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Fluxus Films from the Collection of Kunsthalle Praha
The Fluxus Collection of Marie and Milan Knížák
1/9 2025—10/11 2025
Booklounge
Curators: Barbora Ropková, Štefan Tóth
Represented artists: Eric Andersen, John Cale, John Cavanaugh, Albert Fine, Joe Jones, George Landow, George Maciunas, Yoko Ono, James Riddle, Paul Sharits, Mieko (Chieko) Shiomi, Pieter Vanderbeck, Wolf Vostell, Robert Watts
The collection of Kunsthalle Praha, which focuses on significant artistic expressions and trends of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, is a vibrant and evolving body of more than two thousand works of art. It also includes the Fluxus Collection of Marie and Milan Knížák, which is a testament to the significant role that artist Milan Knížák played for Fluxus behind the Iron Curtain as director of Fluxus East. Knížák caught the attention of his artistic colleagues abroad primarily through his underground activities as part of the group Aktual.
The Fluxus movement emerged in the early 1960s under the leadership of Lithuanian-American artist George Maciunas (1931–1978). Fluxus built on the legacy of Marcel Duchamp and John Cage, broadening the understanding of what art can be and influencing the shape of contemporary art, which employs various forms and approaches. The artists of Fluxus combined visual art with experimental music, theatre, and poetry.
The Knížáks acquired their Fluxus collection thanks to their close contacts with other members of this international movement. Milan Knížák met most of them in person during his visit to the United States (1968–1970) or later during his DAAD residency in Berlin (1979–1980), and he managed to keep in touch with them to some extent even despite the Iron Curtain – thanks to the postal service.
The collection consists of roughly seven hundred items, with works by forty-six different artists. The represented media include primarily multiples, objects, drawings, instructions for actions, photographs documenting various performances, artist’s books, and artistic correspondence. Part of the collection was previously presented at the exhibition Elmgreen & Dragset: READ.
Delivered by Post: Fluxus Films from the Collection of Kunsthalle Praha (The Fluxus Collection of Marie and Milan Knížák) presents a set of works by members of the international Fluxus movement. The films entered the Knížáks’ collection in 1975, when American artist and curator Jon Hendricks posted them from New York to Czechoslovakia in a suitcase. Milan Knížák subsequently screened the films several times, even despite local restrictions and limitations.
All of the films date from the 1960s, and their selection loosely intertwines with the Fluxfilm Anthology compiled by George Maciunas. These short films, which are mostly intended to be projected in a loop, were presented in the scope of events and happenings of the New York avant-garde. Their authors include figures from this scene such as Yoko Ono, Wolf Vostell, George Maciunas, Mieko Shiomi, and Joe Jones.
The characteristic aesthetic of Fluxus demonstrates a strong tendency toward experimentation. In line with Fluxus’s emphasis on processuality and interdisciplinarity, the videos are based on slow motion, absurdity, spontaneity, and improvisation. They reflect the deliberate unconventionality of the collective spirit of Fluxus, whose playful form and emphasis on the fusion of art and life conceal a deeper message.
