Ian Mikyska

 P O R T F O L I O
 01
FILM
MUSIC
Seeing not something,
but rather with something,
according to something
02
SENSORY
STROLL
Anežka Up Close
03
SENSORY
STROLL
Deautomated Mills
 C O N T E N T S
Pardubice

AUDIOVISUAL
04

I N S TA L L AT I O N
Proporce

AUDIOVISUAL
05

I N S TA L L AT I O N
300’ writing
PERFORMANCE
01
SEEING NOT SOMETHING,
B U T R AT H E R W I T H S O M E T H I N G ,
ACCORDING TO SOMETHING
 W I T H P R O K O P J E L I N E K
The material for this film was shot in June 2017 in Armenia
and Georgia. Shots of various landscapes and cityscapes
were combined using a number of split-screen techniques,
often inspired by the work of Jiří Kolář, focusing on small and
large movements within the shot and utilising custom built
motion-control technology.

H D V I D E O I N S TA L L AT I O N The title, Seeing not something, but rather with something,

25’ LOOP
according to something, is a paraphrase of a quote by French
S H O W N AT T H E philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty, from his essay Eye and
ARMENIAN CENTER Mind. The goal of the film was to present well-known views
FOR CONTEMPORARY
to the Armenian audience, which in their non-orthodox
E X P E R I M E N TA L A R T
YEREVAN, ARMENIA presentation (various splits, combinations, sharp cuts and
the presence of sound and music) would make uncertain
3. 10.—14. 10. 2017 their perceptions of these places; make them consider how
C U R ATO R
exactly they look and understand a view, a situation, a space,
VAHRAM AKIMIAN leading the viewer to consider not only what exactly they are
looking at, but also how and why.
THE PROJECT WAS SUPPORTED BY
—THE EMBASSY OF THE CZECH
  REPUBLIC IN YEREVAN A purely sonic piece was made for Czech Radio Vltava,
—THE ARMENIAN CENTER called Hearing not something, but rather according to something,
FOR CONTEMPORARY with something, using material collected during the trip.
  E X P E R I M E N TA L A R T
— C Z E C H R A D I O V LTA V A
It was broadcast on the 27th of December 2017.
02
ANEŽKA UP-CLOSE The idea of the Sensory Stroll is to create a unique, site-specific
— A SENSORY STROLL
experience, a species of virtual reality in which the virtuality
is present only through the means of a map/brochure which
guides the visitor through the space. This brochure, in addition
to instructions on how to proceed through the space, also
includes “scores”: graphic and textual notation that suggests
WA L K / I N S TA L L AT I O N / B O O K various manners of looking, listening and feeling the space.
The brochure is available at the ticket office, which is also
S H O W N AT T H E
CONVENT OF ST AGNES
where the walk starts. It is available in both Czech and English.
N AT I O N A L G A L L E R Y I N P R A G U E
PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC The Sensory Stroll through the Convent of St Agnes, a 13th century
complex administered by the National Gallery in Prague,
3. 9. 2017—3. 9. 2018
focuses on various details of visual perception, solitude
C U R ATO R contrasted with a feeling of history, and a number of simple,
L U C I E FA U L E R O VÁ meditative texts interspersed throughout the space in
GRAPHIC DESIGN
A N A S TA S I A V R U B L E V S K A
seemingly inaccessible places.

