům umění města Brna, Brno 1987 IX. súčasná slovenská Budapest Naturally. Ernst Museum, graika. Stredoslovenská 1992 Písmo v obraze. Moravská Budapest galéria, Banská Bystrica galerie v Brně, Brno Minisalon. Contemporary Arts Hostia Galérie H. Galerie H, Zwischen Objekt und Center, Cincinnati, Ohio Kostelec nad Černými lesy, Installation. Slowakische Minisalon. Courtyard Gallery, Prague Kunst der Gegenwart. New York 5. celoslovenská výstava Museum am Ostwall, 1995 Video – vidím – ich sehe. kresby. Považská galéria Dortmund Galéria mesta Bratislavy, umenia, Žilina Die Zeitgenössische Bratislava 10 slovenských fotograiek. Slowakische Fotograie. Four Artists from Slovakia. Obvodné kultúrne Landeshaus, Kiel Santa Barbara, California a spoločenské stredisko, Slovenská kresba 1975–1989 ... predtým (Prekročenie Spoločenský dom Trnávka, zo zbierok PGU. Moravská hraníc: 1964–1971). Považská Bratislava galerie, Brno galéria umenia, Žilina Archeologické pamiatky Česká a slovenská kresba Video – vidím – ich sehe. a súčasnosť 6. (Pocta 1989–1992. Považská galéria Kunstmuseum Thun strednej Európe). Mestská umenia, Žilina Serpens. Synagóga správa pamiatkovej Minisalon. Galerie Nová síň, Na Palmovce, Prague starostlivosti, Bratislava Prague Šesťdesiate roky 1988 Nový slovenský obraz. Foyer Písmo v obraze. Galerie Stará v slovenskom výtvarnom Československého rozhlasu, radnice, Brno umení. Slovenská národná Bratislava Písmo v obraze. Galéria mesta galéria, Bratislava 1989 Slovenská fotograia Bratislavy, Pálfyho palác, Interakcie. Elektráreň, osemdesiatych rokov. Bratislava Tatranská galéria, Poprad Slovenský rozhlas, Bratislava 1993 1. poschodie. Umelecká Le temps... Lara Vincy, Paris Suterén I Basement. beseda slovenská, Bratislava Interakcie. UXA, Studio d’Arte Bratislava Minisalon. Musée des Beaux Contemporanea, Novarra Úsměv, vtip a škleb. Palác Arts, Mons Sen o múzeu? Považská kultury, Prague Česká a slovenská kresba galéria umenia, Žilina Výberové príbuznosti. 1989–1992. Galéria mesta 1996 Interakcie. Galéria Jána Galéria SFVU, Bratislava Bratislavy, Bratislava Koniarka, Trnava 6. celoslovenská výstava Slovenská kresba 1975–1989 Sen o múzeu? Oravská galéria, kresby. Považská galéria, zo zbierok PGU v Žiline. Dolný Kubín Žilina Národní galerie v Praze – Palác Interakcie. Ex – Chiesa X. súčasná slovenská graika. Kinských, Prague Mater Misericordiae Casale di Štátna galéria, Banská Bystrica Elektráreň T. Tatranská Monferratto 1990 Jericho 7. Paris galéria, Poprad Sen o múzeu? Dom umenia, Nové cesty kresby a graiky. XII. súčasná slovenská Bratislava 90 autorů v roce ‘90. Palác graika. Štátna galéria, Banská Považská galéria umenia kultury, Prague Bystrica Žilina 1976–1996. Považská Jericho 2 + 7. Bratislava-Devín ON / OFF. Galéria Palisády, galéria umenia, Žilina Interpretácie Bratislava Epikurova záhrada / Garden a reinterpretácie. Slovenský 1994 Cesta. Združenie Untitled. of Epicure. Slovenská národná rozhlas, Bratislava Synagóga, Centrum súčasného galéria, Bratislava 1991 Interpretácie umenia, Trnava Paradigma žena / Paradigm a reinterpretácie. Václav XII. súčasná slovenská Woman. Považská galéria Špála Gallery, Prague graika. Umelecká beseda umenia, Žilina Sen o múzeu. Považská galéria slovenská, Bratislava umenia, Žilina Nature in Motion / Příroda 41e Salon de la Jeune v pohybu. Video Art ‘94. Peinture. Grand Palais, Paris Mánes, Prague 141  Homage to Václav Havel. 