galerie emila filly, òst’ nad labem

The Five-Days Project

The Emil Filla Gallery is
located in the very center of
òst’ nad Labem and its large
display windows open up
towards the biggest square in
the city. Exhibitions and
their opening receptions as
well as concerts and art
performances take place in
full view of pedestrians. But
the majority of passers-by
have no response to these
events. While the gallery has
developed a group of visitors
in the five years of its
existence, attendance remains
limited to students of
secondary schools and colleges
and artists. For the locals,
the events that take place in
that enormous glass building
(or is it a swimming pool?)
are not comprehensible and are
thus also threatening.

Moreover, the area surrounding
the gallery is deserted. In
the evening people head
instead for the housing
estates on the river banks. 
Onto this scene arrive a group
of artists-missionaries who
set themselves up in the
gallery-monastery, from where
the doctrine of art's magic is
spread. For five days and five
nights, these ÒholyÒ people
live in this space open to
everyone's eyes. (They all
arise and go to sleep in
unison. They share breakfast,
lunch and dinner together on
the sidewalk in front of the
gallery. They all wear equally
strange clothing.) The
exhibition space is completely
empty and they gradually fill
it. Every day they also wander
around the town and do
different things. They
question people on what they
think about art or on the
existence of the gallery; they
invite them to the gallery's
afternoon programs; they
search for themes for their
projects; they visit schools.
In short, they do whatever
comes to their minds. Above
all they organize an extensive
program of theater
performances, happenings, art
projects, student workshops,
concerts, and lectures, the
majority of which will take
place in and around the
gallery.

In the course of the five days
these people will live only
for art's sake; free from any
other concerns they will
attempt to attract as large an
audience as possible to their
special world. Of course they
lay no claims to changing the
town's situation for cultural
activities. But of course they
do hope to touch the soul of
at least one person.

The participants of the
ÒFive-Days ProjectÒ 
(in its proposed form) are:

Richard Fajnor 
Frantiäek Kowolowski 
Orloj snivcó 
Ludv’k Hlav‡‹ek 
Divadeln’ spolek ãZaovarÒ 
KateÞina Svitalsk‡ 
JiÞ’ Konvrzek 
Petr Lys‡‹ek 
JiÞ’ Suróvka 
Petr Nikl 
Josef Danžk 
Petr Kv’‹ala 
Mari‡n Palla 
Petr Koì’äek 
Pavel KopÞiva 
Divadlo Nargi‡da 
V‡clav Stratil 
Kriätof Kintera 
Petr ‰apek 
OldÞich Janota 
JiÞ’ ‰ernickù 
Radek Hor‡‹ek 
Luk‡ä Gavlovskù 
Martin Zet