Steely Head, 2013, microwave oven, aggregate of high voltage, Toroid (coil), bust of Stalin
In a typically apocryphal spirit the object-installation Iron Head examines the theme of power and its horrific and grotesque aspects as a leitmotif of artistic creation (for example, in his series of pictures Bin-Laden’s Lamp from 1999–2000 Jiří Černický was one of the first to thematize Islamic extremism and our relationship towards Islam). As in many other cases, this emerges from a fascination with the perverse and ironic use of technology. The symbolically loaded work, which deals with the question of evil as an eternally recurring principle, is offset by light and sound effects and the artist’s reference to the final scene in the well-known Hollywood blockbuster The Witches of Eastwick. Is it the victory of an electronic kitchen gadget over a tyrant’s devilish image?
Marek Pokorný