Signals from the Unknown. Czech Comics 1922 - 2012

8 Mar – 20 May 2013

This exhibition at the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art traces the development of Czech comics from their beginnings until the present day in the context of historical events.
Until recently, no one in the Czech Republic took serious notice of the phenomenon of comics, even though since their very beginning they have been reflecting changes in an interesting fashion in our society and culture. The idea of the exhibition is to place a number of phenomena perceived in isolation or that have been forgotten entirely into a more general context, and to present them to the centre’s visitors.
The roots of the Czech comics tradition reach back to the middle of the 19th century, when the first satirical magazines were being founded in Bohemia and Moravia. Up to the 1930s, the development of this format linking visual and verbal elements was similar to that in other European countries. The rise of fascist and then Communist regimes subsequently both interrupted and distorted the natural evolution of comics. Despite this, the domestic comics tradition never quite died out, occasionally taking on distinctive, even bizarre forms that differed markedly from those familiar in countries with an established comics tradition such as the USA, France and Italy.

Exhibition Author


The Brno House of Arts

Cooperation


DOX Centre for Contemporary Art

East Bohemian Gallery in Pardubice

Institute of Czech Literature of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic

Philosophical faculty, Palacký University Olomouc

Curators


Tomáš Prokůpek, Pavel Kořínek

Design


Branislav Matis, Matúš Lelovský, Boris Belan

Acknowledgements


Museum of Czech Literature

National Pedagogical Museum and Library of J. A. Komenský in Prague

Moravian Museum

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Chrudim Puppetry Museum

Artists and private owners

Legia, spol. s r.o.

Photos from the exhibition opening March 7, 2013.