Central Europe Ghetto

Petr Spielmann between Brno and Bochum

Initially working as a curator under the guidance of his predecessor Peter Lea, Spielmann actively developed the institution’s concept, which, while regional and truly community-oriented, also had a global reach. His efforts culminated in the founding of the “festival of foreigners”, Kemnade International in 1974, and the opening of a new museum building in 1983, designed by the architects of the famous Danish Louisiana, Vilhelm Wohlert and Jørgen Bo. The seamless space, which does not distinguish between external and internal, public and private, naturally incorporates areas for study and contemplation, a library with a study room (designed by another Central European, Terry Haass), the Forum social hall, and spaces for active entertainment. This space, fundamentally understood as creative, is a legend in itself. The collection that Spielmann and his colleagues assembled is only now receiving critical appraisal.

As was the case with the first edition of the SEFO Triennial (2021), the current edition also includes a historical probe that provides a solid foundation for contemporary progressive creation and serves as an impulse for launching a new research and educational project that the Olomouc Museum of Art will address in the coming years in preparation for the opening of a new exhibition building of the Central European Forum, designed by Jan Šépka. The programme dedicated to research into the regional new media culture, CEAD: New Media Museums, alternates with reflections on institutional policy and collection-building practices. Spielmann’s concept of Central Europe as an integral part of the European cultural tradition, his understanding of the artistic work as the final “monument”, and his effort to develop the museum institution as an open platform and public space provide SEFO with a stimulus to reflect on its own position and social role.

Kunstmuseum Bochum has become a key partner for SEFO, which is reflected, among other things, in the work with the permanent exhibitions of both museums. Within the SEFO 2024 Triennial, Olomouc’s Century of Relativity – another monument about itself – is significantly transformed by incorporating works by Josef and Anni Albers, Joseph Beuys, Terry Haass, Cornelius Kolig, Herbert Kaufmann, Kazimir Malevich, Louise Nevelson, Serge Poliakoff, and Wladyslaw Strzeminski. Furthermore, works by Toyen, Josef Šíma, Jiří Hilmar, and Terry Haass “are returning home”.

This reinstallation is accompanied by an archival exhibition enhanced with a pair of authorial projections. Through it, we enter “the scene of the action”, into Spielmannʼs office, into his proverbial head, and get acquainted with his family, including Oskar and Paul Spielmann, and his lifelong friends and role models, among whom are Jan Amos Comenius, Karel Čapek, and Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. We become emigrants by choice, our life a puzzle of Perec, each piece representing a small fortune.

Institutions as monuments, personalities as monuments, works as monuments – is it time to reevaluate one or all of them? Can they be anything but inspirational for us? Or alternatively, can we manage without them at all?