Jana Želibská

The Czechoslovak artist Jana Želibská belongs to a generation that interrogated the social, gender and political changes of its time through the medium of art. Her arrival on the art scene in the 1960s involved a confrontation with the crucial events of the 20th century, namely communism in stark antithesis to the growing capitalism of the West, accompanied by a struggle for more equality of status between the sexes.

Želibská was born in Olomouc during the Second World War and was to an extent predestined to be an artist. Her mother Mária was a graphic designer and her father, the painter Ján Želibský, lectured for several years at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. When Želibská was eleven years old her father became rector of the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Bratislava. Seven year later (and four years after her father stepped down from his post), Želibská began her studies at the same institution under the leadership of Vincent Hložník and Peter Matejka. A turning point, both in her life and that of the nation, came in 1968, when she received a grant to study in Paris. She observed the events taking place in Czechoslovakia from abroad, but also followed global events that she had always had a keen interest in. She familiarised herself with the French art scene, characterised by its progressive approach and poetism. New realism was all the rage at that time, which in its late form adopted elements of pop art. Želibská is often classified amongst French neo-realists and remained in contact with that community, revisiting France on many occasions.

She was later on ranked amongst the important pop artists operating outside the Anglo-American mainstream at the exhibition The World Goes Pop, organised in 2015 by Tate Modern. Here she exhibited Kandariya – Mahadeva, which she created a year after her residency in Paris. The title refers to an Indian palace from the 11th century and to Hindu tantric rituals with erotic overtones. The installation includes several oversized, stylised female figures rendered in a rich pink. The diamond-shaped or oval opening in the groin area is linked by a pinkish-white garland of paper flowers, which also frames an image. The original installation was shown at the Václav Špála Gallery on the instigation of Jindřich Chalupecký. It was originally planned to spill out onto the pavement and street, by means of a rectangular banner folded on each side from twelve smaller styles silhouettes of female bodies. However, given the explicitly sexual subtext and the political situation at that time, this part of the show was not permitted. The work remains a milestone in Želibská’s work, with its multilayered character and themes typical of her work. The silhouettes resemble pop-culture dancers with flowers heralding the era of flower power and free love.

Kandariya – Mahadeva was also deemed a proto-feminist work critiquing the patriarchy, making its narrative highly topical. Given the original idea of intervening in public space, we can also speak of a relationship with land art, even though this was not intended as a transformation of nature but an intervention in the urban landscape that would have been unexpected, adventurous and courageous for its time. It was intended to disrupt the customary order of things, reveal in an unexpected way (human) nature and offer a new perspective on the quotidian in a similar way to several later works linked directly with land art. In general it is also a good example of Želibská’s pioneering tendencies and her fearlessness when exploring new directions.

At the end of the 1960s Želibská turned her gaze to landscape, object and performance. Her work continued to be characterised by bold provocation examining the boundaries of intimacy and innovative concepts of individual genres. As well as actions in nature, she brought an artificial landscape into the space of a museum. A good example of all these qualities is to be seen in Chuť rája / A Taste of Paradise from 1973. The installation at the Prague Biennale included a tree with an unattainable golden apple combined with real fruits that the viewer could taste. The scene referring to the original sin was accompanied by birdsong.

Želibská continued to explore new artistic genres, focusing on conceptual art, the postmodern object and, during the 1990s, video art. At the end of 2012 her solo exhibition Zákaz dotyku / No Touching was opened at the Slovak National Gallery, a tribute to her contribution to both the Slovak and international art scene. In 2017 her installation Labutia pieseň teraz / Swan Song Now filled the Czechoslovak pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale, in which Želibská created a visually catchy multimedia spectacle. It was dominated by a projection of the sea shot in Venice itself and a glowing swan acting as a readymade garden decoration, a gilded piece of wood leaning against a wall that had been washed up from the Danube, and a video capturing the meditative poses of a girl-child-woman. In one of the last examples of her work she confirmed her ability to combine genres and themes, as well as her ability to oscillate between absurdity, humour and exaggeration, without losing any of the visually effective aspect of work that, despite its immediate and evident appeal, was not afraid to induce restlessness and remind us of the primordial themes of life.

