Tags: art | Czech Republic | exhibition

Never before was such a total-concept contemporary art project been permitted to exist in a gallery of this high caliber and organizers expect their action to affect how contemporary art and culture are presented for the foreseeable future.

"We are presenting this project as a prototype for the future," says curator Marek Schovanek. "We aimed to change the way galleries present art, and the type of art presented." Live, live, live. Live art. Live installation. Live performances. Live laser and video. Live concerts. Live music. Live sets. Live DJing. Live Video DJing. Live fire shows. Live projections. Live Internet broadcast. Live. Alive. Living. An international group of artists working together for two weeks and created a collaborative installation, transforming the space - inside the gallery and outside on Zofin island - into a totally new environment. Most enjoyable was the video projections, laser lights and performances.

Using sand, dead trees, scaffolding, paper and plastic combined with technology, artists Marek Schovanek (CZ-CAN), Florian Langmaack (D), Damian Loboda (P), Wolfgang Spahn (A), Bastiaan Maris (NL), Francois Giovangigli (F), Pete Missing (USA), and Manfred Moorkamp (D) built an installation created solely for the time and space in which it exists.

And then the audio-visual component of the exhibition began with the merger of contemporary art and current culture. The apex of the exhibition was an eclectic dance party on July 23, featuring some of Europe's best DJs, video artists and performers. Bring the noise! The party started at 17:00 July 23 and ran for to 18 hours on two sound systems - one inside Manes and the other outside on the island of Zofin.

Entrance was free for the first 100 people before 18:00, and there was a huge throng! The music spanned the spectrum of modern electronic music, and included DJs Eggman (Berlin - electro break beats), Jason Pussypower (Prague, Technical Support - hard house), Dynamix DJs Ix in da Mix and Meltdown Mickey (Europe - techno), Joystick (Paris, Impakt Teknocrates - house and techno), Kraft (Paris, Impakt Teknocrates - hard house and techno), and Jan Radio Nord (Berlin - drum & bass) with Anne Key playing violin.

Paris' Joystick (formerly of Furious) and Kraft played the Roxy Club earlier this year and this time they are on tour promoting the September Paris Techno Parade. Dynamix DJ Ixxy of Spiral Tribe fame played a live techno set, and Berlin's F. P. F. Rampazzo contributed a laser light show performance and live video projections. Another highlight of the night was a live video "scratchworks" by Israeli video artist Ron Kazir and Berlin's Safy Assaf Etiel.

Simultaneously using four monitors and over 200 video samples, Ron and Safy improvised their performance in reaction to the music and the situation. Like a DJ scratching a record, they manipulate laser-disks to produce loops that repeat and move an image back and forth, or slow it down and speed it up. Combined, the two artists have collected thousands of hours of video footage, and draw their images from a range of sources including television programs and commercials, news broadcasts, children's cartoons, old and new films, and documentary works.

Using diesel-fueled rockets and constructions powered by steam, Holland's Bastiaan Maris created a live industrial sound installation outside on the island, the sound from which resonated throughout Prague 1, adding another layer to the music. Performances also took place by Florian Langmaack and Pete Missing.

Both the opening of the exhibition and the July 23 party were broadcast live on the Internet via the MANIFEST Web site at www.manifestinternational.org. The exhibition 1999 Beyond Art opened with a Vernissage on Thursday, July 22. The four-hour opening featured an industrial sound performance by Bastiaan Maris, a tribal improv percussion concert by Mahatok, a concert by Aftermath db and performances by Florian Langmaack and Martin Passler, an audio-visual circus and a live video "scratchworks" performance by Ron Kazir and Safy Assaf Etiel. The Vernissage opened to the public from 18:00 to 22:00 and entrance was free.

Manes is located at Masarykovo nabrezi 250, Praha 1. The gallery is open daily except Monday from 10:00 to 18:00. 1999 Beyond Art was the second project orchestrated by MANIFEST, a Prague-based civic association supporting contemporary art and culture. MANIFEST burst onto Prague's art scene in April 1999 with The Last Underground - Art at the End of the Millennium, an international group exhibition of contemporary art.

With The Last Underground, the artists and organizers renovated a decrepit space above the Roxy club in order to house the art. This time, the gallery exists and the art were made to fit it.