Who are Ztohoven?
Ztohoven are a collective of artists in
the Czech Republic. The group’s name ‘Ztohoven’ translates to both ‘The way
out’ and ‘The hundred shits’, aptly communicating the tone that runs throughout
their work. Quoting Ztohoven figurehead Roman Tyc, Michael Kimmelman of the New
York Times has argued that the group possesses a typical Czech approach to
politics and even dissent: “Because of the past, Austria, communism, fascism,
someone always stepping on our necks, we have had no choice except to Svejk
around” (Kimmelman, 2008). The ‘Svejk’ Roman Tyc speaks of is a folk hero who
represents the jocular behaviour of Czechs when confronted with attack or
oppression. Ztohoven incorporate humour and satire into all their works, an
approach that garners much support.
Commenting on Ztohoven’s piece
The
Media Reality
, Kimmelman observes such a reaction by the public, claiming
“it drew a mild, tolerant, even amused public response, in contrast to how
terrorism-related pranks, or what might seem like them, have been widely
greeted elsewhere” (Kimmelman, 2008). Ztohoven tread a line between political
activism and art that is difficult to distinguish. Individual issues are
pursued, similar to past dissents like Charter 77.
[1]
Peter Zikla, a current member of Ztohoven, summarised the group’s politics as
follows: “We do not indicate our point of view (...) we try to pose good
questions, to hold up a mirror to society so that there’s the possibility of
seeing reality from a different angle and, consequently, having a debate about
it.” (Infoshop News, 2013)
By doing this the group share
methodological similarities with the approach advocated in Vaclav Havel's
The
Power of the Powerless
(1978).
Havel, former Charter 77 dissident and later first President of the
Czech Republic, argues for the pursuit of individual issues to draw attention
to existing government shortcomings (Havel, 1978). Esther Belvis Pons of
Performa Magazine also interprets Ztohoven’s actions as exploiting public
spaces and using these to interact with society, a strategy
also prominent within contemporary art:
“The politics of contemporary art navigates through the spaces that construct
the social, and as Ztohoven pointed out, for them these are: the institutional
space, the public space and media space. Contemporary artists find in the
bordering and unexplored spaces a position from which they can temporarily
trigger action; an action that can be politically ambiguous too” (Pons, 2013).
The group use humour in order to both
escape and critique problems in society. This echoes the tradition of prominent
dissidents like Egon Bondy
[2]
who used
vulgarity or absurdity to satirise the state.
Ztohoven’s practice of ‘culture
jamming’, in which they manipulate and change the meaning of objects in the
public sphere, also replicates this tradition. Roman Tyc’s traffic light
project, in which he changed traffic light bulbs, portraying amusing or
satirical images (see Figure 1), is one example of culture jamming used by the
group:
Figure
1
Roman Tyc’s traffic lights, 2007
Ztohoven can also be situated within a
broader trend of contemporary art, namely it is so-called 'social turn'. The
group's focus on inclusive, social and public art makes them an ideal example.
This is particularly true when one considers the intention of Ztohoven's pieces
- to generate collective interaction and dialogue through art, Claire Bishop
(2006) explains this apparent characteristic of contemporary art's social turn,
“the creative energy of participatory practices rehumanizes – or at least
de-alienates – a society”. Furthermore, the groups valuing of the political
alongside the importance of engagement outside galleries and conventional
artistic spaces places them within this broader dynamic trend.
This 'social turn' has received
intensified attention in recent years. Events such as the 7
th
Berlin
Bienalle;
The Truth Is Concrete
marathon symposium in Austria;
Disobedient
Objects
at the Victoria and Albert or on a smaller scale,
The Politics
of the Social in Contemporary Art
event at the Tate Modern are all examples
of newly fostered interest regarding art and protest. During the 7
th
Berlin Bienalle members of the Occupy movement
[3]
,
amongst others, used the festival to demonstrate protest strategies and
techniques with contemporaries.
