Visual Music between the Acoustic Process, Performance, and the Autonomous Sphere of Writing

Bratislava-based art historian and curator Daniel Grúň researches the legacy of the neo-avant-garde movements of Central Europe. In his essay, he begins by analysing the work Vodná hudba (Water Music), a now-legendary musical happening created by the Slovak artist Milan Adamčiak and two others in a Bratislava swimming pool in 1970. Grúň goes on to explore the archival material associated with this and other works by Adamčiak, paying particular attention to the modes and strategies of documentation (and their political context) as well as to the interdependence of documentary/notational formats and artistic forms. Among other things, Adamčiak’s art provides Grúň with a case study for discussing the complex questions related to the “performativity” of documentation and the reasons for the self-historicization of Central European neo-avant-garde artists.

Lecture recording is available here.