Curatorial guided tour of the Mikuláš Medek, Jan Koblasa – In Defiance exhibition
Jan Koblasa, held in Teplice in August 1963. Through photographs by Jiří Hampl and artworks from 1959–1963, it revisits an unprecedented and pivotal event in post-war Czechoslovak modern art. Despite an earlier prohibition, the exhibition took place during a brief period of easing state ideological control. For the first time, Medek and Koblasa were able to present their existentially oriented abstract works to the general public. Together with curators Věra Linhartová and František Šmejkal, they created a powerful installation of paintings and sculptures that challenged the caution and hypocrisy of the contemporary art scene. The present exhibition focuses primarily on works shown in Teplice in 1963, supplemented where necessary by works from the same period. Their emotions, anxieties, hopes and fears — often expressed with irony and humour — remain strikingly relevant today. The exhibition is presented in the centenary year of Mikuláš Medek’s birth and pays tribute to the art and courage of both artists. The guided tour with the curators Mahulena Nešlehová and Lenka Bydžovská will be held in Czech.