Jana and Jana Daisy-beautiful

The 10th jubilee edition of the Scalní video festival, focusing on student video art, showcased also an abroad scene. I co-curated the festival with Jana Francová and we co-moderated the festival event together on 18 April 2023 in the Scala cinema in Brno. Our collaborative performance updated the theme of Věra Chytilová’s film Daisies with pre-recorded sound track and live action and was accompanied by a video by Sarai Mošťková.

https://brnoartweek.cz/program/scalni-video-x

Festival Scalní video, Brno, 18 April 2023, photo by Jana Ovčáčková and Pavel Paseka.

Beyond Painting and Performance

Jana Orlová experienced a double position in her collaboration with Viktor Fuček: on the one hand, she curated two consecutive exhibitions and on the other hand, she performed together with V. Fuček during venisages. The first exhibition, entitled Attempt for a Posthumous Portrait (31 January 2023 – 1 March 2023), took place at the Rozkvet Gallery in Banská Bystrica. The second, entitled Being a Painting, was held at the Hauerova 4 Gallery from 30 March – 24 April 2023. In both performances, the artists experimentally explored the possibilities of merging the media of painting and performance.

Photo Marcela Záchenská, Lucie Nožková.

Hope

On September 21, 2022, the day before the planned performance, President Vladimir Putin announced a mobilization in Russia. This news sparked a panicked reaction in the American media and a wave of concern among the civilian population. Jana Orlova decided to respond to these circumstances with a performance in which she invited the audience to write the word ‚hope‘ on her body with red lipstick. In response to the ethnically diverse composition of the audience, the artist encouraged them to write the word hope in their native language as well. Her body thus became a living transparent. The event, entitled „Who-More-Is-Me / Humorisms“, also included solo performances by Milan Kohout, Viktor Fuček, Pavel Tichoň, and David Helán.

Midway Artist Studios, Boston, USA, 22.9. 2022, photo author´s archive.

Slavic Applepay: POP up art exhibition + performance

Performance and installation as part of a group POP up intervention at the Slovak General Consulate in New York. The installation was created by Viktorem Fuček, Jana Orlová, David Helán and Pavel Tichoň, and each artist had a separate performance during the POP up exhibition. Jana Orlová’s video, installation and performance combined the theme of the social demand for beauty or aesthetics of the female body, especially the face, which „needs“ to be taken care of with various cosmetic products and non-invasive and invasive procedures. The artist collected unnecessary cosmetics from the employees of the Consulate and the Czech Centre and layered them on her face all on top of each other.

Slovak General Consulate in New York, USA, 16.9. 2022, photo author´s archive.

Bohemia Energy Rhapsody

The four performers (Jana Orlová, David Helán, Pavel Tichoň, and Viktor Fuček) were dressed in different colored American work uniforms, which corresponded with the colorful visuals of the interactive exhibition SDGs (Innovations for a Sustainable Future). During the opening at the Czech Center in New York, the artists were scattered around the exhibition space and they assumed various temporary (changeable) identities, such as that of assistant, cleaner, technician, security, or shredder. The participants at the opening, with whom the performers interacted in varying degrees of serious and non-serious ways, were left unsure of what was actually happening. The playful concept of the performance was in contrast with the official atmosphere of the event.

https://new-york.czechcentres.cz/program/performance-bohemia-energy-rhapsody

15.9. 2022, Czech Center New York, USA, photo author´s archive.