Czech Fluxus artist, musician and ex-National Gallery chief Milan Knížák dies at 86
The well-known artist, musician and arts administrator Milan Knížák has died at the age of 86. Knížák was part of the Fluxus art movement and was active in the Czechoslovak underground, before – after the fall of communism – heading Prague’s Academy of Fine Arts and the Czech National Gallery.
One of Milan Knížák’s most significant early projects was Aktual, a rock group that grew out of Aktuální umění (Current Art), a collective the painter and sculptor started in 1967.
The experimental band went on hiatus at the end of the decade, when Knížák – known in Czechoslovakia for taking his art to the streets in the form of unconventional events – spent time at universities in the US.
He had joined Fluxus, an international art movement whose members included Yoko Ono.
One of his projects was entitled Broken Music and involved him rendering vinyl records virtually unplayable.
In his native country, the long-haired Knížák was a major figure in the underground, facing regular harassment from the Communist authorities, including time behind bars.
In the early 1990s, the artist recalled the period when his Aktual art group started making an impact.
“Later on it became a movement, simply called Aktual. It was a movement of many, many young people, not only involved in art but people trying to change life. It was more of a social movement. I think it was very big – very many people. Therefore I was busted many times, because the government and the police didn’t like the fact I had so much power to influence young people in those days.”
After the Velvet Revolution, Knížák served as rector of Prague’s Academy of Fine Arts, between 1990 and 1997. He transformed the school and helped shape a new generation of artists.
His next major role was as head of the National Gallery in Prague, a post he held from 1999 until 2011. He contributed to the modernisation of the institution but was accused of authoritarian tendencies by critics.
Knížák ran, unsuccessfully, for the Senate on the ticket of the Civic Democrats, whose leader, Václav Klaus, he was close to.
By contrast – rarely short of an opinion on issues of the day – he was a fervent critic of Václav Havel.
Curator Filip Kazda organised one of Knížák’s last major exhibitions. Speaking to Czech Television, he praised his work at the Academy of Fine Arts and the National Gallery – and had this to say about his sometimes-pugnacious personality.
“One time when we had a dispute about something he said, You know, this isn’t pleasant for me either, but we need to achieve certain results and this is the fastest way to get there. So it wasn’t always easy for him to be tough and uncompromising, but he never chose the easy path.”
Works by Milan Knížák are held by such major international art institutions as MoMA in New York and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
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