The staff of VVP AVU participate in the teaching of theoretical subjects on the master’s and doctoral programmes. Teaching is thus expanded to include lectures and seminars that are closely related to the research being conducted.
Czech Art of the 20th Century
Lecturer: doc. PhDr. Pavlína Morganová, Ph.D.
This two-semester lecture series introduces the basic currents of 20th- century Czech art. An emphasis is placed on the most significant developmental transformations, groups and personalities on the country’s art scene. The lectures include the presentation of research being carried out by VVP AVU, which is engaged in researching the most important source documents and texts relating to this period. Students should acquire not only a basic knowledge of the development of Czech art in the 20th century, but also its historical context. As well as many personalities on the Czech art scene and a detailed analysis of their work, the lectures will focus chronologically on the following stages: the beginnings of modern art, Czech Cubism, the interwar avant-garde, groups during the Second World War, post-war art 1945–1948, Socialist Realism, personalities featuring on the unofficial art scene of the 1950s and 1960s, the main currents of the 1960s and 1970s, Czech informel, new figural art, new sensitivity, conceptual art, normalisation and grey-zone art, the emergence of postmodernism, the period of transformation.
Central and Eastern Europe Art of the 20th and 21st century
Personalities, Places and their Contexts
Lecturer: doc. PhDr. Pavlína Morganová, Ph.D.
The main idea of the course is to rotate the perspective of global art history while expanding the context of national art histories into the framework of Central and Eastern Europe. Although this region shares many qualities, its history is far more heterogeneous than that of the West. There are parallel discourses, particular canons and surprising asynchronicities, which is perhaps the reason why this territory is often neglected in global art histories of the latter half of the 20th century. In addition to attempting to introduce major artistic figures, their original artistic strategies and the places in which they worked, this course will attempt to build on Piotr Piotrowski’s horizontal art history, which deploys a polycentric and non-hierarchical method to interpret the development of art history in different countries. Within the context of this methodology, we will reflect upon the relationship between East and West, centre and periphery, and other aspects of the art of Central and Eastern Europe. We will use individual examples to reveal the common context of the region, but also the diversity of developments in each country. Due to the breadth of the temporal and spatial scope of the lectures, we will focus only on carefully selected themes, places and personalities (architecture will feature only marginally). We will address themes such as identity, tradition, experimentation, propaganda, emancipation, alternative scenes, resistance and revolution. We will talk about post-war history, the Cold War and the culture of places such as Budapest, Warsaw, Berlin, Łódź, Zagreb, Ljubljana, Bucharest, Bratislava and of course Prague. We will focus on key figures such as Strzemiński, Kobro, Teige, Boudník, Kantor, Čumpelík, Gudera, Fangor, Kobzdej, Wróblewski, Jarema, Szapoznikow, Kmentová, Želibská, Kolíbal, Malich, Sýkora, Kolář, KwieKulik, Mlynárčik, Knížák, Ságlová, OHO, Gorgona, Abramović, Răducanu, Gotovac, Iveković, Robakowski, Grigorescu, Štembera, Miler, Kovanda, Koller, Valoch, Beke, Galántai, Opałka, Partum, Prigov, Kabakov, Bulatov, Komar and Melamid, Stilinović, Gruppa, Teren, Irwin, Perjovski, Libera, Kozyra, and many others. The lectures will include period documentaries, films, discussions, and visits to specific exhibitions and other places.