Project with the tag: Communism
Otakar Švec: Artist Talk
2012, Manuscript performed by an actor, english, 30min
This scripted public lecture allowed the socialist realist sculptor Otakar Švec to present his work in front of a contemporary audience. Prague-based artist, he created several monuments and sculptures which were exhibited at representative exhibitions around the world. However, Švec is also the artist who was commissioned to realize the largest Stalin representation of all times. Erected just before the death of the “Father of the People”, the statue was blown to smithereens as part of the destalinization of the former USSR. Švec talks about this special moment in history when the artist played such a prominent part in the political sphere and questions the complete inexistence of socialist realist art in the current art system.
Photo: Jean-Baptiste Béranger
Photo: Jean-Baptiste Béranger
The Tombstone Where Karl Marx Was Buried, Highgate Cemetery, London 1883 – The Chalk Cliff Where The Ashes Of Friedrich Engels Were Scattered, Eastbourne 1895 – The Erection Of The New Tomb Of Karl Marx, Highgate Cemetery, London 1956 – The Taking Down Of The Statue Of Stalin With Chalk Marks On His Face, Budapest 1956
2010, 4 framed color pictures, 50 x 50 cm each
“The tombstone where (…)” is a work which conflate two notions of personification. The way materialist philosophers such as Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels chose to face death according to their convictions, and how their legacy has been diluted through time by the construction and deconstruction of memorial and official worshipping.
Select by keywords:
2009 2010 2011 2012 art critics Artist Biography Barack Obama Communism Flag France God Google Infinite Jacob Epstein Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels Kurt Gödel Lennart Nilsson London Memorial News Otakar Svec Otto Neurath postcolonialism Sol LeWitt South Rhodesia / Zimbabwe Embassy Stalin Swedish Emigration symbol tapeworm Uncategorized Upcoming