ARTIST STATEMENT

Sum up the main character of your work, your long-term interests and themes.

I focus on realizations in public space - in its both physical and also media forms in which the works can communicate with broader public or localized communities much better than in a form of a traditional exhibition. These spaces can be streets (musical performances with group Pavel Ondracka / European Union), lectures (Studio of Pavel Ondracka, 2015-2017), institutions as schools (What Dean promised, I did, 2017), social network platforms and custom web services (NationalLeague.cz, 2016), or own publicly released software (Nomin, 2018).

Art in my understanding is a tool to free the human realizations of personal,economical, scientifical or other interests, tool which can produce - from the economical or research point of view - completely uninteresting, yet in global sum socially beneficial results, contributions which would not originate under non artistic circumstances. From software which uses boring algorithms and hardly could be sold (Nomin, 2018), to an inbox which does not raise the reputation of school office nor is part of campaign for upcoming dean election (Mailbox for Feedback, 2017).

Describe the context of your work – what are your inspirational sources and theoretical starting points, which artists and tendencies do you consider as referential to your work.

My theoretical background lies mostly around texts of more classical new media studies – authors like Marshall McLuhan, Vilem Flusser, Jay David Bolter, Richard Grusin, Lev Manovich, or visionary Vannevar Bush. However recently I try to focus mostly on texts of software studies.

Between my inspirational sources in the art-world are Situationist International and institutional critique, socially engaged art, or hacktivism. Being more personal, then great inspiration for me was Haans Haacke, Wochen Klausur, The Yes Men and !Medien Gruppe Bitnik. Recently however the most important for me is the movement and theoretical framework of Arte Util. I believe and feel there is some link between it and my recent artistic practice.

Try to characterize what makes your work specific, wherein lies its force, what makes it different from the work of artists with similar approaches and themes.

My work is often interventional, ranging from physical or direct media attacks, indirect mockery and satire, to creation of parallel, functional units which I prefer the most recently. Often it mimics and remixes functions and forms of its targets to achieve the goal of the work or to improve the processes or situations around it. For example, in the work “NationalLeague.cz” (2016) I have mimicked sporty concept of a league and the language and visual style of right wing groups to create an online real-time league of best defenders of the nation. Pro xenophobic on the first sight but critical on the second, the project assembled thousands of distasteful comments and showed the anti-islamic movement in its full, real size as outrageously horrid, cynical and heartless movement.

What differentiates my work from other socially engaged artists or activists is the direct use of technology, the creation of custom software and knowledge of the media from its depths. This I share with a lot of new media artists who are often true masters of their media. Unlike them I am however deeply interested in the social aspects of the media. Thus I am not focusing on newest coolest technology like virtual reality or 3D drone compositions above Linz, but more on technology used by masses, the technology in which we already live our lives.

What is your work process like? Do you deal with preparation and research? How do you search for your themes? How do you choose the media you work in?

Techniques I use in my works range from simplest material manipulations, culturaljamming, performance, noise music, to the most significant in my practice: programming and software development. Onto those I focus most of my time as I believe they play the key role in today world. My knowledge of media and technology I however do not understand as an opportunity for experiments or exploration of their aspects, but rather as a potential to reveal its social functions, to detect weaker spots and ruptures available for artistic misuse. I thus do not follow deskilling trend, but also do not believe in skill as a quality itself. Techniques and skills serve to me only as ways of seeing and achieving. When it suits the concept I am happy working with mud as well with functions.

I am continuously researching the technology and practicing it. For this reason I also took job of an open source programmer. I am thus experimenting with bots, Facebook and other APIs, or possibilities of driving web services directly through browser – clicking bots which cannot be banned by the services. The great moment however comes when the research findings combines with themes I have in my mind. These often comes from current situation in society – for example, the refugee crisis. Or it comes from my thinking about “how and how to help some group of people” - for example, the students of art in case of Nomin. Once both technology possibility and theme meet, I know it is time to start experimenting around. I do a lot of changes during the development of the work, most of the time it is long and painful process for me during which the original concept slowly crystalizes until I am happy with it.

What is your vision for the future? How do you want to develop your work and continue your previous projects/realizations? What is your long-term goal/dream?

