Next year, Prague will have a new biennial, founded by curators Tereza Stejskalová and Vít Havránek from the Tranzit.cz initiative. They have called it Matter of Art, and in many respects, it is similar to newly established biennials in other Eastern European cities. Flash Art correspondent Tereza Špinková talked to Tereza about what it means to hold a biennial adhering to the Codex of Feminist Art Institutions and the Art for Climate appeal.
TEREZA ŠPINKOVÁ
Who thought of organising a biennial? Why? And when?
TEREZA STEJSKALOVÁ
The idea of holding a biennial came to me and Vít Havránek about a year and a half ago. At the time, we were discussing various possibilities for the operation of Tranzit, and in the end, we found this way to be the most reasonable. Tranzit is a specific organisation with a specific audience, and we be- gan feeling the desire to step out of our own shadow. In the catalogue to this year’s Let’s Organise Our Future biennial in Warsaw, curator Pawel Wodziński writes that they primarily want to be “parasites” on this format of an art parade, while also stepping out beyond it and assuming a position politically towards the current activity of cultural institutions in Poland’s capital.
It’s certainly interesting that around the same time we started thinking in this manner, similar projects appeared, also taking up the biennial form. Similarly to the Warsaw Biennale, the Kiev biennial, or OFF-Biennale in Budapest, we don’t want to do spectacular displays or follow in the footsteps of previous biennials in Prague. Through these activities, biennials in Eastern Europe present themselves as a space within which medium-sized institutions have the means and the will to put together a critical programme accessible to a broader audience. The similarity between the festivals in Warsaw, Budapest and Prague is determined by the local cultural and political developments. We all cooperate very closely. What we all care about most is creating a critical institution which does not stand or fall on one event every two years. We’re cooperating with the Prague City Gallery, an existing institution, but we’re also creating a new institution ourselves. We feel an ambition to hack the current format of the biennial; to give the word a new meaning.
TŠ
What is happening right now? How are the preparations going? Could you describe what the previous events were about and what we can look forward to next year?
TS
We at Tranzit keep thinking about HOW. This is what this year’s programme was about. It helped us formulate several questions: how to grasp the entire project, how to cooperate, how to establish our relationship with an institution and how to behave in the environment in which we operate. It is more of an internal process, but one which influences its surroundings. During the event, one is under various pressures (time and otherwise) and it’s important to define certain things clearly ahead of time. It’s also important for me to intervene in institutional space and not just do a biennial which is successful in terms of visitor numbers, but which alienates the artists with its organisation and message, generally disrupting relationships. This year, we organised several events and invited a few people with both positive and negative experiences who attempted to find different positions towards the art scene. The art scene – or the part of it which is interested – took part; it wasn’t really aimed at the general public for now. The events were signposts towards how we can think about a cultural institution at this time and in our region, what it should serve, to whom and with whom it should speak. All this, of course, is connected to the politics of a feminist institution, an initiative we are part of, led by several Prague cultural institutions (and two in Slovakia) and grouped around the Codex of the Feminist Art Institution.
The Matter of Art biennial itself will take place next year, in 2020, from mid-June to mid-September. Names will be published in January. Two exhibitions will take place in Prague City Gallery spaces: the Municipal Library and the Colloredo-Mansfeld Palace. Part of the programme will probably take place in a non-gallery space, probably one related to the current trend of demolishing brutalist buildings. Vít Havránek and I are curating together. Discussion and cooperation is important for both of us. Thanks to this, I think the exhibitions will be heterogeneous.
TŠ
Could you expound on what organising an event like this involves if you follow the Codex of the Feminist Art Institution? Any specific and practical steps?
TS
We decided to set ourselves small goals, focusing on truly adhering to them. For instance, we want the biennial to be free and wheelchair accessible. It seemed like a trifle, but with a large event, this too turned out to be quite the task. We are devoting a lot of time and energy to these issues, time and energy we would otherwise spend preparing the programme. Practical, simple conditions suddenly turn out to be quite difficult.
TŠ
As far as I know, the Prague City Gallery is not a signatory of the Codex of the Feminist Art Institution. How do you work with that?
TS
It’s about negotiation. The Prague City Gallery is a large institution and its employees try to meet us halfway so we can assure the two conditions I mentioned. They are understanding, and together, we try to find solutions. However, like Tranzit, Prague City Gallery has signed the Art for Climate appeal, so I hope that the principles of an ecologically thinking institution will leave its mark on the exhibition.
TŠ
So is your foundation in feminism as far as the biennial is concerned?
