Ceská a slovenská fotografie [antikvár]

On the conception of the exhibition An integral part of the activity of the Olomouc Museum of Art is exhibiting post war and contemporary art in iu full scope: this results in exploration and presentation of major streams and movements which have influenced or are influencing Czech art and in some cases even art abroad. One of these events was the exhibition Between trâdition and experiment. Works on paper and with paper in Czech art 1939-1989 {\991), or the exhibition Body as an Evidence (1998). A further project from this series is the exhibition Czech and5loval< photography of the 1980s and t99Ôs (2002). Our initial aim was to present Czech documentary and art photography (namely photography from Czech lands) of the past two decades. The close link of creative work of Czech authors with Central European and even world artistic work became more and more apparent Interesting and highly useful for better understanding of principles of development of art history would be a comprehensive survey of trends in photography (or in art in general) in Central Europe, particularly in post-socialist countries. However, such a widely designed exhibition could not now be realized. Nevertheless, preparation of the exhibition of Czech photography showed that the development of Slovak photography could not and shall not be omitted. Although the actual global trend abandons division of art according to "national schools" and prefers art orientations and streams according to their inner relations and context, the present survey of photography has to reflect specificity of both national entities. Thus, we attempted to recapitulate and summarize photography in both the countries of the former Czechoslovakia in the 1980s and 1990s and to suggest further trends and possibilities of this medium in next millennium, in which the photography shall become part of wide artistic environment, without national imprint. For nearly three quarters of the 20th century, Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia were one country, a single state. Art in each part was perceived as more or less "homogenous", and only the second half of the 1980s brought the need to accept differences and analyze the relations between Czech and Slovak art. After the splitting of Czechoslovakia in 1993, the once narrow links became more loose so that now, nearly ten years after the Czechoslovakia became defunct, contacts between artists are gradually disappearing and so is the general knowledge of what is going on on the other side of the border. This is best shown in the attitude and in the work of the youngest generation, which does not feel bound any longer by the former common state and seeks its sources of motivation and inspiration generally in the "Euro-American cultural context". And yet this process of separation of Czech and Slovak art is not definitive, many young Slovak artists studied or are studying at Czech schools - e.g. photography is studied at the Film and Television Faculty of the Academy of Music Arts in Prague or at the Institute for Creative Photography in Opava. Czech artists take part in many workshops and exhibitions held in the Slovak Republic their work is thus mutually influenced, coexists but does not merge. It was also for these reasons that we decided to present Czech and Slovak photography together, to present the works that originated in the shared state as well as the new works of art, which are unknown in the other state. In this way we wou!d like to define what is common or different and what are the sources of inspiration for each. The period of the eighties to the nineties was chosen on the basis of the following reasons: political events of that time, especially the crucial year 1989 of the break-up of the socialist camp, then the development of photographic medium, and last but not least a relative availability of photographs of this periq/J. With regard to collection aspect, the photograph collection of the Museum of Art could be completed. Olomouc Museum of Art is one of the few institutions of its kind, which systematically enlarges its photographic collection.' Only few decades in Czech and Slovak history appear to us to be so different as the 1980s and 1990s - totalitarian regime against democracy. isolation against openness, rigidity versus hectic activity. The 1980s and mainly the fint half - were the years of censorship, closure against the rest of the world, lack of freedom, controversies between official and private artistic work. And yet, and in some cases perhaps because of it much remarkable work of high quality was born. The second half of the 1980s was, seen through today's eyes, the time of gradual "melting" and loosening of the ideological rigidity of the normalization era. Therefore the change was not so sudden. The year 1989 changed not only the political system in Czechoslovakia, but brought about a different life style, which was reflected in the art The nineties changed hierarchy of economic and cultural values, resulted in "comeback" to Europe and restored relations with democratic countries. In the cultural sphere, the contacts with the world were re-established, artists were given the liberty to choose the subject and the place of work (sometimes they have to decide either for commercial or free creation), the system of art institutions was changed (subsequently also the organization of exhibitions, especially the system of financing of exhibition projects), and many other transformations occurred (seen either negatively or positively). Therefore one of the initial stimuli of the exhibition was the effort to reflect and illustrate specific features of the two crucial decades in the documentary and art photography.It can be simplified that for the development of photography as an art medium, the eighties and the nineties displayed a similar decisive role of the subject. After the gradual exploration of expression possibilities of a photo, the sixties and the seventies are characterized by enthusiasm, permanent experimentation with various tools, with the changed positive