Artistic research
“I do not know just how in childhood we arrive at certain images, images of crucial significance to us. They are like filaments in a solution around which the sense of the world crystallizes for us…They are meanings that seem predestined for us, ready and waiting at the very entrance of our life…such images constitute... Continue Reading →
On the relationships of science and art, an excerpt from David Bohm's On Creativity "I have personally discovered that through talking with artists and correspondence with them, as well as through seeing their work, I have been greatly helped in my scientific research. The main effect of these contacts was to lead me to look... Continue Reading →
Improvised dinner These improvised dinners are recommended as a means of bringing together maximum originality, variety, surprise, unexpectedness and good humour. Of every cook it is asked that he acquire an attitude that: form and colour are just as important as taste can conceive of an original architecture for every dish, possibly different for each... Continue Reading →
Jan Švankmajer's description of his own creative process, 1985 What is your own personal definition of poetry? For me the concept of poetry coincides with imagination. And the potency of imagination for me is also an evaluative criterion for poetry, whatever its medium of expression is: i.e. a pen, a brush or touch. It is... Continue Reading →
"To use a magnifying glass is to pay attention, but isn't paying attention already having a magnifying glass?" (From Gaston Bachelard's Poetics of Space) Here is an excerpt from my interview about Wistman's Wood, a video installation I made in 2o11. Wistman's Wood presents unique challenges and opportunities for a film-maker. What determined your approach... Continue Reading →
Second: Aerofood, tactile, with sounds and scents (devised by Fillia). Here there are few little complications. Eating futuristically, one uses all the five senses: touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing. We put to the reader a few other rules for the perfect dinner which will help us to enjoy fully the taste of all the... Continue Reading →
Railtracks is a collaboration between John Berger and Anne Michaels, two writers of remarkable achievement. Their sensual and exploratory dialogue is accompanied by my own photographs, documenting a journey by narrow gauge train through the winter landscapes of Southern Bohemia, which I took on the day of a winter solstice, in 2007. J. The whistle,... Continue Reading →
Jan Švankmajer on FOOD Although we called our exhibition Food, it doesn’t mean that we consider what we do as some kind of “ nourishment for the spirit” or that we will be serving goulash in our exhibition, but because food is a short, easily comprehensible word, while the function it describes is practiced universally.... Continue Reading →
Summer Luncheon For Painters and Sculptors After a long period of rest, a painter or sculptor who wants to take up his creative activities again at three o’clock on a summer afternoon may vainly try to excite his artistic inspiration with a succulent – traditional meal. Weighed down, he would then have to walk to... Continue Reading →
Tactility and Film Jan Švankmajer's interview, with Tereza Stehlíková 2011 1. What methods do you consciously employ in order to make your films more tactile? I have in mind both in pre-production [choice of location, experiments], production, and post-production [particular methods of editing etc]? Until my first experiments with tactile objects I was unaware about... Continue Reading →
This is a 13 minute documentation of one of my tactile workshop, performed at the Royal College of Art, London, between 2005 - 2009 Tactile workshops have been a vital part of my personally tailored methodology. They functioned as a testing ground for various practical propositions, as well as an imaginative way of gaining new... Continue Reading →
Decalogue by Jan Švankmajer 1. Remember there is only one form of ‘poetry’. The opposite of poetry is professional expertise. Before you start making a film, write a poem, paint a picture, create a collage, write a novel, essay etc. Only by cultivating your ability for universal expression will you ensure you will produce a... Continue Reading →
Tereza Stehlíková 