TS
The topics we take on are certainly linked to feminism. An exhibition might be fantastically ecological, but what about it if it’s boring. We aim for balance. The question behind an exhibition is a question of relationships. How to create relationships and dialogue with the people who come and see the exhibition, and not only with those who are already part of the art scene, but also with those who have never heard of Tranzit.
For now, I can’t mention specific names, so I’ll talk about the three thematic outlines that will appear and interpenetrate at the biennale. One is about relationships in society, which today are marked by incomprehension. We live closed off in our social bubbles and we often fail to understand what we disagree with. Of course the exhibition will be seen by a particular group of people, seeing as it’s in Prague and in a gallery, but we’ll try to address these problems through the positions and works of the artists. Another closely related lineage is that of emotions. We understand them as a way of communicating which allows us to understand each other in matters we find difficult to speak of. People react with strong emotions even to certain words or phrases. When we mention sexuality, climate change, or racism, there is immediately colourful language. It’s better to speak of anxieties, fears or frustrations. There is a desire to use art to speak of topics we could not otherwise speak of because they elicit the expected reactions.
An important topic we have been dealing with for some time now is sexuality. We’re thinking about how our intimate lives change depending on the political and social organisation we exist in. Today, sexuality is a kind of symptom, even in relation to climate change – we think differently about whether or not to have children, which contraceptives to use and so on. We seldom think of sexuality as a symptom of societal problems, which is part of the reason why it’s interesting for us.
TŠ
Who is the biennial for?
TS
Ideally, my mum should come as well – usually she’d only come because she’s my mum. She’s educated, she lives in Prague, she takes an interest in the world and thinks about it, but she’s not part of the art scene. Of course, the events will take place in a very touristy part of Prague, so we’rethinking about tourists too. There will be other locations too, less frequented and outside the centre. Then there are various communities we’re doing long-term work with. Ideally, the exhibition should bring people together who would otherwise never meet. The biennial should be an exhibition which the visitor doesn’t leave completely exhausted.
TŠ
What should draw people there?
TS
We’ve been racking our brains over that. A question that keeps coming up is how to resolve the barrier of unknown names and incomprehensible works? There are strategies, but what’s crucial for us at the moment is the extent to which the result should be a spectacular as opposed to a critical exhibition. The biennials in Warsaw and Oslo were very radical – large exhibitions were nowhere to be seen. The art works were mostly conceived performatively, taking place at various locations at various times, which is difficult in terms of gathering an audience. Seeing as we hadn’t put on an exhibition in a while, we decided to go a different direction – not to give up on the “large exhibition” format and to cooper- ate with an institution people are used to visiting.
TŠ
Will there be an accompanying programme?
TS
Yes, but we don’t want to call it the accompanying programme – it should be part of the biennial. I can’t talk much about the content, but we’ll definitely continue in the work Tranzit has done until now, i.e. working with communities. An example I can give is the issue of parenthood and the accessibility of events for parents with small children. We have an experience of this, which is important – it helps us understand.
TŠ
What are your criteria for selecting artists?
TS
We will be exhibiting artists with whom we have worked for some time, but we also want to step out of our bubble – emotions are key for the selections. As I’ve mentioned, the biennial will follow on from our long-term activities, including research in Ukraine and Vietnam, where we have collaborated with local artists and communities. When planning journeys, we try to adhere to the manual of art for climate initiated by feminist institutions. Following some discussions, we agreed on a set of rules for travelling and buying flight tickets. We agreed that up to a certain number of kilometres, we tell the artists that we’d prefer if they chose a mode of transport other than flying. But if someone comes from Asia, we try and get them to visit affiliated institutions in Poland, for example.
TŠ
In the short publicity text for Matter of Art, the following emotions are listed: contempt, irritation, fear, frustration, incomprehension, anger, aggression, exhaustion, apathy, indifference and anxiety. Are you interested in positive emotions too?
TS
We’ve been thinking about that too – these days, few things are optimistic, and I myself feel that this view is absent. Not even care, a key topic for feminist institutions, is particularly rosy – care creates complicated, often traumatic relationships. The feminist institution is not an institution of harmony; it is shaped by conflicts, but these are conscious and declared. But an optimistic vision is important, and I think it’s evident in art, though the discourse around me is predominantly apocalyptic.
TŠ
My last question is for you as a curator: how important are stories for you?
TS
They’re key. Perhaps we can find a way to speak of something intimate through fictional stories. I myself now return to images too – for a long time, they were something I did not understand. But through the storytelling I find in the images, I find a way to them. We are inspired by and think across literature, music and film. I studied literature and African studies, our new director Veronika Janatková is a documentary filmmaker. For us, visual art does not exist in isolation.
Tereza Špinková is an art critic and curator.
