Milan Kohout Explained

Milan Kohout
Birth Date:1955
Known For:Performance Art, writing, poetry, human rights activism

Milan Kohout (born 1955) is a Czech–American performance artist, writer, and university lecturer. He was a signatory of the Charter 77 human rights declaration against the communist government of Czechoslovakia.

Early life

Kohout studied electrical engineering at the College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Plzeň (now the University of West Bohemia). He was active in the Czech underground, as part of a movement known as the Second Culture. As a result of his political activities, he was forced to work in blue-collar occupations, such as several years working as a coal stoker at the Ethnographic Museum in Prague.[1] In 1986 he was exiled from Czechoslovakia by the secret police,[1] and spent two years in the Traiskirchen refugee camp in Austria.[1] [2]

In the United States

He was granted political asylum in the United States, and moved to Boston, gaining a diploma from Tufts School of the Museum of Fine Arts in 1993.[1] [3] He has taught performance art as political action at Tufts School and at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design,[4] and video production at the New England Institute of Art.[1] [5] During his years in Boston he created was engaged in experimental performance art, focused mainly on politics, human rights, and criticism of religious organizations and ideologies.[5] [6]

Between 1992 and 2003 he worked as a camera operator, video technician, and producer for news and public affairs cable TV channel C-SPAN. He has written a series of interviews for the Czech magazine Xantypa with subjects such as Noam Chomsky and Kurt Vonnegut Jr.[3]

Artwork and later career

Since 1994 he has been a member of the Mobius art group.[3] [4] He has participated in several international festivals and art programs (including festivals in China, Croatia, Poland, Taiwan, Cuba, Thailand, Israel, Canada, Mexico, and the United States).[4] [3] He has also lectured at the University of West Bohemia in Plzen.

Kohout's art criticises the US economy, religion, the media, the politics of oil, racism and social prejudice.[1] His works include a performance art piece critical of the segregation wall in Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic, where in 1999, as a protest against the segregation of Czech Roma, he cut the flag of the Czech Republic in half, and was subsequently accused of defaming the state symbol.[1] In 2007 he was arrested in Boston after his performance "Nooses on Sale", which was critical of the conduct of US banks during the sub-prime mortgage crisis.[1] The performance involved Kohout selling nooses outside a branch of the Bank of America, and after the bank reported him to the police, he was prosecuted for peddling goods without a licence.[4] [7] After a four-month trial he was found not guilty.[1]

In 2011, he recorded a five-part autobiographical show for Czech Radio.[8] He also appeared in the documentary film Radical Jesters, about political performance artists in the United States. In 2015 he appeared on the Czech TV show You Have the Word, arguing in favour of the Czech Republic accepting large numbers of refugees.[1] Kohout described this as a political performance,[1] but it sparked a negative reaction from the public and in the media.

In September 2016 Kohout announced his candidacy for the 2018 Czech presidential elections,[9] [10] [11] though in the event he did not start campaigning and was not a candidate in the election.

Solo exhibitions in the Czech Republic

Publications

Gallery

File:Výstava Milana Kohouta v Plzni 2013 I.jpg |Part of the exhibition of works by Milan Kohout in Pilsen 2013File:Milan Kohout na svojí výstavě v Plzni 2013.jpg |Milan KohoutFile:Výstava Milana Kohouta v Plzni 2013 II.jpg |In Pilsen Art Gallery e Facta with visitors to the exhibition, August 2013File:Triptych Milana Kohouta v Doxu Praze.jpg |Milan Kohout "Triptych" in Prague Dox (http://www.dox.cz/en/), 2012File:Výstava Milana Kohouta v Domě umění v Brně s kameramanem.jpg |Milan Kohout exhibition at the House of Art in Brno 2011

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Milan Kohout přednáší na Fakultě umění 8. 10.. Milan Kohout lectures at the Faculty of Arts on October 8 . October 6, 2015 . UNDG.cz . 5 May 2017.
  2. News: Each art should be engaged (interview) . August 2, 2013 . . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150924024801/http://www.halonoviny.cz/articles/view/7911270 . September 24, 2015.
  3. Web site: Milan Kohout . Mobius . 5 May 2017.
  4. News: The case of Milan Kohout . February 21, 2008 . . 5 May 2017.
  5. Web site: Milan Kohout . Britské Listy . 5 May 2017.
  6. Bodollová, Květa (Editor) . November 28, 2011 . Osudy: Milan Kohout . Radio broadcast . Czech Republic . ČRo Vltava.
  7. News: Linkfest: Nooses on Sale . February 22, 2008 . .
  8. Web site: Osudy umělce, performera a vysokoškolského pedagoga Milana Kohouta. The Destiny of the Artist, performer and university professor Milan Kohout . Bodollová . Květa . 25 November 2011 . Rozhlas.cz . 2 January 2017.
  9. Web site: Nalil sperma do svěcené vody. Teď chce kandidovat na Hrad. 15 September 2016. Echo24. cs. 28 December 2016.
  10. Web site: Milan Kohout, prezidentský kandidát: Česko je rasistické. Konvičkovští trotli s fanglemi. Nenávistné hovno by se mělo odpálit do úplně jiných ksichtů. page-maintitle-short-default. 1 January 2017.
  11. Web site: Milan Kohout ohlásil kandidaturu na Hrad. A přinesl něco, co nepotěší Schwarzenberga a Babiše. page-maintitle-short-default. 1 January 2017.
  12. Web site: Milan Kohout - Retrospective . 4 July 2009 . Artyčok.tv . 2 January 2017.
  13. Web site: Performer Milan Kohout has a retrospective show in Brno . 17 May 2011 . Rozhlas.cz . 2 January 2017.
  14. Web site: Virtual Tour - DOX Prague - exhibition Middle East Europe . Virtualtravel.cz . 2 January 2017.
  15. Web site: The Month of the Rooster / Performer Milan Kohout in Olomouc Museum of Art . 4 April 2012 . Artalk Magazine . 2 January 2017.
  16. Web site: Milan Kohout - Artist and Performer . 11 August 2013 . ART E FACTA . 2 January 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131217221246/http://www.artefacta.cz/index.php/galerie/vystavy/milan-kohout . 17 December 2013 . dead .
  17. Web site: Where is my home? The Exhibition . 2013 . Kdedomovmuj.dox.cz . 2 January 2017.
  18. Web site: Milan Kohout: How Do We Become Homeless. TEST EXPOSURE . 19 March 2015 . WRO Art Center . 2 January 2017.
  19. Book: Kohout . Milan . Franklin . David . Cope . Andrew . Seenography: Essays on the Meaning of Visuality in Performance Events . Inter-Disciplinary Press, Oxford, United Kingdom . 2014 . 107–127 . Part 3: Spatial Relations Speak the Language of Social Hierarchy . https://tufts.academia.edu/MilanKohout . 978-1-84888-138-9 . amp.
  20. News: Dvě pozoruhodné knihy . Two Remarkable Books . May 27, 2015 . Obrys - Kmen .

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