Territory street

Publisher: VŠVU / Slovart

Year of publication: 2014

ISBN: 978-80-89259-85-4

The book deals with artistic events realized in the urban space in the years 1965-1989 in Slovakia. It focuses on the analysis and contextualization of events (happenings, performances, events) within the Central European, but also the wider Euro-American area. The task of the publication is to interpret selected actions in more detail, based on the situational and activating character or the participation of the viewer in a defined period of time. The city as a social, contact and communication space shifts the selected events to specific connotations of meaning (social, political, activating, poeticizing, etc.). The book is divided into four main chapters after introductory methodological and historical-analytical chapters. In addition to the analysis of procedural and more poetic variants (Walk as an artistic activity), the publication focuses on action as a form of celebration or vice versa; banal, inconspicuous activity (Action as celebration and reality). The penultimate part follows the playful aspects of the art of action (Action as a form of play) and the final chapter focuses on personal authorial interventions in public space (Intervention, situation, living sculpture). The conclusion is a summary of the specific characteristics that are characteristic of action and situational art in urban space in Slovakia with respect to socio-political and cultural-geographical specifics. The chosen framework makes it possible to deepen the interpretive aspect of the selected actions, to take into account their significance and resonance within the public space. He represented, in the chosen period, a significantly contact, even conflicting, repressive space. Art events in the city represented not only an effort to expand the artistic context and connect it with everyday life, but also to perceive reality more intensely and reflexively. Perceive the city as a "stage" to an artistic gesture, to a game that highlights and makes the event special. On the other hand, intervention in public space also becomes an opportunity for a critical revision of broader social and public structures.

Ján Kralovič works as a researcher of the Section of Visual and Cultural Studies of the Research Center of the VŠVU in Bratislava.

Design & layout: Peter Gála