White Space in a White Space
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Over the course of 1974, Stano Filko, Miloš Laky, and Ján Zavarský published a manifesto folder on the initial phase of their “White Space” activities which was produced illegally in the printing house of Práca Publishers and was sent by mail or personally hand-delivered. The folder’s central element is the manifesto itself, the subtitle of which—“A white unmaterialized space in a pure white infinite space”—expands upon its proper title, “White Space in White Space.” The manifesto, which contains 12 sentences, was printed in English, Slovak, French, and German. An illustrated section with two 8-panel concertina-folded leaflets containing images from the presentation in Brno in February 1974 was loosely inserted, as well as one of the three artists seated beneath a very long horizontal object. This picture by Judita Csáderová was taken in 1973 in a room at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava. In addition, the artists added photographs of works that had not yet been shown in Brno, small square paintings and elongated, rocket-like cylindrical tubes wrapped in canvas. The tubes of varied heights and diameters were painted with a broad or narrow stripe centered on the middle of its length and running either vertically or all the way around. A photograph (on page 11) taken at the Gallery of Youth in Bratislava in 1974 shows a sprawling and imposing arrangement. The third element, rounding out the publication, was a text by Jiří Valoch printed in Slovak and in English. L.G.