Five artists join forces to follow in the footsteps of Czech surrealism and Kafkaesque motifs. In Kafka’s work, unease walks lightly, creeps in on quiet paws and takes its place next to us.

One hundred years after Franz Kafka’s death, artists are asking themselves which aspects of his work resonate particularly strongly in the present moment. Which of these can also be found in our artistic work? Franz Kafka is an extremely important figure for the artistic tradition in both Germany and the Czech Republic and, just like the five artists, as a German-speaking author who lived in Prague, he was strongly influenced by both cultures. In multi-ethnic Czechoslovakia between the world wars, the Surrealists immediately responded to his work with great enthusiasm. The group traces the specific tradition of Czechoslovak surrealism and would like to consciously address this strand of their own artistic biographies and origins.

They are fascinated by the specific heaviness, melancholy and the processing of the fear of a reality that is difficult to endure. Kafka’s approach to physicality reveals a certain unease, open to fragility and changeability. His treatment of the more-than-human, in the sense of the philosopher David Abram’s term, is also extremely exciting. Kafka’s characters are often not quite human, or not quite clearly alive. From his sombre poetic position, Kafka declares that the image of man as an autonomous, rational being that prevailed a hundred years ago has always been a failure. His humorous observations of deep interdependence, loneliness and absurdity remain relevant. The human body, which connects us with other animals and is at the same time strongly anchored in society and in different identities, is also at the centre of his works.

programme
Thursday, 25 April, 7 pm Film evening on the subject of the body and discomfort with the following films:

‘Love, dad’ by director Diana Cam Van Nguyen (FSK 6)

‘Sedimikrasky (Daisies)’ by director Věra Chytilova (FSK 16)

(Language: Czech with subtitles in German and French)

Saturday, 11 May, 3 pm Reading event with coffee from stray coffee roasters

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)