Throughout history, there has existed the emergence of various types of art styles, genres, and movements that have been popularized and advanced by Czech artists – like art nouveau, cubism, etc. Lubo Kristek, in particular, is an artist of Czech origin who assisted in furthering the European postmodern cultural movement through the usage of different media and forms. Regarding art styles, he would utilize surrealism, happening, performance art, and postmodernism. Kristek would incorporate these styles with a variety of compositions like sculptures, paintings, and performance artworks to reveal pieces that were complex, open to interpretation, and had a lively aspect to them.
It is important to note that Lubo Kristek formed a theory of “holographic perception” – where scenes of his performance art pieces are placed in a nonlinear manner to stimulate viewers so that they can form a holographic image in their minds. The idea is that when multiple happenings occur at the same time, there will be a more lasting impact on observers through various emotional and creative elements. Many of his works have the holographic perception aspect to them as plenty is going on with each piece.
Lubo Kristek’s most notable works are mostly performance art pieces or sculptures. Performance art can be defined as pieces formed through performances by the artist or others. These works can either be performed live with viewers or recorded and uploaded as well as can be done either unprompted or planned with a script. Kristek’s ideas of expressing creativity and entertainment can best be exemplified in his performance artworks. To the right is an image of a popular exhibition of his that broke societal norms – titled Promenade with a Neurotic Fox. It was created in 1975, and his intention for this piece was to help people move past death from being a forbidden concept to verbally express or even think about. He walked the fox around in a park to help shatter the illusion of reality.
This next work is the Requiem for Mobile Telephones. It happened in 2007 to protest against societal addiction to modern technological devices. Kristek asked viewers to give up their phones and assemble them into a group. The first time this performance took place, he asked viewers to stitch the phones onto his jacket. With the subsequent happenings, the phone assembling has adhered to the first occurrence and was done so following the shape of the jacket. This work is one of several that encouraged viewer participation.
Finally, in 1992, Lubo Kristek composed a piece called Tree of the Wind Harp – where he was able to express his belief of holographic perception. There are plenty of elements to the sculpture, but most people would easily pick up on the auditory and visual aspects of it. The work incorporates external factors like the wind by using it to create sound. Visually, much is going on but the combination of all the features will help viewers form a holographic perception of the work according to Kristek’s theory. The utilization of viewers’ eyes and ears supports the idea of holographic perception as people would be more stimulated by the art piece due to all the different elements.
Written by Charita Ravula
Sources:
“Lubo Kristek - 34 Artworks - Assemblage.” Www.Wikiart.Org, WikiArt Visual Art Encylcopedia , www.wikiart.org/en/lubo-kristek.
“Lubo Kristek - Google Arts & Culture.” Google, Google, artsandculture.google.com/entity/lubo-kristek/g1229c0j6?hl=en.
“Lubo Kristek: The Sun King in the Theatre of His Own World.” Kristek Thaya Glyptotheque, Kristek Thaya Glyptotheque, www.glyptotheque.com/index.php.
“Performance Art.” Tate, Tate, www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/p/performance-art.
“Promenade with a Neurotic Fox.” WikiArt, WikiArt Visual Art Encylcopedia , www.wikiart.org/en/lubo-kristek/promenade-with-a-neurotic-fox-1975.
“Requiem for Mobile Telephones - Google Arts & Culture.” Google, Google, artsandculture.google.com/story/requiem-for-mobile-telephones-research-institute-of-communication-in-art/6gUhWHxh6MUDHw?hl=en.
“Tree of the Wind Harp - Lubo Kristek - Google Arts & Culture.” Google, Google, artsandculture.google.com/asset/tree-of-the-wind-harp-lubo-kristek/ewG266LUWXkNQA?hl=en.