Happeningy, Performance: 1998
Ona=on?, performance, Synagóga - At Home Gallery, Šamorín, SK 1996
Posolstvo, performance, Synagóga - centrum súčasného umenia, Galéria Jána Koniarka, Trnava, SK
Posolstvo II., performance, International festival of Action art and performance, Serpens, Prague, CZ 1995
Láska - Rozum, performance, Synagogue on Palmovka, Prague, CZ
Láska - Rozum, performance, Transart Communication Festival, Študio erté, Nové Zámky, SK 1993
Krajina v krajine, performance, Borinka, SK 1991
Oživenie kameňa, event, Borinka, SK 1984
Znak - jeho vznik a rozpad, event, participation on Terén IV., spring 1984. Surroundings of Bratislava, SK 1983
Ona-nymfa - prenesená do "Terénu" okolia Bratislavy, event, participation on Terén III., autumn 1983. Surroundings of Bratislava, SK 1982
Premeny II. (Dievčatá), event, participation on Terén I., summer 1982. Borinka, SK 1981
Hľadanie a nájdenie strateného, event, place without name, surroundngs of Bratislava, SK Tráva zobratá z miesta A rastie na mieste B v určenom tvare, event, Bratislava and its surroundings.
Premeny I. (Labute), event, Senec, SK 1980
Malá módna prehliadka (Soirée I.), performance, Bratislava, SK 1977
Príhoda na brehu jazera, event, Bratislava-Čunovo, SK 1975
Symposion II. - Zmrazená informácia. Participation on the collective event Nezverejnenie umeleckých diel, Kačín, Malé Karpaty, SK 1974
Kus zeme, event in the nature, Nízke Tatry, SK
10 dní s Afroditou, concept, Paphos, CY 1972
Oslava slnka, concept, beaches of Varna - Zlaté Piesky, BG 1971
Stanica u Želibáčky, event in the nature, participation on the happening of A. Mlynárčik Deň hier/"keby všetky vlaky sveta...", Zakamenné, SK
Toaletný papier - Možnosť použitia po guláši, event in the nature, participation on the happening of A. Mlynárčik Deň hier/"keby všetky vlaky sveta...". Music: M. Adamčiak, R. Cyprich. Zakamenné, SK
Cena najkrajšiemu koňovi, event, participation on the Memorial of E. Degas by A. Mlynárčik - XV. volume of Cena Liptova. Liptovský Mikuláš, SK 1970
Hrajúci dar, event, collaboration: M. Adamčiak, I. Ozábalová. Bratislava, SK
Snúbenie jari, happening, collaboration: M. Adamčiak, Ľ. Velecká, A. Mlynárčik, M. Urbásek. Dolné Orešany, SK
Morský pozdrav, event, collaboration: Ivica Ozábalová. Island of Sveti Stefan
Amanita muscaria, event, I. open studio of R. Sikora, Tehelná street, Bratislava, SK
Vianočné dary, event, participation on the series of events of M. Adamčiak a R. Cyprich Gaudium et Pax - Vianoce 1970, Bratislava, SK

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Artist interview, Lina Džuverović, 9. 2015, tate.org.uk www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/ey-exhibition-world-goes-pop/artist-interview/jana-zelibska Multimediálna inštalácia Jany Želibskej na benátskom Bienále výtvarného umenia, 10. 5. 2017, sng.sk www.sng.sk/sk/o-galerii/aktuality-a-oznamy/1204_multimedialna-instalacia-jany-zelibskej-na-benatskom-bienale-vytvarneho-umenia Jana Želibská na bienále v Benátkach, 13.5.2017, artalk.cz https://artalk.cz/2017/05/13/jana-zelibska-na-bienale-v-benatkach/ Slovníková hesla HANÁKOVÁ, Petra: Jana Želibská (heslo). In: BALÁŽOVÁ, Barbara – POMFYOVÁ, Bibiana (eds.): Arslexicon – výtvarné umenie na Slovensku. Dostupné na: www.arslexicon.sk (30. 8. 2012)
RUSNÁKOVÁ, Katarína: Jana Želibská (heslo). In: RUSINOVÁ (ed.) 2000, s. 150.