[spectre] what happened at POLITIK-UM in prague?

[Ludvik Hlavacek]

Dear Andreas,
there is a report about Prague events, that I have promised to send. 
Ludvik

Censorship in Prague

The exhibition of political art POLITIK-UM / New Engagement
opened at Prague Castle with rather big excitement.
Hardly ever has an exhibition of contemporary art attracted so much
attention from the media over the past few decades. The reason,
unfortunately, does not lay in the exhibition itself, but in the fact that the
administration of Prague Castle implemented an act of censorship
towards 6 of the 35 planned projects - to all the projects that
were to be installed, not in the gallery hall, but in the Castle's
courtyards.

The Czech artist, Martin Zet, had prepared a project, where a TV set
placed at the entrance to the Castle Cathedral, showed a dog dressed as a
beggar; a video that had been recorded in the streets of Moscow. The 
New
York based artist, Daniel Bozhkov, had worked on two-week long
performance, during which time he was to have sold real artistic-touristic
products to the numerous visitors of the Castle. Among the different
hand-made works, was to be the complete works of Franz Kafka 
abbreviated
to only 15 pages. The Czech artist group, Pode Bal, had prepared two 
billboards: one with a portrait of TGM (T.G.Masaryk) in place of Colonal 
Sanders in the Kentucky Fried Chicken advertisement, the second with 
One US Dollar banknote with the
inscription: "In God We Trust - which - One". The other Pode Bal project
intended to place big balloons with information about particular houses 
of
former Sudetenland owners and their fates, in the third courtyard of
Castle and above them on the facade of the castle, a large banner with a
sign - often seen today in the Czech regions bordering Germany - 
ZIMMER
FREI. The projects did not intend, similar to other projects in the sphere
of political art, to offer solutions or address specific sides of the
issues, but to open, in a witty way, to present the broadness in context
of everyday human opinion.

The reason for the unpopular decision should not be looked for in
the relations of the local political scene, but in the narrow-mindedness
and small faith of the officers and administrators at Prague Castle
towards both the public and art. In discussions with the Castle
administrators, the fear of misunderstanding, complains and problems of 
all kinds. was expressed. The worst thing of this event, is the Castle 
Administration office's deep mistrust in contemporary art. The artistic 
messages are mostly felt to be,
by the public administrators, politicians and general public, merely
attempts at self-promotion and taken as something with no value in a 
solid
market and administrative relations - as something that can, without
opposition, be swept away by administrative decision. Individual and
general human values to which the art-works relate are overlooked in the 
fight of political parties and in the administrative operations.