Želibská, who belongs to the progressive generation of action and conceptual authors of the late 1960s in Slovakia, specifically re-evaluated the impulses of neo avant-garde tendencies, French New Realism and post-Moderna. She was present at the birth of environment art in the 1960s, object and installation at the end of the 1980s and video-art in the 1990s. She openly thematizes the female body through a feminist approach which in her work blended with the characteristic period themes of the alternative scene and unofficial art in Slovakia. This exhibition project will be accompanied by the publication of a monographic catalogue containing studies of several art theoreticians and historians.

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Jana Želibská studied at the Academy of Fine Art and Design in Bratislava and graduated in graphics and book illustration in 1965. In 1968 Želibská received a scholarship for a residency in Paris, where she witnessed the 1968 protests. Belonging to a generation of progressive artists in Czechoslovakia, she was inspired by nouveau réalisme as well as pop art. Želibská rapidly moved on from experimenting with lyrical painting and prints in her early years, to creating immersive environments, using mixed media and non-art materials.

Jana Želibská created the first of such environments, entitled The Possibility of Exposure 1967, for a solo exhibition at the Cyprian Majernik Gallery in Bratislava and comprised paintings, assemblages and freestanding objects. Viewers could manipulate elements of the exhibited paintings and assemblages, featuring fragments of female bodies, divided by sheer curtains. Inspired by nouveau réalisme’s use of non-art material, the work combined mirrors, fabric, neon and plastics. In one of the paintings shown within the installation, entitled Breasts 1967, a breast adorned with lace and a patterned fabric is shown with its mirror image lightly concealed behind a sheer curtain. The viewer is encouraged to move the curtain to reveal the painting in its entirety, emulating intimate moments and engaging with the tactile qualities of the work.

Similarly, in Nose I-II 1967, two diagrammatic images are shown next to each other, reminiscent of ‘before and after’ pictures depicting cosmetic surgery or self-improvement techniques. The two noses are, however, identical. Other works within the environment include Object II 1967 and a column entitled Kandarya – Mahadeva 1969, which refers to the eponymous temple in India and draws in elements of tantric Hinduism and erotic rituals. Covered in neon-outlined bodies of female dancers, with mirrors in place of their private parts, Želibská originally intended this work to be shown on the street, but was prohibited from doing so as the work was deemed too explicit.

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Lina Džuverović

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http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/ey-exhibition-world-goes-pop/artist-biography/jana-zelibska

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https://www.sng.sk/en/exhibitions/1_jana-zelibska-no-touching

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Jana Želibská is the artist selected to represent Czech and Slovak Pavilion at the upcoming Venice Biennale 2017 that will run from the 13th of May to November 26th.

The project is entitled “Swan Song: Now” a multimedia installation based on a continous series of contrasts, the monumental versus particular notions, the poetic versus banal ideas, the sublime versus vernacular impressions. The artist, worldwide renowned for her middle 60s environment installations, uses her mindful approach to investigate this post- truth era, in which we are immersed.

The Swang Song: Now offers an intriguing experience of blurred physical and mental space while involving the contemplation on human time as the meta-subject of the work.

The show is curated by Lucia Gregorová Stach.

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http://myartguides.com/posts/jana-zelibska-takes-over-czech-and-slovak-pavilion-at-venice-2017/