I plan to continue with releases of Nomin and workshops for students of how to use it. Recently I have also set up my first group of friends and strangers from FaVU which I teach how to program. With the group we plan to create a collaborative software artwork. Creating more of those groups, a temporary and democratic groups in which we all collaborate I find as something I would like to create in the future. Something between teaching, socially engaged and participatory art, performance and software art. A hybrid form of work.

My another plan is to collaborate with a2larm on creation of automated liking and commenting support bots. A project which would help pro-democratic journalists with getting more views, which would at least minimally oppose technological dominance of Russian propaganda. And which on the other hand could be used for more artistic purposes, creating and driving fake user lives, comments, statuses, something I plan to call “social animation”. Another plan to create a hybrid between direct help and somehow indirect artistic result.

My long term goal is to continue creating art which does not reflect current networked society from users’ point of view as post-internet did, but instead reflects it from deeper layers of networked media. Paying close attention to its societal meaning. To come up with net.art of contemporary web 2.0 and 3.0, the web of social networks, the web of masses driven by groups.

BIOGRAPHY

• 2016-2018: Brno University of Technology - Faculty of Fine Arts - Intermedia Studio - MgA. Pavel Sterec, Ph.D.
• 2012-2016: Brno University of Technology - Faculty of Fine Arts - Multimedia Studio - Filip Turek, Mgr. Slavomir Krekovic, Ph.D.
  

• 2018
  • Conclusions of Police Investigation, gallery Umakart, Brno
    

• 2017
  • Do It Yourself, gallery Rampa, Faculty of Art and Design, Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic
  • Take Away, MP7 Gallery, festival TRANSFORMA, Tabor, Czech Republic
    

• 2016
  • Rising Superstar Hotline, media event and performance as member of group Pavel Ondracka, Manifesta 11, Cabaret Voltaire, Zurich, Switzerland
• 2014
  • Digital Subconsciousness, gallery Art, Brno, Czech Republic◦ Waves, interactive installation, cafe Tro3jka, Brno, Czech Republic
    

• 2017
  • The Last Word, Gallery In:Out, Bratislava, Slovak Republic
    

• 2015
  • Exhibition of Painters, gallery of Milos Zeman, Faculty of Fine Arts, Brno, Czech Republic
  • Intuition, Vasulka Chamber, National Gallery of Iceland, Reikjavik, Iceland
    

• 2014
  • World Wide Waldeinsamkeit, gallery Oberwelt, Stuttgart, Germany
  • Hypertext, gallery Aula, Faculty of Fine Arts, Brno, Czech Republic
  • Musical performance with group Pavel Ondracka, TRIAL 5, Moravian Gallery, Brno, Czech Republic
    

• 2013
  • Enterprise, gallery Aula, Faculty of Fine Arts, Brno, Czech Republic
    

• 2017-now: member of performative noise music group European Union
• 2015-2017: member of DIY Studio of Pavel Ondracka at FFA BUT
• 2014-2017: member of performative noise music group Pavel Ondracka
  

• 2018
  • Presentation at (un)conference 'How to Weather The Shrit Storm?', 4AM, Brno, Czech Republic
  • Article Hodina mezi mízou a jantarem: Digitální dílo v době své technické dvojjedinosti, Journal of Interactive Media - JOINME, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
• 2017
  • Presentation with Studio of Pavel Ondracka, conference 'What to do?', Academy of Fine Arts, Prague, Czech Republic
  • Presentation at Pecha Kucha #20 - Postmoderna, 4AM, Brno, Czech Republic
• 2015
  • Presentation on topic of 'Magicariat', international conference Intuition, Faculty of Fine Arts, Brno, Czech Republic
    

• 2016
  • Pavleni - series of student run lectures in Studio of Pavel Ondracka, Faculty of Fine Arts, Brno, Czech Republic - organization of events
• 2015
  • Connect - series of 3 workshops of creative programming, organization and teaching, Brno, Czech Republic
  • Musical workshop of group Pavel Ondracka, Museums Night, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic - teaching, design of DIY instruments
• 2013
  • Platform for Intervention of Electronic Media, Brno, Czech Republic - organization
    

• 2018
  • Nomination for Prize of the Dean, Faculty of Fine Arts, BUT
  • Nomination for Prize of the Rector, Brno University of Technology