Jan Švankmajer at GASK!

GASK marks this jubilee year with an exhibition of the lifelong work of internationally renowned artist Jan Švankmajer and his wife Eva. The exhibition follows on a series of projects presenting great figures of Czech animated film (Aurel Klimt, Jiří Trnka) that GASK has held over the past several years. Held in the year of Švankmajer’s ninetieth birthday, the exhibition DISEGNO INTERNO covers all the creative fields in which this internationally acclaimed Surrealist has been active – collage, printmaking, object art, book illustrations, automatic drawing, tactile experiments, collecting and, of course, film. An important part of the exhibition will be a presentation of paintings by his wife Eva Švankmajerová. The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of lectures, film screenings and guided tours, and the GASK Learning Centre will offer special programmes for schools, as well as workshops for families and children.

Jan Švankmajer strictly avoids labelling himself as an artist and his work as art, an attitude that stems from his embrace of Surrealism, for Surrealism is not art but a way of thinking, a life attitude, a modern alchemy. Even so, Švankmajer is generally seen as an important creator in the fields of cinema, art, literature and theatre. ‘He sees his work as one fixed whole and doesn’t prefer one means of expression over another, even though the general public sees him mainly as a film director’, says Petr Adámek, who has organised the exhibition’s programme of accompanying events.

Švankmajer’s work can be divided into several categories according to his (often obsessive) sources of inspiration. These include Rudolphine Mannerism (Kunstkammers, cabinets of curiosities and the work of Giuseppe Arcimboldo), puppet theatre and the ‘Baroque’ tradition of ancient Czech puppetry, Art Brut, eroticism (the Marquis de Sade and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch are important figures for Švankmajer in this regard), the art of natural peoples (fetishes), Max Ernst (collage novels) and works by various important figures of world literature (Edgar Allen Poe, Lewis Carroll). A kind of secondary part of Švankmajer’s oeuvre, one that could be described as ‘applied art’, includes his scenic design for theatre and his animation work for Czechoslovak film. His book illustrations, however, should be considered a part of his regular work, for they relate to literature closely linked with his obsessions and his view of the world. In recent years, he has also produced several artist’s books, which Švankmajer calls ‘novels’ even though they are difficult to categorise in terms of genre, containing as they do elements of literature combined with essay writing, memoirs, journal entries and excerpts from screenplays.

Eva Švankmajerová was a Czech painter, scenographer, poet, writer and distinctive representative of Surrealism. Her meeting with Jan Švankmajer in 1960 was a decisive moment in her life, and the two were married in November of that same year. Although Eva Švankmajerová created her art independently from that of her husband, their work was often collaborative (besides film, this includes the ceramic work they presented under the shared pseudonym of Kostelec – a reference to Eva’s place of birth, the town of Kostelec nad Černými lesy, known for its ceramics). Jan Švankmajer always made his wife’s paintings and sculptures a part of his exhibitions. ‘I have a weakness for your paintings, for that painted journal of our life that is as open as sesame and as refined as Chinese cuisine’, he once wrote to his wife.

The exhibition by Jan Švankmajer and Eva Švankmajerová at the Gallery of the Central Bohemian Region aims to offer a representative survey of the work of these two partners in life and art with a special emphasis on the dialogue in which they engaged. ‘A central theme of this exhibition is the concept of disegno interno, meaning ‘inner design’ – the artist’s imaginative understanding of the essence of a particular motif.In Švankmajer’s work, this concept combines Rudolphine Mannerism with Surrealism’s “inner model”’, says exhibition curator Richard Drury. The exhibition and its programme of accompanying events will explore the connection between their work (in particular in terms of the Baroque, alchemy and the phenomenon of the Sedlec Ossuary) and the unique spiritual memory of the former Jesuit College and the town of Kutná Hora itself.

The exhibition’s diverse programme of accompanying events includes screenings of films by Jan Švankmajer as well as a series of lectures of guided tours. The GASK Learning Centre has put together several educational events for schools, art workshops for families with children, and workshops on the subjects of animation, collage and assemblage.

This exceptional gallery event is a collaborative effort between Jan Švankmajer, GASK and the Athanor film production company. The exhibition runs from 3 March until 4 August 2024.

It is held under the patronage of Czech Minister of Culture Mgr. Martin Baxa and Mgr. Petra Pecková, Governor of the Central Bohemian Region.

See the accompaying programme here:

MAY

Saturday 4 May 2024 at 10am: guided tour

Saturday 4 May 2024 at 5pm: guided tour

Saturday 11 May 2024 at 1pm: ŠVANK-MAYERS BILDERLEXIKON

an intergenerational programme for families

‘If the environmental catastrophe that we are currently witnessing causes the extinction of dozens of species a year, then we have no choice but to use our imagination to replace them with others.’ And so we enter, together as a family, the mad project known as the Bilderlexikon, in which Jan Švankmajer has created an encyclopaedia of an alternative world. Perhaps we, too, will manage to create new plant and animal species.

