This paper is focused on some aspects of the specific and unique concept of Milan Adamčiak’s (1946–2017) performance art, which embodies not only conscious references to the contemporary postmodern avant-garde of (neo-)Fluxus or conceptual art, but also certain spectacularly presented, sui generis dimensions of earthiness, surprising playfulness, and humorous controversy. Besides a selective, model presentation of his solo and collective performances and happenings, the author discusses the specificity of the inter-medial poetics of Adamčiak’s performance art in references to the ideas of Jozef Cseres and Peter Faltin, who specializes in music semiotics (works of art as totems) about shifts in the understanding of the ontological status of postmodern works of art.
This paper is focused on alternative rock music in the 1980s and the 1990s in Slovakia. Within this field, the author concentrates on the specific area of the theatrical dimension of the concerts and music videos of various bands (Chór vážskych muzikantov, Karpatské chrbáty, Ľahká Múza, Bez ladu a skladu, Teória Odrazu, Jesus Underground Band, and Chiki liki tua). He interprets the eccentricities, bizarreness, and excesses of their poetics in the context of the theories of “culture from below” and “DIY culture”, as well as of defiance, criticism, and, especially, parrhesia (Michel Foucault) – open, direct speech, which is associated with various risks but, at the same time, allows one to acquire dignity. From the perspectives of music, visuals, and worldview, the eccentricities of alternative rock in the aforementioned period were expressions of inner freedom and the need for alternative articulations of a different way of life and a different artistic expression.
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