Although the conception of this exhibition is based on a simple key—the selection of new and old works by each artist—the observation of the changes brought about by the move to the newly renovated space was crucial to its creation. It was the necessity to move their studio that was one of the recurring themes in conversations with all those who make up current artistic story of Pragovka Gallery. For all of them, it means a change in the conditions in which their art is created.
My thoughts returned repeatedly to the question of how much art may have been lost during migrating across history. The adventurous life story of the artist and founder of the Dada movement, Raoul Hausmann, came to mind. During the war years, he lost most of his works due to repeated changes of residence. There was a real danger that pre-war Dada and his art would be forgotten forever. Raoul Hausmann, however, did the impossible: Through correspondence and intensive publishing, he exerted all his strength to make the world remember the Dada movement once and for all, even though much of the material works of this first avant-garde were lost, destroyed, or forgotten somewhere in the madness of the war.
In his correspondence with representatives of the second wave of the avant-garde (many of whom were from Czechoslovakia), the conditions of art are often addressed; from pragmatic considerations of how the rent amount affects the creative possibilities or who copies whom, to philosophical questions seeking ways to ensure the timelessness of art.
Our exhibition includes questions sent to Hausmann by the Czechoslovak artistic community around the Globus café in Prague from 16 July 1958. These questions were found after the artist’s death in his estate, stored in an envelope with the inscription: “To do this week”.
Perhaps now is the right moment to answer them.
1. What would you ask yourself if it were to be the last question?
2. How many ideas did you get while walking, sleeping, or listening to other people’s conversations in a crowd, for example? How do your ideas come about?
3. What is your relationship with your new work? Love, uncertainty, immediate acceptance?
4. What do you do with art that does not succeed? Do you destroy it, transform it into new one, or does it remind you of a corpse stored in the bowels of the studio?
5. Do you still see new meanings in your old works even years later?
6. Can you sell bad art well? Or are there only bad sellers here and there and art is actually always good?
7. Does other people’s opinion matter to your perception of your work?
8. Do you have a spot where you can take a break from your art, or do you ever need to take a break from art?
9. Do your neighbors disturb you when you create? Is it hard to find a space to concentrate?
10. Is aging healthier for you or your art?
11. Is laziness an unaffordable luxury for you, or do you consider idleness an important part of the artistic process?
12. Do you keep your studio a productive mess, or is it instead essential for you to keep everything systematically tidy?
13. What time of day or night do you create? In other words: describe your working schedule.
14. Have you always had the support of your family for your work? Or, on the contrary, have they never understood what you actually do?
15. What is the weirdest place you have been in your life?
16. Have you ever stolen an idea from someone?
17. Has anyone ever stolen an idea from you?
18. What are you really afraid of in life?
19. How often can you still fall in love?
20. Describe to a stranger how to get to your studio.
21. What is the earliest work of yours that you can remember?
22. Do you ever miss the art you have sold?
23. Do people or art age better?
24. Do you worry about your artistic legacy?
25. Has your art ever saved you from going mad?
26. How would you describe your artistic image to a flower? And what kind of flowers are you willing to talk to?
27. Do you feel the need to defend your work to its audience, or do you not like to talk about your art?
28. What conditions do you need in order to start creating?
29. What are you ashamed of?
30. What can you praise yourself for?
31. Do you have problems with discipline when creating?
32. How long have you gone without creating any art in your life?
33. On the other hand, how long have you been able to create art without a break?
34. Do you prefer to confide your self-doubts in plants, animals, or people? (We personally know several aquarium fish with detailed knowledge of art history.)
35. Do you debate with your art? Is it your partner for self-talking?
36. Have you ever intentionally destroyed your artwork and if so, why?
37. How would you define your feeling of being able to create art?