The More Biennales the Merrier

While Flash Art Magazine founders Giancarlo Politi and Helena Kontova and Milan Knízák, Director of the National Gallery in Prague, are busy battling it out over who’s Art Biennale is the real Prague Art Biennale, artist Bohumil Kmonicek has taken advantage of the confusion by launching his own Prague Biennale out of his apartment in Vysocany.

An invitation to the Kmonicek Biennale arrived by email. Unlike the other two Biennales in Prague that chose to compete for public attention with opening festivities on May 26, Kmonicek got a jump start on things by choosing May 25 for the opening of his 2005 Prague Biennale.

I tend to get lost every time I go to Vysocany. (Though friends have taken me to the Modra Opice “Blue Monkey” Bar numerous times, please don’t ask me to lead the way there.) True to form, it took me a good hour before I finally discovered Kmonicek’s gray cinder block apartment building on Mezitratova Street (thanks to a 3 x 3 meter sign in the dirt out front which reads: “Koberce Brázda s.r.o. Proud Sponsors of Prague Biennale”).

I rang Kmonicek’s buzzer. Without a word spoken over the intercom, the steel and glass door buzzed open. I assumed the colorful tape arrows along the walls and stairwell were directing me towards the Biennale. After three flights of stairs, the arrows lead me to a door with a large poster of a beautiful girl in lingerie laying upon a plush red carpet and the words “Spolecnost KOBERCE BRÁZDA s.r.o. vznikla v roce 1993 welcome you Prague Biennale!”

Unsurprisingly, Kmonicek’s Biennale contained many of his own works. Prominently displayed was a large sofa wrapped entirely in duct tape and twine titled klobása premoci or “Sausage Surprise,” But there were also works by a number of other Czech artists, including Jakub Dadák, Petr Brnák, and Jana Culíkova. Representing artists from abroad were Peter Nigel (UK), Petr Jurinová (SK) and Petr Poroshenko (UA), or The Three Peters, as Kmonicek referes to them in the Biennale's catalog.

During the time of my visit, Kmonicek was very busy trying to remove wine stains from the floor of the main exhibition hall (his living room), but I managed to get him to respond to a few questions about the biennale. I first asked about the current divisiveness in Prague's art scene. "This is good," was Kmonicek's firm, unqualified response.

Pressing him further, I asked, "You don't think that the competition from two major exhibitions, both calling themselves Prague Biennales, taking place at the same time as yours will draw attention away from your biennale?"

"First, let me tell you the true answer," said Komenica, rising on his knees and wringing the wet wine-stained rag into a bucket. "This is not my Biennale. This is artists' biennale. I do it for artists everwhere. I think, 'Why not?' I have place for exhibition. I know artists. I know money for promotion. Really, this anyone can do. Maybe we should all be having Biennales, you think?"

I thought it was maybe a good idea. I plan to speak to my flatmate Lawrence and see if he's up for having a Biennale in our apartment in Zizkov. I'll keep you posted if we do.