Abstract
Svašek provides a much-needed ethnographic approach to the discipline of arts management that explores the ways in which art managers operate within dynamic historical and political settings as they shape artistic processes and develop their own careers. Examining the establishment of the Egon Schiele Centrum in the Czech Republic in 1992, and offering an in-depth analysis of an exhibition opening in 2017, the chapter connects the perspectives of ‘art world’ and ‘affective arrangement’ to show that the art centre has provided a dynamic social and material setting in which discourses of freedom and democracy have been propagated and reinforced.
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Notes
- 1.
The careers are also affected by comments by influential critics and can be shaped by change of ownership and museum acquisition. Career developments are not, of course, necessarily uniliniary. Even when art works are included in the ‘permanent’ displays of prestigious art institutions, changing artistic policies or the introduction of political censorship may result into a fall from grace, leading at best to disappearance into storage space.
- 2.
To analyse how people affect things, and vice versa, a distinction has to be made, of course, between the distinct ontological status of humans and non-humans. While humans are intentional, breathing, ageing, mortal beings, artefacts are physically dead, even if they have biographies and social lives, and may be perceived in some settings to have human or supernatural agency. Artefacts do, however, have a power that humans lack, namely the potential to outlive their makers.
- 3.
The Cold War was the geopolitical, ideological and economic struggle between two world superpowers, the United States and the USSR, that involved many countries in their sphere of influence. It started in 1947 at the end of the Second World War and lasted until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
- 4.
For an interview with Serge Sabarsky, conducted by Rose Carol Washington-Long for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution on April 22, 1993, see https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-serge-sabarsky-13032#transcript. See also: http://www.kabarettarchiv.at/Ordner/history.htm, last accessed 01/10/2018.
- 5.
“Neue Galerie New York was conceived by two men who enjoyed a close friendship over a period of nearly thirty years: art dealer and museum exhibition organizer Serge Sabarsky and businessman, philanthropist and art collector Ronald S. Lauder. Sabarsky and Lauder shared a passionate commitment to Modern German and Austrian art, and dreamed of opening a museum to showcase the finest examples of this work. After Sabarsky died in 1996, Lauder carried on the vision of creating Neue Galerie New York as a tribute to his friend”. https://www.neuegalerie.org/news, last accessed 06/10/2018. See also https://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/12/arts/inside-art.html, last accessed 09/11/2018.
- 6.
“Es versteht sich selbst als Forum moderner und zeitgenössischer Kunst am Tor zu Osteuropa und hat sich die Annäherung von Ost und West zum Ziel gesetzt”. https://regiowiki.pnp.de/wiki/Museum_Moderner_Kunst_W%C3%B6rlen_Passau, last accessed 06/10/2018.
- 7.
See also https://gfx.sueddeutsche.de/politik/sudetendeutsche/, last accessed 29/01/2019, for an example of personal stories about the expulsion.
- 8.
It was first called The Egon Schiele Foundation and International Cultural Centrum (Nadaci Egona Schieleho a mezinárodní kulturní centrum v Českém Krumlově) but was renamed in 1998.
- 9.
https://www.radio.cz/en/section/travel-tip/cesky-krumlov-an-historic-but-heavily-visited-jewel, last accessed 09/11/2018.
- 10.
https://www.radio.cz/en/section/travel-tip/cesky-krumlov-an-historic-but-heavily-visited-jewel, last accessed 09/11/2018.
- 11.
As posted on the UNESCO website, “[t]he Historic Centre of Český Krumlov is an outstanding example of a small Central European medieval town whose architectural heritage has remained intact thanks to its peaceful evolution over more than several centuries. This feudal town, a former centre of a large estate owned by powerful noble families who played an important role in the political, economic and cultural history of Central Europe, was founded in the Middle Ages and underwent Renaissance and Baroque transformations. As it remained almost intact, it has retained its street layout, which is typical of planned medieval towns, as well as many historic buildings including their details such as the roof shapes, the decoration of Renaissance and Baroque facades, vaulted spaces, as well as original layouts and interiors” (https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/617, last accessed 07/10/2018).
- 12.
http://www.ckrumlov.cz/uk/mesto/soucas/i_vynami.htm, last accessed 07/10/2018.
- 13.
http://www.jihocesi2012.cz/osoby/255/hana-jirmusova-lazarowitz, last accessed 07/10/2018.
- 14.
The exhibitions focused, for example, on Jiří Kolář, Aleš Veselý, Karel Nepraš, Milan Knižák and František Skála.
- 15.
Their work was described as follows by Widewalls, a digital network for artists and galleries: “The mutual passion for advertising and the world of comics allowed them to overcome limits of the classic narratives, and create special visual art, full of freshness and details. This commitment can be seen in a project called Bastokalypse, which is actually a series of canvases made over several years. This collage can be considered as an encyclopaedia of diverse images that reflect aspects of the modern world, media and culture, in which idealism and utopia collide with human destruction and terror. It erases the line between the high and low, by combining Ronald McDonald, Pablo Picasso, Mark Beyer, Ghost face and Jack altogether. The final outcome is a 52-metre monumental avant-garde work that recreates chaos and apocalypse of today” (http://www.widewalls.ch/artist/m-s-bastian-and-isabelle-l/, last accessed 15/04/2017).
- 16.
See also https://vimeo.com/166475502, to hear the artist comment in Czech on his work in a video produced in 2016 by the Gallery of the Central Bohemian Region.
- 17.
Pavel Brázda sadly passed away in December 2017.
- 18.
In the 1960s, Knížák had been a founding member of the Czech art group Actual that organised happenings and other events, and also became involved in Fluxus, an international (anti-)artistic community of music, actions and poetry. Fluxus included artists from the United States, Western Europe and the Eastbloc, and in 1965, director George Maciunas appointed him Director of Fluxus East.
- 19.
He held this position till 2011.
- 20.
To access photographs of the opening of this exhibition, see https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&id=79993E7CD9D6C70D6CAABF37D159D6470B4052ED&thid=OIP.y6hiu9ey7nl3jcY1eWRh6wHaE8&mediaurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.schieleartcentrum.cz%2Fimg%2F2004091345b.jpg&exph=500&expw=750&q=Kni%c5%be%c3%a1k+egon+schiele&selectedindex=24&qpvt=Kni%c5%be%c3%a1k+egon+schiele&ajaxhist=0&vt=0&ccid=y6hiu9ey&simid=608048100786111749, last accessed 08/09/2019.
- 21.
- 22.
To know how the exhibition was advertised, see, for example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb0Xly0oGJI
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Svašek, M. (2020). Affective Arrangements: Managing Czech Art, Marginality and Cultural Difference. In: Durrer, V., Henze, R. (eds) Managing Culture. Sociology of the Arts. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24646-4_5
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