CENTRAL EUROPE 1945–1989“ Conference Proceedings 2016 Barbora Kundračíková (Ed.) 2 3
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1 Central European Art Database RESEARCH TOPIC „CENTRAL EUROPE 1945–1989“ Conference Proceedings 2016 Barbora Kundračíková (Ed.) 2 3 Barbora Kundačíková / CEAD RESEARCH TOPIC Alina Szapocznikow „CENTRAL EUROPE 1945–1989“ Alfred Lenica Ryzsard Winiarski Conference Proceedings 2016 Kazimierz Mikulski Zofia Kulik The past is a foreign land that you can only come near to. The part of heuris- tics or imagination may not be overestimated, even though neither of them may claim epistemological completeness. They work best together, most POLSKO POLAND naturally in the premises of a museum. Central European Art Database (CEAD), a Central European research programme of the Olomouc Museum Magdalena Abakanowicz of Art, under the auspices of which the conference was held, the procee- Alex Mlynárčik dings of which you are now “holding in your hands”, is taking place between the side lines of this Kantian free playing field. It would not be possible wit- Vladimír Boudník Jana Želibská hout a generous support from the International Visegrad Fund and a num- Milan Knížák Václav Cigler ber of partner institutions to which we express our thanks. ~ Milan Dobeš Juraj Bartusz The history of museums is varied as well as their character. Its three symbo- Júliuslical Koller bolts that, however, resemble each other in their focus and less in their Rudolf Fila form, are the ancient Musaeum, the modern twins of wunderkammer/kunst- kammer and the modernist Institution. Yet, the answer to the question of Mária Bartuszová what a museum is, is fundamental - as its purpose is not only to manage, but Česká republika CZECH REPUBLIC Jozef Jankovič also interpret the world in which we live, while its role reciprocally points out Laco Teren to the condition and values of the society, which is not only the founder and Dezider Tóth / Monogramista T.D Rudolf Sikora user of museums, but also the natural referee. The etymological roots of the word “museum” go back to the name of the SLOVENSKÁ REPUBLIKA SLOVAK REPUBLIC famous Ptolemy’s Musaeum, loosely translated as the “Temple of the Muses”. Similar to Plato’s Academy and Aristotle’s Lykeion, the philosophical schools, that are products of the Greek cultural boom in the fourth century B.C., its Géza Perneczky purpose was to assert the universal nature of knowledge, combining art and science, learning and discussion. The openness of this type of “educated societies” was charmingly depicted (much later) by Raphael in his “School of Athens” (1509-1511): Their activities were not perceived as autotelic, but on the contrary, as generally beneficial - because they were open in all their aspects; they were based not so much on collections of works and relics of CEAD Imre Bak the world of objects, but rather on libraries and open atriums and gardens www.cead.space where you could stroll and talk - because discussion was equally important as studying itself. László Fehér Maďarsko HUNGARY 4 Central European Art Database / Regional Museum of the 21st Century 5 Modern collections of scholars and patrons of art, either of wunderkam- The current “post-museum”, instructed by the critics, therefore tries to mer or kunstkammer type, had different origin - they did not express so much upset the principle of exclusivity and make its premises a replica of real envi- the effort to analyze things, rather to synthesize, therefore control things, ronment in which objects of all types are given the chance to come back to while the control included both the power aspect of the matter (feudalism as life, at least in a simulated manner. The new museum, in its effort to revoke opposed to the democratic principle of the Greek polis), and the awareness the original meaning of its name, is open to experiment, the programmes are of responsibility (towards God): Through them the ruler-collector symbolical- of broad spectrum and include many activities loosely related to its profes- ly dominated and managed the human world as a puppet master. Beside real sional sphere of activities (however, they are a part of the cultural frame- objects, objects of magical and ritual nature, mythical creatures and magic work). Visitors are able (obliged) to participate in its operation and contents – objects were also important for the collection. Early modern collections of influencing both the interpretation and the evaluation of the objects and wunderkammer and kunstkammer type are characterised by a number of topics, and the manner of new education or the consciousness of a collective remarkable moments, from today’s point of view, among which (beside essen- identity. For that purpose, all critical and professional tools are available to tialism resembling Weitz’s theory of “open definition” of art) was the fact that them which they can modify as they like (with the help of their creativity and they included instruments and means of knowledge, thus, to a great extent knowledge). In this sense, a museum is a space where nothing is static and all they are an ideal embodiment