Prehistory
2 Jul – 2 Aug 2015
The exhibition takes place at the Art Archive at DOX.
Opening: 2 July from 6:30 p.m. The opening will include readings by authors connected to the Prehistory association: Radek Valenta, Tomáš Hradilík, Vladimír Tupáček, APV, Karel Schestauber, and others.
There is not collective protection from the deadly collective dream aside from the voice of individual rejection: to refrain from responding in kind.
Václav Jamek
The Pravěk (Prehistory) association prints and distributes texts. Poems, stories, novels, essays. But one cannot say that Pravěk publishes books, though the intent is the same – to get an author’s work to readers.
One cannot speak of book publishing due to two reasons that could be termed “books” and “publishing”.
The first brings Pravěk to Polička/Shelf project. Pravěk’s publications do not have characteristics that we usually assign to books; they aren’t structured objects whose final form is the result of the participation of a number of individuals (editor, proof-reader, graphic artist…) but just plain texts in the sense of a statement by Ulises Carrión ("As opposed to conventional notions, a writer does not write books. A writer writes texts."); they do not pass through any editorial process, the visual element is either eliminated or without any ambition to take on book form, but rather conforms to the author’s artistic intent. In a peculiar way, they then fall into the area of artists’ books.
The second reason is publishing. Pravěk does not wish to
fulfil the characteristics of this activity as defined by Act No. 37/1995, to
adhere
to a formal publication structure, to work with copyright, but primarily
to be a “company”.
Thus to be a commercial subject and as such to participate
in a system where publication of books is just one part, thus a system of commercial
and consumer culture. There are minimal barriers to participation (no Fascist
or similarly extreme propaganda), the intent being to ensure every work has
a
chance, without publisher selection, which in finality always takes into
account the work’s saleability. Pravěk keeps costs to a minimum – paper, printing – that the
author can easily cover. Pravěk provides classification into a “distro”, that
is a way to reach readers.
The exhibition will offer the opportunity to examine virtually all that has passed through the Pravěk association from authors to the world.
The Pravěk (Prehistory) association sends stories, poems, or observations out into the world. I tries to promote fringe authors and show that independent and non-commercial print media haven’t yet disappeared.
Kurátorka: Lucie Rohanová
