Art of the 1990s

The Czech art scene of the 1990s, could be described, with some slight exaggeration, as being a somewhat confused, somewhat uneducated, but quite a happy, fresh widow, who is finally enjoying all the joys of freedom after the fall of the communist regime. This carefree nature, and often intellectual naivety or simplicity of thought, cannot, however, conceal the traces of sadness left by its past life behind the Iron Curtain, and that is hard to understand, or even incomprehensible for a world which has not experienced it. Frustration was evident, fixed targets got lost among the influx of new information. The era of joint programs that had been so characteristic of the art of the 20th century was definitively over ... So the oldest generation in its wisdom turned to questions about Eternity, the middle generation was somewhat disoriented, and the very youngest soaked up everything that was done not only in Europe, but also in America. Nevertheless, during this period, strong works were created, but it is hard to find a common denominator, unless it is the infamous tower of Babel with its confusion of languages…

Jiří Surůvka, an artist from Ostrava, embarked on his own journey of exploration and devoted himself to installations and performance art in addition to painting, computer manipulated photography and graphics. Through his wide-ranging activities, he explored the contradictions within contemporary society, its cynicism and its superficiality. His composition, Gilbert & George, from 1999, falls into a wider and unfinished cycle of computer manipulations, in which changing the context and using eloquent details destroys the perceived image of the actors portrayed. The two artists, important celebrities in the art world, and warriors for the rights of sexual minorities, are shown in the roles of ridiculous hypocrites with animal heads on the skeletal bodies of anonymous victims of the Holocaust. It mocks the uselessness of some artistic expression and contrasts it with serious questions of the recent, and above all, totalitarian past experienced at both ends of Europe.

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Your audio guide tour of the Century of Relativity exhibition has come to an end, but your art trail can continue. You can have a look at the temporary exhibitions in the Museum of Modern Art and, what’s more, the Olomouc Art Museum also holds a collection of old masters which can be seen in the Archdiocesan Museum, which is only a five minute walk from here. You can use another audio guide for the permanent exhibition ‘In Glory and Praise’.