UFO-Expedition (U.F.O.)
1982 - Drawing & Print (Drawing & Print)
29,2 x 21 cm
Julius Koller
Wordplay was a central focus of Koller’s work, in particular the acronym U. F. O., which he adapted in his diagrammatic drawings to stand variously for Univerzálna Futurologická Organizácia (Universal Futurological Organization, 1972–3), Univerzálny Filozoficky Ornament (Universal Philosophical Ornament, 1978) or Underground Fantastic Organization (1975), and which also appeared in a series of slapsticky self-portraits titled ‘U. F. O.–naut’ (1970–2007). These infinite variations on a common cipher constituted an insistent incantation of the Utopian principle. Friedrich Nietzsche argued that to realize a fundamental critique of ‘bad faith’ means to move beyond cynicism and embrace a radical optimism that exceeds the petty dialectics of expectation and disappointment. In his approach to life and art as the U. F. O.–naut, Koller embodied precisely this: he actualized the potential of his imagination as a form of existential agency. As we get entangled in the strange possibilities of art and ideas, we all become U. F. O.–nauts and are deeply indebted to Koller, our patron saint of U. F. O.–nauts.
In its stringency, obsession and peculiarity, the oeuvre of Julius Koller is one of the most idiosyncratic and consistent in European art since the 1960s. Yet Koller is not only a seminal figure in the history of the neo- and post-avant-garde; his work has long been a critical inspiration for artists and intellectuals. In the most recent past, Koller’s concepts of the Anti-Happening, the Anti-Picture, the Universal-cultural Futurological Operation (U.F.O.), his actions, objects, texts and the enormous referential archive he built up, have attracted growing interest on the part of a broader art public. From around 1960, in response to the modernist mainstream in Slovak art, Julius Koller began to develop his aesthetic position of the “antihappening.” His strategy consists in using real objects and everyday life as the predefined program for an aesthetic operation: from 1965, in texts rubberstamped on paper that refer to the context of the “anti-happening,” and then in 1967/1968 in pictures for which Koller used white latex paint instead of oils and which saw the first appearance of the question mark—the symbol of Koller’s brands of naming, or “making known,” that was later to undergo many mutations in various media and states of aggregation. The “invitation cards for an idea”—as Koller called the text works relating to the “anti-happenings”—and the palimpsests and serial arrangements of the “anti-pictures” set themselves apart from the academicism of Modernism in more than just formal terms. Koller foregoes every form of technical mastery. The “anti-pictures” are amateurish in style, ensuring that they fulfill their task, defined by Koller as “engaging rather than arranging.” Julius Koller was born in 1939 in Piestany, Slovakia. He died in 2007 in Bratislava.
Colors:
Related works featuring themes of: » Performance Art, » Slovakian
» see more
© » KADIST
Roman Ondak
2003As the caption purposely admits, these drawings were made by friends of Ondák’s at home in Slovakia asked to interpret places he has journeyed to...
© » KADIST
Paul McCarthy
1983McCarthy’s Mother Pig performance at Shushi Gallery in 1983 was the first time he used a set, a practice which came to characterize his later works...
© » KADIST
Paul McCarthy
2010To make Mickey Mouse (2010), Paul McCarthy altered a found photograph—not of the iconic cartoon, but of a man costumed as Mickey...
Other related works, blended automatically
» see more
© » KADIST
Roman Ondak
2003As the caption purposely admits, these drawings were made by friends of Ondák’s at home in Slovakia asked to interpret places he has journeyed to...
© » KADIST
Rabih Mroué
2012The Pixelated Revolution is a lecture-performance by artist Rabih Mroué about the use of mobile phones during the Syrian revolution...
Related works sharing similar palette
» see more
© » ARTS EQUATOR
SDEA Theatre Arts Conference Keynote Interviews: Drama lessons in a pandemic (Part 1) | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia ArtsEquator Viewpoints May 2, 2021 By Sarah Tang SDEA is holding its first fully online Theatre Arts Conference this year from 22 to 30 May...
© » KADIST
Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe
2019Wateoma husipe / Larvas de oruga / Caterpillar larvae by Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe exemplify his most abstract work, where he choses particular elements of a living organism to create his renditions...
© » THEARTNEWSPER
Supreme court ruling concludes lengthy battle over Franz West estate Art market Museums & heritage Exhibitions Books Podcasts Columns Technology Adventures with Van Gogh Search Search Artist estates news Supreme court ruling concludes lengthy battle over Franz West estate The Austrian sculptor's art will go to his private foundation, represented by Gagosian, overturning previous decision granting ownership to West's widow and children Anny Shaw 18 December 2023 Share Franz West in his studio, 2009 © roessle A long-running inheritance row over the estate of Franz West, reportedly worth more than $50m, has finally been resolved after the Austrian supreme court last month concluded that all of the Austrian sculptor’s art should be donated to the Franz West Private Foundation, which is represented by Gagosian...
Other works by: » Julius Koller
» see more
© » KADIST
Julius Koller
Anti-Happening refers to Koller’s 1965 manifesto, ‘Anti-Happening (System of Subjective Objectivity)’...
Related artist(s) to: Julius Koller » Rirkrit Tiravanija, » Mladen Stilinović, » Anton Vidokle, » Douglas Gordon, » Roman Ondák, » Deimantas Narkevičius, » Hans Ulrich Obrist, » Jiří Kovanda, » Mona Hatoum, » Rasha Salti
» see more
© » KADIST
Anton Vidokle
2020Shot in Oliveto Lucano, a village in the south of Italy, AUTOTROFIA (meaning self-eating) by artist Anton Vidokle is a cinéma vérité style film that slides fictive characters into real situations, and vice-versa, to draw a prolonged meditation on the cycle of life, seasonal renewal, and ecological awareness...
© » KADIST
Douglas Gordon
1996In Monster (1996-97), the artist’s face becomes grotesque through the application of strips of transparent adhesive tape, typical of Gordon’s performance-based films that often depict his own body in action...
Related works found in the same semantic group
» see more
© » DAZED DIGITAL
Tohji’s tour of Tokyo’s rave scene through six key artists | Dazed â¬…ï¸ Left Arrow *ï¸âƒ£ Asterisk â Star Option Sliders âœ‰ï¸ Mail Exit Music Scene And Spotted Following last week’s Boiler Room set, the Shibuya rapper gives us a glimpse inside his u-ha party series, featuring some of the city’s hottest names 18 December 2023 Text Günseli Yalcinkaya u-ha in Tokyo 5 One half of the prolific Japanese duo Mallboyz, alongside rapper gummyboy, Tohji is one of the rising stars on Tokyo’s underground scene...