Target group: parents with children aged 6 to 12

Admission: CZK 80 per child, parent free

Duration: 2 hours

Location: Learning Centre studio

Saturday 11 May 2024 at 4pm: ŠVANKMAJER THE MADMAN AND THE METHOD OF MR. POE

Cultural historian Martin Jiroušek discusses how the American poet Edgar Allan Poe influenced the work of Jan Švankmajer (and other artists).

The programme includes a screening of Jan Švankmajer’s The Fall of the House of Usher (1980), The Pendulum, the Pit and Hope (1983) and Lunacy (2005).

Location: Refectory

MUSEUM NIGHT AT GASK FRIDAY 17 MAY 2024

6–9pm: animation workshop (Location: Learning Centre studio)

8:15pm: guided tour

9:30pm: film screening – Alice (Location: Refectory; duration of screening: 86 minutes)

Saturday 18 May 2024 at 10am: guided tour

Saturday 18 May 2024 at 5pm: guided tour

Thursday 23 May 2024 at 4pm: guided tour

Thursday 23 May 2024 at 6pm: film screening – Little Otik

Location: Refectory

Duration of screening: 125 minutes

JUNE

Saturday 1 June 2024 at 10am: guided tour

Saturday 1 June 2024 at 5pm: guided tour

Saturday 8 June 2024 at 1pm: EVERYDAY TACTILISM

intergenerational programme for families

Treacherous dark places, secret passageways and pitfalls, structures both subtle and less pleasant, intertwining shapes that we can describe or merely explore with our touch until we open our eyes. Playing with tactile objects, we are guided into dreamscapes where nothing is impossible and nothing is certain. Participants will explore the work of Jan Švankmajer by combining seemingly incompatible materials.

Target group: parents with children aged 6 to 12

Admission: CZK 80 per child, parent free

Duration: 2 hours

Location: Learning Centre studio

Saturday 8 June 2024 at 4pm: guided tour with exhibition curator Richard Drury

Saturday 8 June 2024 at 6pm: TO THE OSSUARY

Jan Švankmajer versus the Baroque in a lecture by surrealist Bruno Solařík in the lower chapel of the Sedlec ossuary.

The programme includes a screening of Jan Švankmajer’s Johann Sebastian Bach: Fantasy in G Minor (1965), Don Juan (1969) and The Ossuary (1970).

Location: Sedlec

Saturday 15 June 2024 at 10am: guided tour

Saturday 15 June 2024 at 5pm: guided tour

Thursday 20 June 2024 at 4pm: guided tour

Thursday 20 June 2024 at 6pm: film screening – Surviving Life

Location: Refectory

Duration of screening: 105 minutes

JULY

Saturday 6 July 2024 at 10am: guided tour

Saturday 6 July 2024 at 5pm: guided tour

Thursday 18 July 2024 at 4pm: guided tour

Thursday 18 July 2024 at 6pm: film screening – Insects

Location: Refectory

Duration of screening: 98 minutes

Saturday 20 July 2024 at 10am: guided tour

Saturday 20 July 2024 at 5pm: guided tour

Saturday 27 July 2024 at 10am: guided tour

Saturday 27 July 2024 at 5pm: guided tour

AUGUST

Saturday 3 August 2024 at 2pm: final guided tour with exhibition curator Richard Drury

Saturday 3 August 2024 at 4pm: LATERNA MAGIKA – BARRANDOV – ATHANOR

A talk with producer and teacher Jaromír Kallista, an important participant in Czech film and theatre over the past sixty years.

The programme includes a screening of Petr Kaňka’s documentary film Laterna Magika – Living with a Dream (2001).

Location: Refectory

Reservations:

Reservations are required for all accompanying events. Reserve your spot via the GASK website.

Admission:

Guided tours – CZK 60 surcharge on valid ticket to the exhibition; includes headset rental

Film screenings – CZK 80

Saturday discussions with film screening – CZK 100

Animation workshop for adults – CZK 1,100

Programmes for families – CZK 80 per child, parent free

Family animation workshop – CZK 450 per child, parent free

Admission is free during Museum Night at GASK

Locations:

Thursday and Friday film screenings – Refectory

Saturday discussions with film screening – Refectory

Thursday and Saturday guided tours – Gallery I, meet in the area in front of the exhibition

Duration of events:

Guided tours – 60 minutes

Saturday discussions with film screening – 120 minutes

GASK mini – 60 minutes

Saturday intergenerational programmes for families – 120 minutes, 180 minutes for animation programme

GASK reserves the right to make changes to this programme.