Martin Janíček

He has broached the issue of synthesis in creative and musical activities. He can build on artistic phenomenon such as coloured music, Gesamtkunstwerk, multimedia, etc. Here we are not talking however about the exalted multimedia shows of the 1960s, but rather a sort of paradoxical retreat from performance. Performing means taking action, such as gestures, via the body or in a language code. Performing – J.L. Austin – creates a change in quality or the state of reality. This is sometimes the result of Janíček’s direct interventions (cutting glass with a diamond during the event, Overextended / Přetížení). Often this is more a sort of confirmation of a given state, research, discovery of specific sensual or physical attributes of things or space. These qualities are afterwards emphasised, cut out, presented (Reflection 808 / Odraz 808, this composition developed based on a sound composition of certain architecture). Sound or image is often found as a specific quality of a space (Janíček is active in the mamapapa association, which addresses interactive and site-specific projects). Elsewhere constructionally-demanding works take shape. These allow various materials to express their specific qualities (sound, image, smell, touch, etc.). The themes of these realised projects often have an archetypical demeanour (landscape, etc.), which is embodied in the symbols and structures, while both have in this case a temporal aspect. It joins this timing with an attempt to extend sensitivity and impact of the senses. Some of Janíček’s „apparatuses“ bring to mind Baroque experiments renowned, for example, from the research of Athanasi Kircher. These experiments ranked in the category of period „magic“, which is also represented by one of the keys to understanding Janíček’s works. This is the magic of mixing various elements, mixing the visible and invisible, the noticeable and tangible.