Jiří Kolář: X Biennial of São Paulo

In September 1969, Czech artist Jiří Kolář became one of eight foreign laureates of the biennial prize at the X. Biennial in São Paulo. The exhibition, through works from Czech museum collections, including the National Gallery in Prague, offers a partial reconstruction of the artist's award-winning presentation, based on photographs preserved in the biennial's archive. The works are complemented by archival materials that reveal various aspects of his participation in this prestigious yet controversial biennial. At the tenth edition, co-curated by Slovak art historian Marián Váross, Czechoslovakia was represented alongside Jiří Kolář by Czech artists František Ronovský and Jiří Novák and their Slovak colleagues Miloš Urbásek, Milan Dobeš, and Michal Jakabčic. Their works reflected diverse approaches to art at a time that led to the Prague Spring, yet in São Paulo they were exhibited more than a year after the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops. The tenth biennial is notoriously known for a boycott, when numerous Brazilian and foreign artists protested against censorship and human rights violations by the Brazilian military dictatorship. Jiří Kolář's decision to refuse an interview for the journal Výtvarná práce can be seen as a possible expression of significant silence – shortly thereafter, the artist became a victim of persecution by the Czechoslovak state authorities. The exhibition thus opens questions about the position of the artist in politically tense conditions. The exhibition is curated by Rado Ištok. The exhibition is installed in the Veletržní Palace, 2nd floor, as part of the collection exhibition 1939–2021: The End of Black and White Era, and will run until August 30, 2026.