Equally this self-proclaimed purpose of
The
Truth is Concrete
communicates a consensus with Ztohoven:
"Truth is concrete" brought together art that not only represents and
documents, but that
engages in
specific political and social situations – and activism that not only acts for
the sake of acting but searches for intelligent, creative means of
self-empowerment." (Die Wahrheit Ist Konkret, 2012). Thus, Ztohoven can be
located somewhat within a dynamic movement in contemporary art and social
practice that intends to challenge and shape political discourse. This is very
much why Ztohoven can be considered dissidents for the modern world.
Ztohoven: Modern Dissidents?
Ztohoven's public statements and
artistic pieces convey a distinct strategy of appealing towards ‘common sense’
ideals, sharing similarities with the concept of ‘Primitivism’
[4]
championed
by the Czech musical dissident movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Examples
include Ztohoven's
Citizen K
and
Subconsci-ous Raped
[5]
.
Furthermore, Ztohoven's actions can be
interpreted as tackling the same issues dissidents have often sought out. This
largely pertains to the control of information. Ztohoven attempt to satirise
the prevailing ideology of the status quo and by doing so, highlight its
disingenuous nature. Jiri Rak, a prominent Czech historian, describes
Ztohoven’s impact and methodology thus: “When people make fun of something,
they are making themselves free of it”. He continued: “[t]hat’s the condition
of the small nation. It’s a defence for everyone today in the globalized world
[…] I think the goal of Czech mystification is to show us that we live in a
world continually mystifying us — the politicians, the advertisers […] Thank
God for Ztohoven.” (Kimmelman, 2008).
Thus, in the eyes of Rak one can see
the group's cause to “demystify” modern Czech life is very much the same aim of
any dissident group - to communicate a different reality to the current order
and through this produce critical dialogue.
Ztohoven's combination of humour and
protest shares much with previous peaceful protests of the Czech people. Specifically,
it shares similarities with the actions of unarmed protesters presenting
flowers to police officers prior to the 1989 revolution, and, perhaps more
acutely, the protest of
students
running up and down Politických vězňů
[6]
in a row, intending to cause nothing more than a situation of disorder for the
Communist authorities. Ztohoven’s
The Media Reality
[7]
reflects
this act of non-violently challenging the status quo to provoke debate or to
simply shake people “from their lethargy”. (Kimmelman, 2008)
Despite the hugely different political
circumstances, the issues of a citizenry trapped by political inertia combined
with a widely perceived moral and democratic deficit amongst the economic and
political powers-that-be are still at the centre of Czech life. In this sense
Ztohoven can be viewed as the dissident by-product of the modern Czech Republic
which, although critiquing a new form of authority, fulfils the role of past
Czech dissidents in a new era. Contemporary parallels to Ztohoven elsewhere can
be identified in the Yes Men and the Critical Art Ensemble, conveying how this
development is not unique to the Czech Republic. The Yes Men disguise
themselves as figures of the establishment (called “identity correction”), a
form of culture-jamming, and use this to satirise governments and figures of
authority.
The core aim of these actions, similar
to Ztohoven, is to highlight their role in dehumanising the public and provoke
greater critical judgement towards governments. Equally, the Critical Art Ensemble
focuses around the use of technology to provide visceral illustrations of how
government actions have harmed people all over the world. This emphasis on
criticising government actions, whilst focusing on technology and primarily
media to communicate these injustices is also a key aspect of Ztohoven's works,
which quite possibly drew inspiration from the Critical Art Ensemble.
These other instances of dissenting art
collectives convey how Ztohoven are a Czech embodiment of a more widespread
movement. This strengthens the claim that Ztohoven are modern dissidents,
acting within a wider trend in art to engage with current political phenomena.
Czech dissidents of the past also had counterparts across Communist Europe such
as the Orange Alternative movement in Poland who also used art, inspired by
Dadaism and Surrealism, to challenge Government authorities. (Pomaranczowa
Alternatywa, 2004). With these points in mind the works of Ztohoven can now be
analysed to further illustrate their similarities with dissidents of previous
decades.
