From the Strongholds of Sleep: Photography and Politics in Czechoslovak Surrealism. Lecture by Krzysztof Fijalkowski

Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic have a particularly rich history of surrealist photography, dating back to the founding of the Czechoslovak Surrealist Group in 1934. This story covers long periods of repressive political rule, during which photographers had to look for new ways to express criticism and opposition, as well as to record the concrete irrationality of their time.

The lecture will be devoted to the most important examples of works created from the 1940s to the 1980s and beyond. These will include photomontage, experiments in the photographic darkroom and, above all, documentary photography. The analysis of these works will serve to reflect on the tensions between politics, freedom and everyday material reality.