The Phenomenon of the Paper and Book Atelier

The Phenomenon of the Paper and Book Atelier
Artists’ Books and Objects by J. H. Kocman’s Students

24/11/2016 – 26/2/2017
MUSEUM OF MODERN ART | SALON, CABINET 

The exhibition of works by graduates of the Paper and Book Atelier, which covers its activity at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Technical University in Brno from 1998 to 2011, presents works of art as well as demonstrates the prolonged interest of this institution in artists’ books and work on paper in general.

The carefully selected collection of works introduces the visitor to unique and original examples of approach to books and their principal material – paper. The courage and effort at developing an interdisciplinary platform linked with conceptual thought, in which the relations between the medium of paper and the book as author’s object are examined, is in this country bound with the name of J. H. Kocman. His teaching and artistic activities in the Paper and Book Atelier, which he founded at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Technical University in Brno, during its existence has produced unprecedented achievements. Both in Czech and in European context J. H. Kocman is one of the most significant representatives of conceptual art, closely linked with the so-called Brno Circle. In the 1970s his attention shifted to the medium of paper. After a thorough study of the technology of production and restoration of paper and bookbinding he achieved in the sphere of artists’ books original results. He has contributed to paper and book becoming in the Czech lands respected artistic disciplines.

The Olomouc exhibition shows the important role of the atelier in the history of the artists’s book. That is why the visitor will find here, in addition to the artist’s paper and artists’ books the books-objects or paper-art objects and installations by almost thirty former students and graduates, as well as by J. H. Kocman himself. You can share the artistic fascination and inspiration by the medium of paper and the object of the book. Although the atelier was abolished five years ago, its graduates continue in drawing their professional quality from its work. The exhibition and its large catalogue evoke the still living memories of the unrepeatable atmosphere of the atelier and its head, the exacting teacher and artist, J. H. Kocman. Thus among the exhibitions held in the Olomouc Museum of Art this is nothing less than another reminder of the vitality of the book as the most important carrier of knowledge developed since the Antiquity to the present days.