Golem, Schwejk and „K“ (Kafka). A critical history of ideas of Czech modernism

Lecture by art historian and art theorist Dr. Miroslav Haľák from the Belvedere Gallery in Vienna

Even the exhibition Hej rup! The Czech Avant-Garde at the Bröhan Museum cannot end without mentioning Franz Kafka, the 100th anniversary of whose death will be celebrated in 2024. In his lecture, art historian and art theorist Dr. Miroslav Haľák from the Belvedere Gallery in Vienna will explore the question of which factors integrate Franz Kafka and his work into the organism of global and especially Czech modernism.

In particular, he will analyze the problems of the perception of time and the concept of space. For Prague as the scene of the most progressive European art movements can only be understood from a heterotopic perspective and modernism, in which Franz Kafka can be epochally classified, can only be analyzed as a heterochronic phenomenon.

Dr. Miroslav Haľák is an art historian and theorist. He completed his doctorate with a thesis on the theory and typology of anthropomorphism in modern art. He has been working at the Austrian Belvedere Gallery in Vienna since 2017. In addition to 19th and 20th century art, his research focuses on image semiotics, psychological aesthetics, image anthropology, Byzantine image theology and current image studies in the field of the so-called digital humanities. Miroslav Haľák has curated exhibitions on both classical modernism and various positions in contemporary art. In the show Johanna Kandl. Material. Womit gemalt wird und warum (Belvedere, Vienna 2019-20), he explored the theory of the material turn as a paradigm shift in the use of materials in current trends in art and visual communication. In the exhibition GROW. The Tree in Art (Belvedere, Vienna 2022-23), he attempted to create a categorization of tree representations in art. In the exhibition by Alois Mosbacher entitled Palinops (Belvedere, Vienna 2023), which he curated, he explored a specific question of spatial design and spatial perception in postmodern painting in his text.

• Free admission, registration not required, limited number of participants

• Visitors to the event have free admission to the exhibition from 17:00 to 18:00

Organized by the Czech Centre and the Bröhan Museum as part of the accompanying programme to the exhibition Hej rup! The Czech Avant-Garde