2000 P. F. 2000 Retrospektíva Slowakische Träume. Foyer Divadla Archa, Prague a prítomnosť žánru. Bildende Kunst von den Štátna galéria Banská Slovenská národná galéria, sechziger Jahren bis heute Bystrica (1956–1996). Bratislava aus den Sammlungen Stredoslovenská galéria, Axis mundi. Galéria mesta der Slowakischen Banská Bystrica Bratislavy, Bratislava; SNG Nationalgalerie, 1997 PreMOSTenie / Bridging. – Galéria insitného umenia, slowakischer Galerien und Štúrovo – Ostrihom, Duna Pezinok Ateliers. Museum modernen Múzeum, Esztergom Nézöpontok / Pozíciók. Kunst Stiftung Wörlen, Passau Minisalon. Prague Castle, Művészet Közép-Európában Slovenská fotograia Prague 1949–1999. Ludwig Múzeum, 1925–2000. Slovenská Socha a objekt II. Galéria Z, Budapest národná galéria, Bratislava Bratislava 20. storočie – Dejiny 2002 Slovenské vizuálne umenie Medzi mužom a ženou slovenského výtvarného 1970–1985. Slovenská / Between Man and Woman. umenia. Slovenská národná národná galéria, Bratislava Považská galéria umenia, Žilina galéria, Bratislava Slovak Contemporary Art 60/90 IV. yearly exhibition Späť do múzea – späť ku / ze sbírky První slovenské of SCCA, Galéria Médium, hviezdam. Slovenská národná investiční skupiny. Gallery Bratislava galéria, Bratislava Art Factory, Prague Homage to Kassák. Galéria Z, Socha a objekt V. Bratislava Madona v slovenskom Bratislava Spoločný menovateľ. Galéria výtvarnom umení. Nitrianska 1998 Prelet anjela. Synagóga – mesta Bratislavy, Bratislava galéria, Nitra centrum súčasného umenia, Aspects / Positions. 50 Years (Neue) Slowakische Kunst Trnava of Art in Central Europe 1936–2001. Kunsthalle Kassák kalap / Kassák‘s Hat. 1949–1999. Fundació Miró, Exnergasse, Vienna Kassák Múzeum, Budapest Barcelona Paths of Europe. Central train Socha III. Zichyho palác, Umění 1930–2000. Národní station square, Strasbourg, Bratislava galerie v Praze, Prague European Parliament square, Medzisvet. Slovenská národná Reality / Real (E)state. Strasbourg; Macedonian galéria, Bratislava Františkánske námestie 3, museum of contemporary art, Štyri živly vo výtvarnom SCCA Bratislava Thessalloniki (GR) umení (Voda). Galéria mesta Aspects / Positions. 50 Years 2003 Súčasné slovenské výtvarné Bratislavy, Bratislava of Art in Central Europe umenie zo zbierky Prvej It – telo ako paradigma 1949–1999. Hansard Gallery, slovenskej investičnej postmoderného myslenia. City Gallery, Southampton skupiny. Východoslovenská Galéria mesta Bratislavy, 2001 (Nové) umenie 1936–2000. galéria, Košice; Šarišská Bratislava Štátna galéria, Banská Bystrica; galéria, Prešov; Štátna galéria, 1999 Rondó / Rondo. Válogatás Galéria Jána Koniarka, Trnava Banská Bystrica; Nitrianska közép – és kelet-európai Umenie akcie 1989–2000. galéria, Nitra; Považská galéria művészek alkotásaiból Elektráreň, Tatranská galéria, umenia, Žilina; Galéria M. A. / A Selection of Works Poprad; Nitrianska galéria, Bazovského, Trenčín, Gallery by Central and Eastern Nitra Art Factory, Prague European Artists. Budapest. Umenie akcie 1965–1989. Pocta strednej Európe Ludwig Múzeum, Budapest Slovenská národná galéria, : Dlažba ako symbol Výlomok. Niekoľko podôb Bratislava križovatky. Galéria mesta akcie: k problémom prírody. Súčasné slovenské výtvarné Bratislavy, Bratislava Galéria mesta Bratislavy, umenie zo zbierky Prvej Minisalon. Centre tchèque, Bratislava slovenskej investičnej Paris Slovak Art for Free. skupiny, Danubiana – Prerušený obraz. Mestská XLVIII. Biennale di Venezia, Meulensteen Art Museum, galéria, Rimavská Sobota Čs. pavilón, Giardini di Bratislava Freedom & Beauty Castello, Venezia Koniec minulého storočia – (1999–2003, Washington). At Freedom & Beauty: Artotéka 90. rokov. Štátna Home Gallery, Šamorín A Discovery Trip. galéria, Banská Bystrica 2004 Prerušený obraz. Galéria Jána Contemporary Slovak Art in Zeitgenössische slowakische Koniarka, Trnava the Ambassador’s Residence Kunst aus der Sammlung Współczesna sztuka Washington, D.C. der Ersten slowakischen słowacka 1960–2000. Aspekte / Positionen. Investitionsgruppe. St. Anna Międzynarodowe Centrum 50 Jahre Kunst aus Kapelle, Passau Kultury, Cracow Mitteleuropa 1949–1999. Uncaptive Spirits. 