of the current understanding of the notions of is subject to discussion because the past is ever alive, to be experienced and episteme, paradigm and (in a narrower sense) discourse. pondered. While they endeavoured to understand the world as a whole, the hypo- A number of heritage institutions therefore uses the LARP (Live Action thetical leitmotiff of a modern (modernist, nowadays “traditional”) museum, Role Play) system, creating installations that you can actively enter. The an institution that was born at the same time as the modern society and the simulated “first-hand” experience is to prevent the devaluation or misinter- concept of a nation state in the course of the nineteenth century, was to pretation of the past (the lack of knowledge makes us to repeat the same incorporate all its aspects under the protective wings of a unifying interpre- mistakes) - and through its interactivity, connectivity, flexibility and an end- tation. It was this fact that was criticised by new philosophical, cultural and less list of other “-ities”, it helps to avoid any reducing “isms”. The similarity to historical theories of the 1960s built on the principles of structuralism and other areas of human culture is not accidental - for fear of passivity or getting semiotics. In their reactions, there is the effort to “deconstruct” museum as stuck in a system of simulacra, activity and personal engagement is more a system somewhat resembling a prison in its principles, based on observ- often required with objects that were not the typical subject of the proces- ing artificial rules, anticipating passive visitors, a limited range of knowledge sualisation of perception – e.g. concerning artworks the “object properties” and a single interpretation of history or art history. A modernist museum, of which have been questioned for at least four decades. This development seen through this prism, is a building with thick walls that not only absorbs, is clearly related to a general approach to education the definition limit of but also digests (defamiliarizing, depriving, misinterpreting) its contents and which is no more to know as much as possible, but to know (learn) to one’s must be, as a type of great narration, fundamentally reviewed. best ability. Exhibitions in the traditional museum presenting knowledge as A general problem of the museum practice that must be dealt with, is nat- whole and solid thus became a public space declaring it as fragmentary and urally the necessity (claiming the right) to make decisions regarding the sig- varied in its nature. nificance of objects, not only ex post, but also ex ante. The negative and posi- Electronical databases represent the culmination of the process - they are tive features of the process remain in relative balance - meeting in the ability one of the versions of a museum without walls, accessible without restric- (power) to exclude or extract a selected object from the original framework, tions, and conditioned in its use only by observing the elementary rules (such assign an extraordinary status to it, and thus enable its contextually uncon- as those expressed in the principles of the legal protection of Creative Com- taminated study and evaluation, but not experiencing it. The aseptic nature mons). The databases - and CEAD is no different in this regard - aim at the of the standard type of museum exhibitions may be counterbalanced by the greatest richness possible of data and information about a particular topic contact with original artwork (the aura of the artwork) which - as it is at least possible, which may be combined with as many ways as possible under such assumed - has the potential to achieve the feeling of commitment and con- conditions that are as user friendly. Disregarding the fact that they declare templation, however the exceptionality of the experience is dramatically (as their openness, community properties and pro-activeness, the reality is natu- an example of elitism and fetishism) questioned by new theories of art. rally different, not only because they must be created and maintained, as well 6 Central European Art Database / Regional Museum of the 21st Century 7 as filled and checked - in reality, behind the mask of a free environment, a ma- of Central Europe. Krysztow Kozakowski points out to another aspect - the di- nipulative system with a capital “S” is operating, which, in this particular case, versity of the cultural roots. Piotr Sikora, based on an example of contempo- is a computer. The real challenge of today is to create a reciprocal system of rary art, deals with the idea of Intermarium within which all Central European “openness - knowledgeability”, without detriment to any of the possible ways countries are situated. leading to understanding the past, imagination and heuristics. The second part is characterised by its focus on the area of action art and The advantage of the database administered by the Olomouc Museum of the conceptual tendencies or its political connotations - which, is the logical Art, Central European Art Database, is the fact that it is a parallel to a more leitmotif of the whole meeting.