The Moral Reform
Ztohoven’s most recent piece,
The
Moral Reform
has a distinct resonance with the Czech tradition of dissent
and likewise shares an undeniably humorous and ingenious method. The group
impersonated members of the Czech parliament via text messages, sending them to
various politicians during the hearing of a Czech politician being indicted for
corruption. The messages advocate a reintroduction of morals back in to
politics and an end to corruption: “Let's separate politics from business.”;
“Somebody must step out of the circle of corruption and say: ENOUGH!”
(Ztohoven, N. D.).
These messages aimed to contrast the
political elite’s own accepted principles
with
their actions, a tactic used by Czech dissidents in Charter 77.
[8]
Vaclav
Havel in
The Power of the Powerless
(1978) also argued that by appealing
to laws and principles the state claims to advocate one can turn the state
against itself, achieving incremental if minor victories. Clearly this piece
was hoping to create a discourse between Czech politicians and the general
public: “The installation at the DOX published the telephone numbers of Czech
government officials, including the President, alongside a cell phone that
allowed members of the public to send text messages directly from the
exhibition space.” (Infoshop News, 2013). This was also attempted by dissidents
with Charter 77 and the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Persecuted
[9]
. In both
cases these actions served to bring the legitimacy of their respective
governments in to question, namely because the addressed politicians resisted
opening a meaningful dialogue. This shows an important similarity in both
Ztohoven's and past dissident's aims and outcomes, primarily to question the
validity of authority when it behaves contrary to its self-proclaimed
principles.
The Media Reality
In this earlier action Ztohoven
distorted the accuracy of mainstream news by hacking an aerial in the Krkonose
Mountains on June 17, 2007 and superimposing a nuclear mushroom cloud over the
usual image of the mountains:
Figure
2
The Media Reality (2007)
The broadcast did however include the
Ztohoven webpage address along the bottom of the screen. This reinforces the
argument that they should not be considered simply as political agitators and
instead perceived as jestful artists. Importantly this conveys a divergence
between Ztohoven and dissidents of the past, namely that Communist-era dissidents
were considered a direct threat to the stability of the state. Nonetheless both
used controversy and humour and neither threatened violent action, thus the
only real difference is how Ztohoven are perceived. Of course this is a
malleable characteristic which is subject to change, as was the perception of
past Czech dissidents in relation to the geo-political landscape of Communist
Czechoslovakia.
Ztohoven's stunt raised an important
question regarding the fallibility of mainstream media, a key source of
influence in the modern Czech state. Ztohoven stated their intentions as such:
“Our aim is not to intimidate society or manipulate it, which is something we
witness on a daily basis both in the real world and that created by the media.
On June 17 2007, [we] attacked the space of TV broadcasting, distorting it,
questioning its truthfulness and its credibility.” (Spiegel, 2008) Looking at
this statement, including the accolades received from the Czech National
Gallery, it is clear that the group's action reflected an anxiety amongst many
members of the national art intelligentsia. This, coupled with the latent
humour of the project, provided Ztohoven with a degree of flexibility that was
surprisingly reciprocated by the Czech legal system as their criminal charges
were eventually dismissed. Kimmelman reflected similar sentiments regarding the
public response to
The Media Reality
: “Hardly anyone here seems to want
Ztohoven to receive more than a legal slap on the wrist (...) Neither have
fellow artists protested the trial in the streets, nor made a freedom of speech
issue out of it.” (Kimmelman, 2008)
An important point of comparison is
also thrown into relief by Kimmelman's assertion that other artists were not
protesting in the streets. This highlights an important difference between
Ztohoven and past dissidents. Ztohoven act autonomously and have not inspired
collective action as did groups like the Plastic People of the Universe or
DG307
[10]
.
One consideration as to why the
individualistic nature of modern capitalist societies is reflected in its
protest and art. Equally the fact that society now has no single centralised
power structure to agitate against also adds to this explanation. Nonetheless
the popularity of the group does convey there is a collective element to the
group's works.
It could be that the
experience of protest has become more individualised, or even intellectualised
today, entailing less demand for more straight-forward displays of physical presence.
The question mark above Prague Castle
Ztohoven’s
first public installation,
The Question Mark above Prague Castle,
shows
Ztohoven actively engaging with questions created by the legacy of dissidents.