2005 Kortárs Szlovák Művészet Museum moderner Kunst A Selection of Slovak 1960–2000. Ernst Múzeum, Stiftung Ludwig (MUMOK), Contemporary Art. Embassy Budapest Vienna of the Slovak Republic, Socha a objekt X. Bratislava Washigton, D.C. 142  Časopriestorová plastika Z mesta von. Umenie 2015 International Pop. Walker a PGU Sampler. Galéria Jána v prírode. Východoslovenská Art Center, Minneapolis; Koniarka v Trnave, Synagóga – galéria, Košice Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; centrum súčasného umenia Proč iz goroda. Philadelphia Museum of Art, IV. nový zlínský salon. Zlín Gosudarstvennyj centr Philadelphia Socha piešťanských parkov. sovremennovo iskusstva, Rekonštrukcie / Piešťany Moscow Reconstructions. Slovenská 2006 4 + jeden. Galéria Slovenského Gender Check – Rollenbilder národná galéria, Bratislava inštitútu, Prague in der Kunst Osteuropas. The World Goes Pop. Tate IN(TER)MEDIA(S)RES. Museum Moderner Kunst Modern, London Považská galéria umenia, Žilina Stiftung Ludwig (MUMOK), Ludwig Goes Pop. The East Slovenská graika Vienna Side Story. Ludwig Museum, 20. storočia (Stála 2010 Festival Transart Budapest expozícia do roku 2008). Communication – Public Fragmenty mojich svetov Stredoslovenská galéria, Dialog. Kassákovo centrum / Fragments of My Worlds. Banská Bystrica intermediálnej kreativity, Nové SODA Gallery, Bratislava (ne)stále expozície umenia Zámky 2016 XXL pohledů na současné 20. storočia. Slovenská Svetlo v umení, svetlo v nás. slovenské výtvarné umění. národná galéria, Bratislava Galéria mesta Bratislavy, GASK – Galerie Středočeského 2007 Z mesta von. Umenie Bratislava kraje, Kutná Hora v prírode. Galéria mesta Graphic tendencies in the Lesson of Relativity. Bratislavy, Bratislava 80s and 90s in Slovakia. Programmes and Tendencies Kortárs Szlovák Művészet Szlovák Intézet Budapest, in Slovak Visual Art 1960–2000. Városi Művészeti Budapest 1985–2016. ZOYA Gallery, Múzeum, Győr Gender Check. Femininity Bratislava Zrkadlo ako nástroj ilúzie. and Masculinity in the Art Our Heart Is a Foreign Nitrianska Galéria, Nitra of Eastern Europe. Zachęta Country. Friendship as an Slovenská graika – Narodowa Galeria Sztuki, alternative in a normal 20. storočia. Galéria mesta Warszawa world. tranzit.hu, Budapest Bratislavy Slovenská graika 20. století. Non-Aligned Modernity. Arta Plasticǎ Slovacǎ Galerie moderního umění Eastern-European Art and Contemporanǎ 1960–2000. v Hradci Králové, Hradec Archives from the Marinko Muzeul Naţional de Artǎ Králové Sudac Collection. FM Centre Contemporanǎ, Galeria Teatrul Formate der Transformation for Contemporary Art, Milano Naţional, Bucureşti 89-09. Museum auf Abruf, Non-Aligned Art. Eastern- Jesť sa musí! Nitrianska Vienna European Art and Archives galéria, Nitra Nepokojné médium. from the Marinko Sudac Contemporary Slovak Art Slovenská fotograia Collection. Ludwig Museum, 1960–2000. Városi Művészeti 1990–2010. Dom umenia, Budapest Múzeum, Győr Bratislava Czechoslovakia / A Critical Contemporary Slovak Art Svetlo v umení, svetlo v nás. Reader, Gandy Gallery, 1960–2000. Mestna galerija, Galéria M. A. Bazovského, Bratislava Ljubljana Trenčín 2008 Petites histoires. Regards 2011 Alternatívna slovenská projétes – Slovaquie (art graika. Galéria Cypriána vidéo)/ Malé príbehy. Majerníka, Bratislava Premietnuté pohľady – Slovenské umění ze sbírek