ÒPublic artÒ is an expression that has been in use in Western culture since the 1960s to identify art that comes into being outside of exhibition halls, galleries or museums; art that searches for new spaces for direct dialogue with the public; art that is trying to free itself from the exclusive isolation into which it has fallen in the process of its emancipation. The sense of the term includes, too, the absence of museum guards closely watching over the visitorÕs every move, ready to interfere should an attempt be made to touch an exhibited work of art. The linking of ÒpublicÒ and ÒartÒ should be understood on the basis of the notions that were established for the most part in the 19th century: the work of art as an artifact in the form of a painting, a sculpture, a graphic, etc. in the context of a public space defined as either exterior or interior by architecture. Therefore, a customary representation of Òpublic artÒ is the monument on a town square. In past centuries art and architecture was closely interrelated. This symbiosis received a fundamental blow from Functionalism and its main originator, Adolf Loos. Architecture came to shed decoration and ornamentation, drawing the strength of its ex-pression from its function and the purity of its forms. With the arrival of Cubism, art meanwhile began to concentrate on issues that were its own, i.e. that were independent of those of architecture. Art was liberated not only from the Academy but also from its inferiority to architecture. This very moment symbolized the climax of a process of emancipation from architecture that had begun long ago in the gothic period when the hanging painting appeared arose. The era of all-encompassing styles for the arts had ended and with it their mutual development and the close cooperation among the disciplines. The pictorial arts left the cathedrals and palaces, abandoned the traditional public spaces, and had to find new places for its pre-sentation. It created its own and moved to exhibition halls. With this, the pictorial arts fell out of casual contact with passers-by and ceased to be public in the sense of the direct encounter in public urban space. Exclusivity isolated art as is demonstrated by the fact that only two to four percent of the population regularly visit exhibitions and galleries. The general publicÕs ignorance of art has developed into a deep gulf.

Architecture, however, continues to be one of the primary domains in the public space to which art is returning today (Drahotov‡, Gebauer, Klouzov‡, Kopaczewski, Benish, Matasov‡, Trabura, Zinke, èalskù, ‰ernù, Kot’k).

In recent years the concepts of ÒartÒ as well as of ÒpublicÒ have considerably broadened their scope. The authentic space for art today stretches beyond barriers defined by a physical conception of three traditional dimensions. Art extends into unknown regions and is becoming more and more independent from material or spatial existence. Likewise, public and private can no longer be so clearly distinguished. Frontiers are becoming imaginary and increasingly abstract. This trend is accelerating the increasing use of new media that are unearthing new fields of opportunities and creating a new reality (Gabriel, Skryt‡ tvór‹’ jednotka, Silver, Hlóìe, Kondo, Pavl’k, VaËkov‡, Cihl‡Þov‡, Vargov‡, Û‡dov‡).

New media are as irresistibly attractive to art as they are to advertising. The worlds of advertising and art often influence each other either directly or indirectly and even often overlap. Some commercials use art for their own purposes and in doing so are advancing advertising as a certain new form of Òapplied artÒ. Advertising succeeds in what art has increasingly failed to do: to communicate with people, even against their will. It seems that advertising has conquered public space as a whole and is hovering upon the edge of the private. It is a field developing with particular inventiveness. It has its supporters and adversaries, but nonetheless stimulates reflection, response and discussion. While advertising has its relation to art, and provides a certain type of space for art, it also plays a role in the increasing isolation of art by driving the spirituality out of this frequented space. Today we are witnessing the mutual influence of advertising and art. On the one hand ÒartisticÒ advertising takes the form of short films, clips, images, making full use of artistic invention. On the other hand, art reacts to advertising as an important field that is clearly shaping the appearance of todayÕs world and our way of thinking.

Our exhibition introduces projects that make use of forms used in advertising but are basically anti-advertising in content. These Òanti-commercialsÒ disclose those aspects and meanings of advertising that are otherwise kept unexpressed and latent (Mikul‡ät’k, Kuneä). The most striking aspect brought out is the absurdity of consumerism, which is a direct result of advertising (Kotzmannov‡, Polcar, Kintera). The dialogue between art and advertising reveals another objective that both share: provocation. But each employ it out of opposing motivations. Advertising usually provokes consumption. Provo-cation is one of advertisingÕs most basic tools, which it uses in its attempt to attract the publicÕs attention and stimulate from it a certain response. In this advertising is markedly successful, but just as it arouses consumers, it simultaneously causes their numbness. Following its provocation, art then often strives to rouse consumers from this instrumental numbness, to draw attention to other possibilities and to place the familiar in new relations and contexts (Kole‹kov‡, Sado, Sdruìen’ mal’Þó Bezhlav’ jezdec, Kafka, Doleìal, Jirouäek).

The other field with which art has been closely related is science. This has been developing for the most part since the 19th century, when artists quickly adopted scientific knowledge manifest in new technical means (photography, film, optics) and the broadening of mental horizons (psychoanalysis). Today scienceÕs influence is not only useful for an art workÕs reflection upon particular experiences of content (Mikul‡äek) or form (Silver) but also for the direct application of scientific methods within the field of art. ArtÕs use of the psychology led to the emergence of art therapy. Today we can see how art makes use of scientific methods for its own purposes. With their help it seeks a way out of its isolation and back to the public. Inspiration comes from pedagogy (Dopitov‡), sociology (Kot’k, Turi‹, Topi‹), psychology (Broìka, Koì’äek). Art makes use of different public activities to find its way once again into the public eye.

Karol’na Fabelov‡
Program Coordinator, SCCA - Praha
translated by MarkŽta Doleìel