Adéla Jůnová Macková and Jiří Žák: An Unfinished Story
online lecture gallery VI PER
Galerie VI PER invites you to an online presentation and discussion, which will take place on Thursday, February 4, 2021, at 6:00 PM via the Zoom platform. Registration for the event is required here.
In connection with the exhibition High Dam: Modern Pyramid at Galerie VI PER, Adéla Jůnová Macková and Jiří Žák will present their research on the relations between Czechoslovakia and Egypt, as well as Syria, in the 1950s to 1970s. Adéla Jůnová Macková's lecture will focus on Czechoslovak relations with Egypt, the establishment of economic and cultural agreements, and their consequences for Czechoslovak Egyptology. Based on the Czechoslovak cultural delegation in Egypt in 1956, which also included Egyptologists František Lexa and Zbyněk Žába, a cultural agreement was prepared between the two countries, under which the Czechoslovak Institute of Egyptology was founded with branches in Prague and Cairo. Its work on the concession in Abúsír was later expanded to include the participation of Czechoslovak Egyptologists in rescue work in Nubia as part of a large-scale operation coordinated by UNESCO in areas that were to be flooded due to the construction of the Aswan Dam.
Jiří Žák has long been studying the issue of Czech arms export to the Middle East in the context of identity in post-communist countries and its deconstruction through non-Western perspectives. His film Unfinished Love Letter (2020, 23 min.), which will be presented as part of the program, is an author's collage of archival materials, documentary footage from the 1960s and 1970s that propagandistically view the activities of then Czechoslovakia in Syria, including the construction of an oil refinery in Homs built by the Czechoslovak foreign trade enterprise Technoexport. The film is a lyrical retelling of propaganda based on intuitively-poetic premises, a sort of unfinished love letter that tells of the end of a partnership not only between two people but also between two countries.
Schedule:
6:00 PM Adéla Jůnová Macková: Czechoslovakia and Egypt in the 1950s and 1960s
6:30 PM Jiří Žák: Unfinished Love Letter, 2020, screening with commentary by the artist
7:00 PM Adéla Jůnová Macková and Jiří Žák in conversation with Rado Ištok and audience questions
Adéla Jůnová Macková works at the Masaryk Institute and Archive of the Czech Academy of Sciences. She studied modern economic and social history at Charles University, focusing on the history of scientific institutions and oriental studies, the history of travel, and economic history related to the Middle East between 1918 and 1938. She is the author of many scientific articles and the book Unequal Partnership. Czechoslovak-Iranian Relations 1918–1938 (Prague, 2013), as well as the co-author of publications With a Diplomat in the East. Cyril and Pavla Dušek in Egypt (1922–1924) (Prague, 2014), Czechoslovak Scientists in the East I and II (Prague, 2012 and 2013), and Expeditio Obenberger (Prague, 2012), and also co-editor of the anthology Crossroads of Egyptology. The Worlds of Jaroslav Černý (Prague, 2010).
Jiří Žák is a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, is part of the collective Atelier without a leader, and works for Artyčok TV. As an artist, he primarily works with moving images and video installations, in which the research component typically intertwines with a poetic line and form of storytelling. He is interested in the identity of post-communist countries and its deconstruction through non-Western perspectives. He has long examined, for instance, the issue of Czech arms exports to the Middle East; an important theme for him is also the socio-political relationship to information published through the media and in the online environment. His recent works have also dealt with environmental anxiety. In 2015, he was a laureate of the EXIT Award, and in 2017 he was a finalist in the Jiné vize competition at the PAF festival in Olomouc. In 2020, he was a finalist and one of the laureates of the Jindřich Chalupecký Award.
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In connection with the exhibition High Dam: Modern Pyramid at Galerie VI PER, Adéla Jůnová Macková and Jiří Žák will present their research on the relations between Czechoslovakia and Egypt, as well as Syria, in the 1950s to 1970s. Adéla Jůnová Macková's lecture will focus on Czechoslovak relations with Egypt, the establishment of economic and cultural agreements, and their consequences for Czechoslovak Egyptology. Based on the Czechoslovak cultural delegation in Egypt in 1956, which also included Egyptologists František Lexa and Zbyněk Žába, a cultural agreement was prepared between the two countries, under which the Czechoslovak Institute of Egyptology was founded with branches in Prague and Cairo. Its work on the concession in Abúsír was later expanded to include the participation of Czechoslovak Egyptologists in rescue work in Nubia as part of a large-scale operation coordinated by UNESCO in areas that were to be flooded due to the construction of the Aswan Dam.
Jiří Žák has long been studying the issue of Czech arms export to the Middle East in the context of identity in post-communist countries and its deconstruction through non-Western perspectives. His film Unfinished Love Letter (2020, 23 min.), which will be presented as part of the program, is an author's collage of archival materials, documentary footage from the 1960s and 1970s that propagandistically view the activities of then Czechoslovakia in Syria, including the construction of an oil refinery in Homs built by the Czechoslovak foreign trade enterprise Technoexport. The film is a lyrical retelling of propaganda based on intuitively-poetic premises, a sort of unfinished love letter that tells of the end of a partnership not only between two people but also between two countries.
Schedule:
6:00 PM Adéla Jůnová Macková: Czechoslovakia and Egypt in the 1950s and 1960s
6:30 PM Jiří Žák: Unfinished Love Letter, 2020, screening with commentary by the artist
7:00 PM Adéla Jůnová Macková and Jiří Žák in conversation with Rado Ištok and audience questions
Adéla Jůnová Macková works at the Masaryk Institute and Archive of the Czech Academy of Sciences. She studied modern economic and social history at Charles University, focusing on the history of scientific institutions and oriental studies, the history of travel, and economic history related to the Middle East between 1918 and 1938. She is the author of many scientific articles and the book Unequal Partnership. Czechoslovak-Iranian Relations 1918–1938 (Prague, 2013), as well as the co-author of publications With a Diplomat in the East. Cyril and Pavla Dušek in Egypt (1922–1924) (Prague, 2014), Czechoslovak Scientists in the East I and II (Prague, 2012 and 2013), and Expeditio Obenberger (Prague, 2012), and also co-editor of the anthology Crossroads of Egyptology. The Worlds of Jaroslav Černý (Prague, 2010).
Jiří Žák is a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, is part of the collective Atelier without a leader, and works for Artyčok TV. As an artist, he primarily works with moving images and video installations, in which the research component typically intertwines with a poetic line and form of storytelling. He is interested in the identity of post-communist countries and its deconstruction through non-Western perspectives. He has long examined, for instance, the issue of Czech arms exports to the Middle East; an important theme for him is also the socio-political relationship to information published through the media and in the online environment. His recent works have also dealt with environmental anxiety. In 2015, he was a laureate of the EXIT Award, and in 2017 he was a finalist in the Jiné vize competition at the PAF festival in Olomouc. In 2020, he was a finalist and one of the laureates of the Jindřich Chalupecký Award.
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