Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship - autonomous ...

notes to pages 146– 7
suspect of having any value’ (my translation). Mlynárčik had used this
technique in Edgar Degas’ Memorial, asking Restany to secure works of
art from Nouveaux Réalistes as donations to the festival, which were then
auctioned off to provide cash prizes for the horse- racing competition.
50 Mlynárčik, cited in Restany, Ailleurs, p. 123.
51 As reported by Restany, ‘De Varsovie, Žilina, Prague, avec Amour’, p. 56.
52 With the advent of communism, ‘individual property rights were decimated.
Still, when compared to the situation in the mid- 1940s, in some
ways the economic situation for ordinary persons improved. The rural
regions of Slovakia, in particular, benefi ted. In order to supplement their
incomes, farmers, who lost their lands to collectivisation and were forced
to work in industry, actually experienced a rise in income. In other ways
the standard of living in rural areas went up. Government- subsidised
modernisation programmes brought electricity to villages and the
number of schools also increased. Health facilities grew, and medical care
became more readily available.’ (June Granatir Alexander, ‘Slovakia’, in
Richard C. Frucht, Eastern Europe: An Introduction to the People, Lands
and Culture, Santa Barbara: ABC- Clio, 2005, p. 300.)
53 This is in contrast to, for example, Yugoslav students during this period
who were arguing for a better and more just type of communism. The
Slovak critic Tomáš Štraus notes that the only excursion Mlynárčik
makes into the realm of politics was during May ’68 in Paris, when he
wrote the Manifesto Ferme pour cause d’inutilité: 18 Mai 1968 – Paris,
Musée National d’Art Moderne. (Štraus, ‘Three Model Situations of
Contemporary Art Actions’, p. 72.)
54 Alex Mlynárčik interviewed by Ján Budaj, in Budaj’s samizdat publication
3SD, 1981, n.p.; 2nd edition 1988; reprinted in Umenie Akce/ Action
Art 1965– 1989, Bratislava: National Gallery, 2001, pp. 276– 7, translation
by Mira Keratova. The full interview is translated in Bishop and
Dziewańska (eds.), 1968– 1989: Political Upheaval and Artistic Change, pp.
221– 32.
55 Tatiana Ivanova, cited by Alex and Elena Mlynárčik, ‘Memorandum’
(1971), in Restany, Ailleurs, p. 256.
56 The participants in Żelibská’s Betrothal of Spring (1970), held in the Small
Carpathians, were decorated in ribbons (similar to those worn by guests
at wedding celebrations) while musicians performed spring- themed
music under the trees. A plane passed overhead and dropped more
white ribbons, which were bound around the trees by participants –
effectively unifying the guests and nature in one coherently embellished
environment. The aim of the festival was to pay homage to the transition
from Spring to Summer, viewed as analogous to the moment when
a girl becomes a woman, designed to generate intense emotive experiences.
Much of Żelibská’s work concerns questions of gender and
eroticism.
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