Ondřej Brody, Marek Meduna - Potlatch

AUTHORSHIP

Equal co-authorship: Ondřej Brody, Marek Meduna

CLASSIFICATION

Classification: film/videoart

DATES

Date of creation: 2009

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

Duration: 00:01:02
Sound: Sound

EXHIBITIONS, PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS

Compilation containing the work: He Who Laughs
Attachment included with work’s publication: booklet CZ/EN

NOTES AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Notes: Included in the compilation He Who Laughs: Art About the World of Art (edited by T. Nekvindová, S. Sobotovičová). “Art about art” – videos that aim directly at the art world or wend their way through art history. Published in 2013 by the Research Centre of Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (VVP AVU).

Adopted text on the work: The video was made for the exhibition Historical Work by curators Edith Jeřábková and Lenka Lindaurová at the Václav Špála Gallery. It was inspired by the fact that in 1969 Jindřich Chalupecký exhibited Marcel Duchamp’s 1917 ready-made of an ordinary urinal (Fountain) in the same gallery. The video of their performance on the grave of this renowned Czech art critic and curator evoked a wave of outraged reactions. According to Meduna, he and Brody later changed the original title Urinal to Potlatch for the following reasons:
– Urinal was too obvious and too rough (vulgar) a reference to Duchamp
– a potlatch is an Indian festival or ritual involving reciprocity and the giving of gifts
– in my view, the concept of gifts and reciprocity is well suited for us and our performance, and perhaps even for our future graves and other people’s performances
– Potlatch was the name of a situationist magazine
– potlatch can have a broader meaning, one that I believe is less burdened by history.
Source of text: Edice VIDA 4, VVP AVU, 2013
Author of text: Terezie Nekvindová, Sláva Sobotovičová
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INFORMATION IN PARTNER DATABASES

Artlist #1: Record at Artlist