Vladimír Havlík - Excerpts (action fragments from the films Russia and Mutually)

AUTHORSHIP

Equal co-authorship: Vladimír Havlík

CLASSIFICATION

Classification: documentation -

DATES

Date of creation: 1980

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

Duration: 00:01:11
Sound: Silent

EXHIBITIONS, PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS

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

NOTES AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Notes: Artist’s edit of the films Russia (1980, original length ca. 20 min) and Mutually (1981, original length
ca. 15 min), 2015
Film and appearances by: Zdeněk “Eda” Cupák, Vladimír Havlík, Kateřina Řihánková
Digitized color and black-and-white 8mm film without sound

Adopted text on the work: Havlík’s many actions from the late 1970s and early 1980s were documented in photographs, but for any cinematic record thereof we will have to make do with two longer films – the color Russia and the black-and-white Mutually – which Havlík edited together for this DVD. Both films contain scenes in which Havlík and his friends engage in small performance pieces – one in the Russian town of Sochi while he was there on a six-month study exchange, and the second on a journey from Olomouc to the Black Sea via Budapest, Pécs, Sofia, and Burgas. The footage is not a record of what today are codified performances. Nevertheless, the moment when a girl in Sochi briefly stops with an outstretched flower is reminiscent of Havlík’s Statue of Liberty (1980), which was made in the same location. These random events, which combine romanticism, naiveté, exhibitionism and awkwardness, arose on the spur of the moment – and yet consciously. They reflect Havlík’s spontaneous approach to his work, in which art overlaps with life, the artist’s viewpoint is permanent, and even a small impetus can make an experienced situation unique.
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