Spielmann first worked here as a curator and began to actively think about the concept of the institution, which is regional, in the true sense of the word community, yet has a global reach, already under the leadership of Peter Leo. A certain culmination of his efforts was the construction of the new building, which opened in 1983 – designed by the famous Danish Louisiana architects Vilhelm Wohlert and Jørgen Bo. The flowing space, which is not divided into exterior and interior, naturally incorporates a library with a reading room (its design, incidentally, was by another Central European, Terry Haass), a Forum lectorium, and a café area, a space that is inherently understood as creative, is now a legend in its own right – and the collection Spielmann created here is now receiving its own critical appreciation.
As in the previous case, the initial phase of a key research and education project that the Olomouc Museum of Art will be undertaking in the coming years, in preparation for the opening of SEFO’s new exhibition building, designed by Jan Šépka is now part of the SEFO Triennial. Spielmann’s conception of Central Europe as an integral part of the European cultural tradition, his understanding of the artwork as the final “monument”, and his desire to understand the museum institution as an open platform, as a public space, is an essential impulse for SEFO to rethink its own position and social role. The Kunstmuseum Bochum therefore becomes a key partner of the institution, which will be reflected, among other things, in the work with the permanent exhibitions of both museums. Within the SEFO 2024 Triennial, the Olomouc Century of Relativity will undergo a substantial transformation, and its reinstallation will be accompanied by an archival exhibition accompanied by a pair of original projections and set in the context of Spielmann’s way of thinking. Institution as a monument, personality as a monument, work of art as a monument – Is it time to rethink any (or all) of them? Can they inspire us in any way? Can we do without them at all?
SEFO SPECIAL GUEST: KUNSTMUSEUM BOCHUM
The Kunstmuseum Bochum is thus becoming a key partner for SEFO, which will be reflected, among other things, in the work with the permanent exhibitions of both museums. Within the framework of the SEFO 2024 Triennial, the Olomouc Century of Relativity is substantially transformed – as a different monument of itself. Its activation is due to the inclusion of works by Josef and Anni Albers, Joseph Beyus, Terry Haass, Cornelius Kolig, Herbert Kaufmann, Kazimir Malevich, Louis Nevelson, Serge Poliakoff or Wladyslaw Strzeminski, among others. In addition, Toyen, Josef Šíma, Jiří Hilmar or Terry Haass is returning home.
UNIVERSUM SPIELMANN: PETR SPIELMANN ON THE ROAD BETWEEN BRNO AND BOCHUM
The reinstallation is accompanied by an archival exhibition accompanied by a pair of original film productions, which situates central European art in the context of Spielmann’s philosophy. Through it, we enter the ‘scene of the crime’, Spielmann’s study, his imaginary head, and meet his family, including Oskar and Paul Spielmann, his lifelong friends and role models, including Jan Amos Komenský, Karel Čapek and Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. We become emigrants by choice; our life is a Perec’s puzzle, each piece of which represents a small fortune.
Institution as monument, personality as monument, work as monument – is this the right time to rethink any (or all) of them? Can they inspire us in any way? Or else: Can we do without them?
PETR SPIELMANN
(11 10 1932-29 11 2020)
Art historian, ethnologist, passionate musicologist and collector Petr Spielmann was born in Ústí nad Labem into a cultured German-Jewish family. His father Paul Spielmann was a prominent architect, his uncle Oskar a painter and his great-uncle Otto an actor. After studying art history at Masaryk University in Brno, he worked as the head of the picture gallery of the Brno City Museum and then as a curator at the National Gallery in Prague from 1959 to 1969. In 1969 he accepted an invitation to the Städtische Kunstgalerie Bochum, where he worked first as a lecturer and later as curator of the newly established Central European collection. In 1972 he became its director. His work was awarded, among other things, he received a state decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. From 1975 to 1997 he was a lecturer at universities in Dortmund and Bochum. After his retirement in 1997, he settled in Brno, where he worked at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Brno University of Technology, from 2004 to 2006 as its dean.
Not only during his time in Bochum, Petr Spielmann prepared a number of key exhibitions (Otto Gutfreund, Josef Šíma, Mikuláš Medek, Jan Koblasa, Zbyněk Sekal, Endre Nemes, Lev Nussberg and Dviženie, Cubism and Music, Jan Amos Komenský, Totentanz, etc.). In total, there were three hundred and fifty of them, in most cases accompanied by a catalogue. He was instrumental in founding Kemnade International, an international cultural festival for expats, emigrants and gastarbeiter (1974, still active today). He participated in the creation of the Opus Bonum association and the International Central European Cultural Association. As dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Brno University of Technology, proposed the never realised idea of a Brno art quarter on Husova Street. Petr Spielmann was a visionary living a life ‘in the sign of context’, a complex personality, an emigrant and an intellectual. He was a European systematically opening the ghetto of Central Europe to the world, and vice versa.
Exhibited authors
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Inge Spielmann, Hans Gunter Golinski, Ivo Habán, Sepp Hiekisch-Picard, Peter Kropp, Karl Heinz Schneiders, David Voda, Jana Vránová
CURATOR: Barbora Kundračíková
COOPERATION: Özlem Arslan, Štěpánka Bieleszová, Ladislav Daněk, Noor Mertens, Gina Renotiere, Julia Zajackowska
ACHITECTONICAL DESIGN: Barbora Bělunková, Peter Kropp
INSTALLATION: Filip Šindelář, Daniel Opletal, Vlastimil Sedláček
CONSERVATION: Anna Píšt’ková, Toby Pospíšilů
GRAPHIC DESIGN: Publicum Design, Petr Šmalec
EDUCATION: David Hrbek, Denisa Tessenyi
PR: Lukáš Horák, Tomáš Kasal
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Inge Spielmann, Hans Gunter Golinski, Ivo Habán, Sepp Hiekisch-Picard, Peter Kropp, Karl Heinz Schneiders, David Voda, Jana Vránová
CURATOR: Barbora Kundračíková
COOPERATION: Özlem Arslan, Štěpánka Bieleszová, Ladislav Daněk, Noor Mertens, Gina Renotiere, Julia Zajackowska
ACHITECTONICAL DESIGN: Barbora Bělunková, Peter Kropp
INSTALLATION: Filip Šindelář, Daniel Opletal, Vlastimil Sedláček
CONSERVATION: Anna Píšt’ková, Toby Pospíšilů
GRAPHIC DESIGN: Publicum Design, Petr Šmalec
EDUCATION: David Hrbek, Denisa Tessenyi
PR: Lukáš Horák, Tomáš Kasal
SEFO triennial 2024 / Olomouc 1990-2020 project was created on the basis of institutional support for the long-term conceptual development of a research organization provided by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.
The publication was funded by the Programme for the Support of Applied Research in the Field of National and Cultural Identity for the Years 2023-2030 (NAKI III) of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic within the project “Olomouc in 3D – a new dimension of the cultural heritage of the city: past, present, future” (DH23P03OVV018).
Supported by the Czech-German Future Fund.
SEFO triennial 2024 / Olomouc 1990-2020 project was created on the basis of institutional support for the long-term conceptual development of a research organization provided by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.
The publication was funded by the Programme for the Support of Applied Research in the Field of National and Cultural Identity for the Years 2023-2030 (NAKI III) of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic within the project “Olomouc in 3D – a new dimension of the cultural heritage of the city: past, present, future” (DH23P03OVV018).
Supported by the Czech-German Future Fund.