moss grows in shadow

you wont feel like you are in a forest. although moss grows in shadow. there
will be dwarfs, anyway. little ones, a little funny a little malicious. they
will crouch in an empty white room. they will play hide-and-seek behind the
kitchen furniture. there will be boards, there will be a clock. as if you
find yourselves amongst the lemures in the zoo. it will be minimalistic. it
will be surrealistic. it will be dry. but at the end there will grow a
toadstool in the middle.

text by jiri kovanda

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jiri kovanda belongs to the second generation of czech "actionism", which appeared on the art scene in the late 1970s. the west discovered him through his minimalist actions and "action-interventions" that may signify protocols of a general record. they are significantly different from older czech fluxus, which was oriented to pedagogy and utopy, and from those of his contemporaries, whose works reflected mainly the physical and the existential. kovanda s minimalist actions and interventions of the 1970s, were so refined, that they appeared almost imperceptible. they mostly had an effect throughout time. certain romanticism and personal aspect is characteristic for his work, which was quite refreshing in the depressing 1970s, and it opposed the trauma of politically - laden performances.

text by petra feriancova