Milan Knížák
Zeremonien
Remscheid, Germany: Vice-Versand, 1971
[unpaginated], 20 x 16.8 x 2.6 cm., spiral-bound
Edition of 500 numbered copies
Zeremonien is a hard-cover, spiral-bound artist book published by Wolfgang Feelisch, in 1971. The following May, the work was seized from German collector Hans Sohm by Czechoslovak border guards, leading to arrest of Milan Knížák.
Sohm was interrogated for hours while trying to return to Stuttgart, and the book (and other materials) were impounded on the pretext that they were “intended to discredit the image of Czechoslovakia abroad” and that their content was “pornographic.”
Knížák wrote to Feelisch asking him to organize people to write about the arrest, as well as asking lawyers and the “society for human rights” to supervise his next trial. He reasoned: “If I will go to jail, all Czech art will with me, all artfreedom will be jailed, tooooo.”
A later letter asked that Feelisch contact Wolf Vostell, Allan Kaprow, George Maciunas, Ay-o, Ben Vautier, Ken Friedman, and others, on his behalf.
“It might seem very stupid to do all these things,” he wrote, "but they can KEEP me OUT of a jail. Best would be to send a protest of most avant-garde famous world artist and art magazine etc. to Czechoslovakian government. But this is probably too phantastic and too overblown.”
Deemed an Enemy of the State, Knížák was found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison.
Wolfgang and Sohm co-edited an issue of Reflection Press Magazine (No. 31) in 1973, in order to draw attention to Knížák’s imprisonment. It featured an introduction by Albrecht D., letters of support from artist Allan Kaprow, curator Harald Szeemann, and others, as well as texts by the artist himself.
The international campaign indeed helped precipitate an early release.
Later in life, Knížák became the director of the Czech National Gallery in Prague between 1999 and 2011 and was awarded the Medal of Merit by the Czech Republic.
Milan Knížák died last month at the age of 86.
