The exhibition The Eighties: Signal IV, on view at the Telegraph Gallery until March 20, traces the artistic manifestations of the 1980s. At the time, the most important artistic endeavours were taking place outside the official scene. The visual language of selected artists responded to social pressures and global impulses, and new approaches to the medium of image, object and performance were taking shape. Through articles on specific works and artists, we also want to bring the atmosphere and cultural context of this time into focus.
This series of published texts is divided into two thematic areas, allowing you to view the exhibition from different perspectives with new contexts. The first part of the series focuses on the broader context of the 1980s and the exhibition itself. The authors of these texts are the exhibition curator Pavla Kosař, the curator of the Robert Runták Collection Jan Kudrna and the art historian Václav Hájek. Thanks to their expert insight, the texts offer insight into the artistic strategies of this decade, the relationship between the official and unofficial scene, and the ways in which artists of the time coped with the reality of the time. The next section focuses on specific artists and their works represented in the Signal IV exhibition, their work and their significance within the contemporary and contemporary scene.
Václav Hájek: The Invisible Eighties
Milan Knížák's Neospoerri / Martin Vaněk
Alena Kučerová's Three Trees / Václav Hájek
Photographs by Tomáš Ruller / František Šmejkal
Drawings by Aleš Veselý / Martina Mrázová
Birth-moths of Petr Nikl / Inka Ličková
Malby Michaela Rittstein / Martina Bartonová