In this intervention, a giant neon heart, which was attached to Prague castle
on Havel’s request, was modified by Ztohoven to present a question mark
coinciding with the end of Havel’s presidency. Significant debate was provoked
regarding the meaning of this action, however in its simplest interpretation it
is asking the question ‘what is next?’
Arguably this was intended to spark
scrutiny over how, or if, Havel’s legacy would be continued. Ztohoven's
statement on their official page accompanying the work echoes this sentiment,
raising the issue of how a 'sentient' stepping down from power raises questions
about the future of 'the Czech throne' and the path Czech society will follow.
(Ztohoven, N.D.)
Figure
3
The question mark above Prague Castle (2003)
Jana Kománková's comments from Ztohoven
confirm that Havel himself approved of the act: “We felt that a question mark
would much better express those times, so we covered half of the heart. The
cops came and wanted to intervene (...) Havel said that if this was supposed to
spark a reason for a general discussion about the nature of the public sphere,
then it’s ok.” (Kománková, 2011)
Thus, with the outgoing President Havel
giving permission to Ztohoven's stunt the shared value of discussion and
questioning of the public sphere conveys directly the comparable qualities of
dissidents old and new.
Citizen K
The final piece of Ztohoven’s work that
I will be investigating is
Citizen K
: a film examining identity in the
Czech Republic. Via the use of facial morphing software the group obtained
identification cards using another member's name; lived under this false
identity for 6 months; participated in elections; travelled abroad; gained a
gun licence and even got married.
Figure
4
Promotional picture for Citizen K (2010)
This piece addresses perceived deficits
in modern society regarding identity and the dehumanisation of citizens by
modern bureaucracy. Ztohoven's accompanying statement on their official webpage
reads as follows: “For all of us I entered the places that others fear to enter
and perceived the vanity, the absurdity of obedience. How frail and how easily
abused is that which should serve us. We are not numbers, we are not biometric
data (...) If we do not wish to fear our own face, we must save it!” (Ztohoven,
N. D.) Again, Ztohoven exploit the state’s own mechanisms, highlighting the
absurdity and irrationality of its processes to satirise it. By doing so they
escape, if only temporarily, the absurdity of these processes. This reflection
expressed in an article on the London Czech Centre website arguably achieves
the mindset Ztohoven were hoping to produce: “Each of us is individually
responsible for our privacy, and we shouldn’t let anyone manipulate us into a
position we don’t want to be in.”
(London Czechcentre, 2013)
It can thus be observed that Ztohoven employ a form of absurdity to discredit
how the Czech state quantifies its citizens. This follows from the strategies
of those opposed to the perceived absurdity of the Communist state, which was
for this reason subject to constant absurdist jibes by Czech academics and
artists, who also had relative disregard for the legal consequences they might
incur for their behaviour.
Conclusion
The actions and statements made by the
Ztohoven collective provide evidence that the group owes great inspiration from
the dissident movements of Czechs throughout the era of Communism. The use of
humour, vulgarity, single-issue and ‘apolitical’ campaigning is something
continued today by Ztohoven, but initially founded in the dissident movements
of the Prague Spring and beyond. Battling against injustice, using public
spaces to challenge the status quo and educate the public, are all central to
Ztohoven's actions. Inverting the state's mechanisms to achieve protest follows
a distinct line tracing back to the Communist era whilst creating controversy
at the risk of arrest and even imprisonment shows a self-sacrifice not
dissimilar to dissidents of the past. Appealing to common-sense ideals and
attempting to demystify the flow of information conveyed to the public by
governments and corporations shows a similar struggle to all dissident
movements in trying to convey a differing reality and thus provoke critical
judgement and change. Despite huge changes in the political, social and
economic landscape of the Czech Republic, issues of public oppression,
psychological and ideological control, and the ongoing attempt to achieve a
“moral reconstitution of society” (Havel, 1990) are still issues that have
transcended the Communist era. These have been pursued via ever developing and
ingenious means by Ztohoven, who are the contemporary embodiment of
Communist-era dissidents.