“It is non-democratic and extremely impropriate to punish organizations of the exhibition Private nationalism by cancelling an assigned donation. The one piece of art which it contained was wrongly interpreted and it encourages nationalistic tendencies in ČR-SR relationships.” This is the initial part of a common statement which we took part in and joined. This was also the reason why we installed a model of Dalibor Bača’s art piece at the entrance of the Plusmínusnula galery.
The artist Dalibor Bača installed an art piece called CZ_SK_HU_D_PL – a Czechoslovakian flag placed on the floor during the exhibition Private nationalism at Hala umenia in Košice. The Czech ambassador said “that the Czech flag was placed at the door as a door-mat” and complained to all institutions who financed the exhibition. Then Slovakian government disagreed with using any state symbols as disparaging pseudo artistic demonstrations and the Ministry of Culture of Slovak Republic cancelled the donation assigned to Kassákovo centrum intermediálnej kreativity.
The interpretation of Dalibor Bača‘s art piece by the Czech ambassador and by Slovakian Government is an absurd and dangerous mistake because it:
– ignores the identity of the Czechoslovakian ex-flag and the current Czech flag,
– points the low degree of competence to judge against the author, the exhibition and the curators
– and represents the type of the nationalism which the exhibition refuses
The author’s aim was to point the historical relations in Czechoslovakian separation, to evoke the painful part of our recent past and hopes the installation is a contribution to heal the it’s wounds. By installing the flag he evokes a question: “Is it right to grab a historic visual identity which was jointly used?”
The author has been addressing himself to the Czechoslovakian history and the separation of both states for quite a long time in his project called “Looking for Czech nationalist among Czechoslovakian state symbols.” In this exhibition he wanted to know the point of view of the individuals, therefore he made a “barrier” of the Czechoslovakian flag. He uses the flag on the floor as a symbol of a beaten flag. The gallery visitor is confronted with the situation on how to act when seeing the symbol of a beaten state.
To protest against the Government decision and to show the solidarity to the author and the exhibition organizers we decided to form an official common statement and also to install the model of Dalibor Bača’s art piece at the entrances of our galleries, museums, private areas and also public institutions in Slovakia and Czech Republic.
Initiators:
Fedor Blaščák, Marek Adamov, Barbora Šedivá, Ilona Németh, Tomáš Svoboda
Signatories:
József R. Juhász, Jiří Ptáček, Martin Zet, Rudo Sikora, Tomáš Džadoň, Martin Piaček, Jan Kroupa, Fedor Gál, Michal Havran, Károly Tóth, Robo Blaško, Pavel Sterec, Alexandra Kusá, PhD. riaditeľka Slovenskej národnej galérie, Odborní zamestnanci Slovenskej národnej galérie, Zuzana Bodnárová a Svätopluk Mikyta (Banská St a nica Contemporary), Roman Babjak (sittcomm.sk a CEE PhotoFund), Mátyás Prikler, Éva Mayer, Bohdan Smieška, Miroslav Michela, Peter Kalmus, László Szigeti, Marek Kapusta (Nadácia otvorenej spoločnosti), Ľubo Burgr, Silvie Šeborová, Zuzana Duchová, Lida Pribišová, Ján Pernecký, Zbyněk Baladrán, Judit Angel, Martin Mlýnek, Boris Meluš, Michal Moravčík, Diana Majdáková, Simon Matrka, Richard Wiesner, Jaro Varga, Galéria HIT, Gábor Bindics, Tomáš Rafa, Helena Markusková (Galéria umenia Ernesta Zmetáka v Nových Zámkoch), Maroš Rovňák (Stredoslovenská galéria), Milena Bartlová, Bohunka Koklesová, Attila Simon, Zuzana Psotková (Na peróne), Peter Radkoff, Kamil Weiczen, Karol Rohrer (Tabačka Kulturfabrik), Kálmán Petőcz, Nikolas Bernáth, Peter Liška, Zora Jaurová, Jana Kapelová, Jiří Surůvka, o. s. Galerie Michal, Galerie Jáma 10 (Ostrava), Gabriela Kisová (Galéria Krokus), Lenka Klodová, Gábor Csanda, Zoltán Kőrös (Fórum inštitút pre výskum menšín), Mgr. Magdaléna Klobučníková, Galéria umenia Ernesta Zmetáka v Nových Zámkoch, Yvette Vašourková, doc. Mgr. art. Radovan Čerevka, ArtD, Martina Slováková, Dávid Demjanovič & Jarmila Mitríková, István Hajdú (OZ Fundament), Lenka Kukurová, Ján Zalešák, Marek Kuboš, Boris Strečanský, … to add your signature visit www.changenet.sk
Institutions:
Nová synagóga/kunsthalle Žilina, Slovenská národná galéria, Bratislava, Galéria umenia Ernesta Zmetáka v Nových Zámkoch, Stredoslovenská galéria v Banskej Bysrici, Banská St a nica Contemporary, Banská Štiavnica, Nadácia otvorenej spoločnosti, Bratislava, Centrum pre filantropiu, Bratislava, CEE Photo Fund, Na peróne, Košice, Tabačka Kulturfabrik, Košice, Galerie Jáma 10, Ostrava, Galéria Krokus, Bratislava, Galéria HIT, Bratislava, Galerie Michal, Ostrava, 4AM Fórum pro architekturu a média, Brno, OZ Fundament, …
