Viktor Karlík: LITERATURE / LITERATURE

Publication for the exhibition of the same name in DOX, which contains sculptures and objects by Viktor Karlík from 2012–2019. Accompanying texts by Petr Jindra, Michael Špirit and Marek Vajchr.

The LITERATURE book does not contain my texts. It contains certain art works of mine related to literature as part of culture and inspired by personalities and works of various other authors. / The book LITERATURE doesn't contain my own texts. It contains certain art works of mine linked to literature as a part of culture, or inspired by the personality and work of various authors.
– Viktor Karlík

However, quotations are in the minority in LITERATURE, and Karlík's preoccupation with verbal works of art manifests itself in many other directions. We could tentatively structure them from the modeling of "spatial" monograms, in the initials of which the author's personal relationship to the work of the given writer is apparently hidden (...), to an acronym that summarizes and critically expresses the ongoing meaning of the literary work in one sculpture. / However, in LITERATURE, quotations are in the minority and Karlík's interest for literary works of art manifests itself in many different ways. We could provisionally classify them going from the modeling of "spatial" monograms whose initials seem to conceal the artist's personal relationship to the given writer's work (...) to shortenings summarizing and critically expressing the occurring meaning of the literary work.
– Michael Spirit

Expressed simply and figuratively, if we consider Duchamp as the axis of development of avant-garde art, Viktor Karlík's LITERATURE uses Duchamp's instrumentation not progressively, towards an ad hoc conceptualization of an artistic statement following its own gesture, which was vehemently taken up by subsequent generations, but regressively, back from this Duchamp "catastrophic offspring" to Duchamp's content-poetic starting points - to Mallarmé. / In a simplified and figurative way, if we consider Duchamp as the axis of avant-garde art's evolution, Viktor Karlík's LITERATURE is using Duchamp's set of tools not in a progressive way, towards an ad hoc conceptualisation of the artistic expression following its own gesture – which has been the path vehemently taken by generations that followed –, but regressively, back from Duchamp's “catastrophic progeny” to Duchamp's content-poetic starting points – to Mallarmé.
– Peter Jindra

Thanks to Viktor Karlík's LITERATURE, we can realize with full urgency that literature is far from written off and has long since said the last word. / Thanks to Viktor Karlík's LITERATURE, we can realize that literature isn't written off yet and hasn't said its last word at all.
– Marek Vajchr