Publications

HAĽÁK, Miroslav: TERRA INCOGNITA. Kunstexpedition in ein unbekanntes Nachbarland. Tschechoslowakische Kunst zwischen 1948 und 1989 im Dialog mit der Sammlung Liaunig. Neuhaus, HL Museumsverwaltung GmbH 2025, 231 S.

Why is it that the art scene in particular tends to isolate itself or to focus only one-sidedly on the cultural centre? Why is the affection for the centre so persistent, even though we have witnessed often enough in art history that what was pathbreaking came not from the academic canon, the cultural metropolis or established trends, but from the periphery? These questions open up a whole spectrum of problems and phenomena that extend far beyond the discipline of art history and in which it is imperative to engage with social, philosophical and political concepts in order to better understand, at least to some extent, the complex situation of cultural alienation, the loss of interest and/or marginalisation, and to be able to name it at all. Despite the suboptimal political development in Central Europe after the Second World War and the stigmata of a divided society that we still bear today, it is remarkable how art was able to renew itself in an original way: ‘...no border post can prevent the exchange of art forms, and art contexts remain connected in an intangible medium. Within the world of forms of art, other communities have formed, and these connections have persisted more tenaciously in the art-geographically unified areas than might be assumed from their political history.’ As early as 1922, Kurt Gerstenberg used the concept of art geography to try and capture the interactions and paths of artistic impulses across political and social boundaries. One hundred years later, we must continue to emphasise that a separatist and isolationist perception of art is untenable. Central Europe is a special case and a prime example, because it is precisely here that the overcoming of barriers ‘...clarifies the growth of art and the occurrence of formal contexts that transcend political boundaries. One must first refrain from the succession of styles and take art as a given fact’. It was never a matter of course to jump over one’s own shadow, to leave the comfort zone in order to approach the unknown, but the reward for such ventures is the discovery of an inspiring and fascinating art region that is always able to surprise us with connections, links, analogies, but also with strange habits. All we have to do is accept ‘art as a given fact’ – in other words, to recognise it as artificial evidence of a cultural condition. In this way, alienation can be alleviated, and the exotic unknown can be transformed into a source of inspiration and new discoveries.