Tomáš Ruller - Pakuling

AUTHORSHIP

Equal co-authorship: Tomáš Ruller

CLASSIFICATION

Classification: documentation -

DATES

Date of creation: 1987

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

Duration: 00:12:15
Sound: Sound

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: Film by: Tomáš Ruller
Camera: Tomáš Zika
Appearances by: Ivan Kafka, Vojtěch Lindaur, Zdeněk Lhotský, Stefan Milkov, Aleš Ogoun, Tomáš Ruller
Digitized Betamax with sound

Adopted text on the work: Pakuling is one of several dozen performances that Tomáš Ruller realized in the second half of the 1980s. Many were created within a particular situation, or they were associated with a specific exhibition, installation or event. Pakuling was organized as part of the Rockfest ’87 music festival at Prague’s Palace of Culture (today known as the Prague Congress Centre, its old name was commonly shortened to “Pakul,” hence the performance title Pakulení, which can be loosely translated as Pakul-ing). Before 1989, the building was used primarily for showcasing official culture and for party congresses, but during perestroika it also began to host more alternative projects. From 1987 to 1989, the Rockfest also included art exhibitions that were open to artists not registered with the Union of Czechoslovak Fine Artists. For this exhibition, Ruller came up with a material performance that showed the process of creating the exhibited installation. The performance begins with him preparing the exhibition site by carrying bags of plaster and buckets of water. Then he falls into a pile of plaster, becomes coated in it, and in this state walks around among the Rockfest’s audience. Just then, he is stopped on the stairs by several men in suits who discreetly lead him off behind a closed door. Off camera, they engage in a heated debate with the festival’s organizers, who manage to convince the police to let Ruller complete his performance – although he must remain in the exhibition space allotted to him. The second part of the performance aroused greater notice from the audience, with some of them actively participating. After smearing and pouring paint all over himself, Ruller concludes his action by handing out pieces of cake (taken from Jana Preková’s adjacent installation) whose texture resembles the materials used in the environment that resulted from his hours-long performance. The original Betamax recording was more than an hour long; in 1987 Ruller edited it on VHS and in 2010 he digitized it.
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