Slovensko (videoumenie). Muzea umění Olomouc. Espace apollonia, Strasbourg Muzeum umění Olomouc, Z města ven. Umění Olomouc v přírodě. Západočeská 2012 A B C D E F G H I J K L M galerie, Plzeň N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z. Súčasné slovenské výtvarné Make Up Gallery, Košice umenie 1960–2000. Galerie Divákom prístupné. hlavního města Prahy, Prague Akvizície za posledných päť Video Exchange. Galleria rokov. Nitrianska galéria, Valentina Moncada, Rome Nitra 2009 Osemdesiate. Postmoderna Navzájom. Archívy v slovenskom výtvarnom neinštitucionalizovanej umení 1985–1992. Slovenská kultúry 70. – 80. rokov národná galéria, Bratislava v Československu. tranzit, Formáty transformace Bratislava 89–09. Dům umění města Brna, Brno 143 Jana Želibská Copyright © Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava 2017 Swan Song Now Copyright © Jana Želibská, Lucia Gregorová Stach 2017 Texts © Lucia Gregorová Stach, Miloslav Topinka 2017 Pavilion of the Czech and Slovak Republics Translations © Michael Frontczak, Jakub Guziur 2017 at the 57th International Art Exhibition Graphic Design © Boris Meluš 2017 – La Biennale di Venezia Photographs © Martin Deko, Dominika Horáková, 13 May – 26 November, 2017 Martin Ličko, Martin Marenčin, Miloň Novotný, Ivica Ozábalová, Gene Pittman, Jan Ságl, Miloš Curator: Lucia Gregorová Stach Vančo, Ľuba Velecká, Jana Želibská; photoarchive Commissioner: Monika Palčová of the Slovenská národná galéria, Bratislava; Architecture and Design of the Exhibition: photoarchive of the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Lukáš Radošovský, Róbert Bakyta, Boris Meluš Cooperation: Martin Ličko All rights reserved. No part of this publication may Music: Matej Gyarfáš, Phragments be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any Special treatment of the items in the installation: means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording Peter Gáll, Lucia Hesterová, Rastislav or otherwise, for any purpose, without the express Sedlačík, Róbert Sekeráš prior written permission of the copyright owners. Edited by Lucia Gregorová Stach Texts by Lucia Gregorová Stach, Miloslav Topinka Translations: Michael Frontczak (LGS), Jakub Guziur (MT) Photographs and Digital Reproductions: Slovak National Gallery (Martin Deko); Dominika Horáková (114-115), Martin Ličko (4-5, 8-9, 10, 11, 12-13, 14, 15, 16-17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22-23, 24-25, 26, 27, 28- 29, 30-31, 34, 38-39, 42, 43, 44-45, 46, 47, 48-49, 52-53, 54-55, 56-57, 58-59, 60, 61, 62-63, 64-65, 67, 68-69, 70-71, 72-73, 74-75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82-83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90-91, 92-93, 94-95, 96, 97, 98-99, 100, 101, 102, 116-117, 122-123, 129, 136-137), Martin Marenčin (50-51), Miloň Novotný (130-131), Ivica Ozábalová (134-135); Gene Pittman, photoarchive of the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (118-119, 120-121); photoarchive of the artist (32-33, 36-37, 40-41, 104-105, 106-107, 124-125, 136, 139, 143), Jan Ságl (110-111, 112-113), Miloš Vančo (108-109, 126-127, 132), Ľuba Velecká (133) Exhibition Realisation: SNG, Production of Projects and Exhibitions Section of the SNG, Bratislava Graphic Design: Boris Meluš Typeface: Lava Responsible Editor and Editorial Support: Luďka Kratochvílová, Irena Kucharová Printing Dolis, s. r. o., Bratislava 2017 Published by Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava 2017 Director General of the SNG: Alexandra Kusá www.sng.sk www.webumenia.sk ISBN 978-80-8059-205-9 EAN 9788080592059 144  General Partner of SNG Partner 145 146