Steely Head, 2013, microwave oven, aggregate of high voltage, Toroid (coil), bust of Stalin
The object Steel Head consists of 3 parts. A toroidal coil charging a bronze bust of Stalin, a bust of Stalin, and a Sharp microwave oven in khaki color. Inside the oven, Stalin’s head rotates. The oven shell is like a cathode and the head is like an anode. This results in violent lightning discharges between the statue and the inner wall of the oven. The viewer observing the object is often worried that the work will explode at any moment. Therefore, they keep a considerable distance, although on the other hand, they are attracted to the object due to its mystery.
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