Cartography of (Eco)systems: Black Edition
39 cultural and artistic initiatives in the Czech Republic
The Agosto Foundation is pleased to announce a new publication comprising the interviews from the research project Cartography of (Eco)Systems : RurArtMap and Perpedian Map: Black Edition, and presenting 39 cultural and artistic initiatives from the Czech Republic. In various places where these projects have long been active, several notable themes have emerged, especially concerning the ecological and social aspects of these areas. The interviews were conducted in 2021, and provide a contemporary overview of the early cultural landscape of the Coronacene era.
The whole is introduced by a brief look by Ondřej Navrátil (author of Green Islands: Czech Art in the Age of Environmentalism 1960-2000) at the development of environmental discourse in art in Bohemia, and complemented by texts by cultural anthropologist Přemysl Mácha and biologist Jiří Sádlo. An interview with curator, producer and writer Eivind Slettemeås, who settled with his family in the Norwegian countryside a few years ago to develop the creative platform Harpefoss Hotell Kunstarena, provides an outsider's perspective of a life in art outside the centres.
The Black Edition map, with and index and contact information, visualizes the locations of the initiatives in the country, with graphic overlays of the rate of arable land loss from 2005-2019 and air pollution from 2016-20, which is related to the project's focus on ecology and the search for the connections between art, culture, science and civic cultural communities in rural and peripheral areas. The extensive website blackedition.cz is also devoted to these issues.
The interviews were conducted by:
Ondřej Navrátil with Tomáš Šenkyřík, Barbora Lungová, Kristýna Znamenáčková, Jolana Chalupová, Jana Písaříková and Andrea Krejčí.
Dagmar Šubrtová with Jan C. Löble, Jiří Šindelář, Karel Jungwirth, Roman Černík, Petr Globočník, Zuzana Stejskalová, Jana Nuslauerová, Tera Dvořáková, Jitka Doubravová, Miroslav Koranda and Petr Karásek.
Jan Freiberg with Jiří Zemánek, Barbora Koritenská and Tereza Horváthová. Kristýna Pozlerová with Edith Jeřábková, Petr Bergmann, Jitka Jakubičková, Ondřej Pleštil, Šárka Zahálková, Luďek Rathouský, Roman Rejhold, Kateřina Štroblová and Eva Machová.
Jakub Frank with Vojtěch Janoušek, Zdeňka Morávková, Magdalena Petráková, Ivo Dokoupil and Petr Mihalec, Honza Petruželá, Pavel Kubaník, Jan Vařeká and Ilona Rozehnalová.
Petr Kovář with Matěj Kolář, Hanka and Martin Jelínek and Tereza Říčanová. Lenka Dolanová with Ivan Mečl and Eivind Slettemeås. Michal Kindernay with Anna Matvia. Petr Ferenc with Martin Klimes and Jakub Frank.
Prepared for publication by Lenka Dolanová, Dana Recmanová, Dagmar Šubrtová
Published by the Agosto Foundation with graphic design by Onkubator Studio in an edition of 2700 copies at Protisk Printing House, s.r.o.
The publication is published within the project Cartography of the (Eco)System I RurArtMap and Map Perpedian: Black Edition
The project is supported by a grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway under the EEA Funds.