Milan Knížák - Ceremony

AUTHORSHIP

Equal co-authorship: Milan Knížák
Other Authors: Dobroslav Zborník

CLASSIFICATION

Classification: documentation -

DATES

Date of creation: 1972

COLLABORATORS AND PARTICIPANTS

Other collaborators: Dobroslav Zborník

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

Duration: 00:05:55
Sound: Sound

EXHIBITIONS, PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS

Compilation containing the work: Czech Performance Art: Film and Video 1956-1989, Edice VIDA 5, VVP AVU, 2015; Filmy a videa, Milan Knížák, 2010
Attachment included with work’s publication: booklet CZ + EN

NOTES AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Notes: Directed by: Dobroslav Zborník
Editing: Jiří Brožek
Appearances by: Ivan M. Jirous, Milan Knížák, Jan M. Mach
Digitized black-and-white 8mm film with sound

The film is also one of the accompaniments of the book Génius Milana Knížáka (published by Agentura Lucie in 2010) along with other materials on a DVD.
Original credits in the beginning of the film:
"CÉRÉMONIE
AUTEUR DE L'ACTION: MILAN KNÍŽÁK
MISE EN SCÈNE: D. ZBORNÍK"
The title in the DVD menu:
"Stone Ceremony, 1972
rekonstrukce akce
natočil Dobroslav Zborník"

Adopted text on the work: Dobroslav Zborník’s 1972 black-and-white film Ceremony is a reconstruction of the action entitled Stone Ceremony, originally organized in 1971 at an abandoned quarry near Mariánské Lázně. The performance consisted of a collective ritual during which a group of young people created stone circles at the bottom of the quarry. Afterwards, each participant stepped silently into his or her circle and drew a magical sign into the middle. To the sound of quiet meditative singing, all the participants then left together for the top of the quarry, from where they observed the scene below, including their absence from it. Knížák had realized the possibilities that film offered for recording his actions while in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The cinematic approach to the re-enactment of Stone Ceremony is clear in part from the in-studio post-production sound. The opening credits indicate that the film was made to be shown at the 1973 Paris Biennale. The early 1970s were a difficult period for Knížák. Despite his international status as an important figure of the neo-avant-garde, after returning from the United States he was prevented from organizing even the simplest performance piece. Unable to make ends meet and persecuted by the regime, he left for the countryside, where he tried to build an Aktual community in the village of Krásné based on the model of Western communes. In a totalitarian state, how- ever, this endeavor was condemned to failure from the beginning. Knížák’s activities resulted in his criminal prosecution and imprisonment. Stone Ceremony is one of the last collective actions to be organized by Knížák and Aktual. The very last such action, March (1973), was organized by Knížák’s friends during his time in prison.
Source of text: České akční umění: Filmy a videa 1956-1989, Edice VIDA 5, VVP AVU, 2015
Author of text: Pavlína Morganová, Terezie Nekvindová, Sláva Sobotovičová
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INFORMATION IN PARTNER DATABASES

Artlist #1: Record at Artlist