THE PROJECT WAS PRODUCED BY

— N AT I O N A L G A L L E R Y I N P R A G U E
—TRANZITDISPLAY GALLERY
—HRA94 GROUP
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D E A U TO M AT E D M I L L S Whilst the concept was the same as with the Prague walk,
— A SENSORY STROLL
the context could not be more different. Instead of the
extremely historical and expertly conserved Gothic convent,
the Automatic Mills present a complex of buildings with
several layers of history, in active operation until 2013,
derelict and abandoned since then.
WA L K / I N S TA L L AT I O N / B O O K
The theme of solitude gained particular poignance here:
S H O W N AT T H E
A U TO M AT I C M I L L S CO M P L E X
perhaps the highest achievement of this project is the fact
PA R D U B I C E, C Z E C H R E P U B L I C that the visitor is given the brochure, a flashlight, and – after
signing an ‘at-your-own-risk’ agreement – they are let into
9. 9. 2017—?
the building on their own, for approximately 90 minutes.
C U R ATO R
ŠÁRKA ZAHÁLKOVÁ Given the fact that the building is set to undergo a major
GRAPHIC DESIGN renovation in the next few years, the options as to how
A N A S TA S I A V R U B L E V S K A
to deal with the space were very open, and included
THE PROJECT WAS PRODUCED BY architectural interventions, texts painted and stencilled on
—OFFCITY the walls, covered windows, a four-storey sound-chute, two
—TRANZITDISPLAY GALLERY
crystallophone rooms or a six-storey echo chamber. The
—HRA94 GROUP
themes converged around the affective impact of the space
and being in it, an object-oriented affirmation of the will and
power of the objects and technologies left behind.
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PROPORTIONS This audiovisual installation in collaboration with graphic
PA R T O F T H E G R O U P E X H I B I T I O N
designer Anastasia Vrublevka has its roots in the work on the
TEXT → WORD → LETTER: book Partitury pro čtenáře (Scores for Readers, Psí víno, 2016).
AN AD LIB ANTHOLOGY It makes use of the basic parameters of the exhibition space,
i.e. a number of cylinders which used to display the train
timetables.

A U D I O V I S U A L I N S TA L L AT I O N The visitor can spin these cyllinders around. At the centre

SIX CYLLINDERS & SOUND
of the installation is a cylinder which introduces the theme
S H O W N AT T H E of proportions of various time frames, which are connected
PROJEKTPLUS GALLERY through the simple process of gaining and subsequently
P R A H A – H O L E Š O V I C E T R A I N S TAT I O N
losing energy.
PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC

23. 2.—14. 4. 2017 The entire work – including the audio loop, installed above
this central cylinder – works mostly with combinations of
C U R ATO R S
OLGA PEK & VERONIKA RESSLOVÁ
visual and sonic stimuli, or rather with an embodiment of
EXHIBITING ARTISTS reading as an activity which takes place in the visitor’s time
IAN MIKYSKA and body. Texts and graphic elements become placeholders
A LVA R O S E I Ç A
for time and attention, with the added circularity of the
VERA SEBERT
PAV E L N OVOT N Ý cylinders, which can be spun round and round.
MAX HÖFLER

THE PROJECT WAS PRODUCED BY

—PROJEKTPLUS GALLERY
—PSÍ VÍNO MAGAZINE
  FOR CONTEMPORARY POETRY
05
300’ WRITING This collaborative audiovisual installation focuses on topics
 W I T H P R O K O P J E L I N E K
of writing, reading, time, and transparency. At its core, we
& JAROSLAV NOGA find the 300 minutes of writing mentioned in the title: 100
minutes were spent writing text on each of the three objects,
based on a specific set of instructions for each. Audio and
video were captured during this process, which served as the
A U D I O V I S U A L I N S TA L L AT I O N material for the projected video and sound track.
HD VIDEO WITH SOUND; OBJECTS – Glass and tracing paper were the main materials for the
G L A SS, T R AC I N G PA P E R, G R A P H I T E
objects, lending the entire space a sense of transparency,
S H O W N AT T H E in which the physicality and materiality of the writing
PAV I LO N could stand out. The experience of time – time writing, time
GALLERY OF THE ACADEMY
reading, time spent in the space – was a central concern of
OF FINE ARTS
PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC the work: time was distorted in the video through changes
in speed, and in the sound through layering, repetition and
21. 7.—31. 8. 2016 patterning to create an isolated space, torn out of our usual
C U R ATO R
time frames.
JAN PFEIFFER

THE PROJECT WAS PRODUCED BY

—THE ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS
  IN PRAGUE
—HRA94 GROUP
 W W W . I A N M I K Y S K A . C O M