Hans Ulrich Obrist: The Czech Files

This publication is the result of visits carried out by Hans Ulrich Obrist to artists’ studios in Prague around 2001 and 2008. Interviews with Milan Grygar, Jiri Kovanda, Karel Malich, Zdenek Sykora and others map the historical events as well as the personal stories of the protagonists of the Czech second avant-garde and the neo-modernism of the former socialist bloc. Born between 1920 and 1945, this generation lived through the cultural upheaval of the Prague Spring in the 1960s and the normalization of the 1970s, when censorship was reintroduced. These interviews contextualize a generation of Czech artists within the historical events that marked their lives and careers, and draw attention to their urgently felt need to resist historical events while keeping their artistic practices sustained, radical and vital. This volume is part of the Documents series of critical writings.