Date: Fri, 4 Jun 1999 13:25:25 +0200 (CEST)
From: hollister <william-AT-terminal.cz>
Subject: SVATOKRADEZ



>Stuart

Hi stuart!

as long as I mistakenely tossed the subject on the net, I'd like to take
the thank -you for the wonderful contribution you sent several months ago.
I'm not sure in what form it will be, but it ought to be translated into
Czech and either be published in entirety or in part.

The question, Svatokradez -- sacrilege, has been greeted with lukewarm
responses.

I repost the initial "anketa" in case anyone here has anything to say on
this sleepy forum.

best wishes,

william hollister

Prague, December 1998
Dear friends,
in 1998 we have put together an enquiry as part of the propositions for a
new exhibition we are preparing now. We hope that the exhibition (Prague
and Pilsen, July/September 1999) acquires an international character with
the help of your participation. Below is the enquiry (you can answer it
briefly individually as well as collectively) and the resume of our own
responses.
An enquiry on sacrilege

1. How would you define "the sacred"? Is there something what you consider
sacred? What is, in your opinion, the relation between the sacred and the
miraculous?

2. In what sense is (or is not) the word sacrilege pertinent for you?
3. Can you define the contemporary possibilities of subversion - in
comparison with the hitherto existing forms of this phenomenon?

Variants of the collective thematic activity (exhibition):

=46rom the enquiry and the previous discussion it emerged that we are still
interested in
1. aspects of surrealist interpretation of the miraculous
2. the subversive nature of surrealist activity

In between these two poles - the positive (1) and the negative (2) =F1 an
essential, conceptual and also mental tension develops to become the
carrier and catalyst of a common activity. At first sight it seems as if we
have only copied the basic range of surrealist dialectics and resigned to
the con
cretization and specification of the theme. But that is arguable. Surely
the surrealist miraculous has been changing in time: Effenberger=A5s
criticism of Nezval-esque enchantment - that "surrealism with a beardband"
has for a long time required further revision. What does "the surrealist
miraculous" look like nowadays? Let=EDs try to find or rediscover it. And
what about the second, negative pole? Martin Stejskal describes it in a
general yet concrete enough way: "Subversion... is a liberating doubting
(of orders and disorders) of the world..., of certainties of which we are
often full...,  but always with a humorous subtext." Whoever wants, let him
put his sacred cows out to graze or let someone else put them to the
slaughter. Anyhow: "without  revolt there is no poetry, without poetry
there is no revolt."

Let a title which has to be of course concrete be the outcome of further
development. (=ECSacrilege=EE? =ECSpitting on Stars=EE? Etc.)

A. Sacrilege and Desecration of sacrilege
Next resistance as a desire for the impossible. Worthless/worshipped.
Surrealist targets. Spitting on stars. (Does a poet hold stars in contempt
or is he so close to them?). While men of law are composing poetry the poet
is on the beat instead of them "to hit the stars with a truncheon" (Karel
=E4ebek). To get hold of fire under the post-modern cauldron... Between taboo
and objective chance. Promethean theft... Autovivisection: iconoclasm of
surrealism.

B. Surrealist millennium
The =ECNew Old Testament=EE. Modern chiliasm: computer end of the world = the
predicted disaster of computer systems. Imaginary definitions. Analogy: to
the Parisian Surrealist almanac from the middle of the century Surrealist
civilisation (the shift and  contemporary reflections). As if beyond
vision? One thousand years a vision.

C. Symbols of monstrosity II.
Surrealist found objects, confrontation of the development of
civilisation=EDs monstrosity: "How have the monsters grown up so far". From
advertising to motoring, music etc. Base - and fundamental - displays of
society. Displays of an objective imbecility. Ready-mades. Language like a
monster.

The range is undoubtedly heterogeneous in concept (A + C evaluate and
project meaning, B more or less defines itself by genre and at first sight
is indifferent in value). At the same time, for instance, the group C can
contain "sacrilegious" points, the millennium can be "monstrous" etc. This,
in our opinion, can hardly be an obstacle, because the outlined proposal is
more or less  preliminary and hopefully also a tentative one. Is it also
initiatory?

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