A film directed by Jakub Jansa, created for Flower Union exhibition produced by National Gallery Prague, as part of Czech Presidency of European Union 2022, Curated by Michal Novotný.

Opening Ceremony
10min, 4K video, 2022


In the world of plants, flowers have an irreplaceable representative and diplomatic role. Now they even have their own union, an infinite union in the circle of medicinal flowers. Their garden ceremony for the opening of the presidency is given in the form of what is known as an "appreciation dinner", a type of gala dinner, in our world, held for the elites and the media. As in the people's world, a comedian is invited, here in the form of a “Celery-man”. Hybrid characters between vegetable and human.

The supernatural figure of a claivoyante, no longer able to predict the future, takes over the direction of the second part of the film, activating decorative flowers in the form of an eco-sexual festive ritual. The fortune teller shows the plants that by putting pistils and calyxes together they can reach out to the public and change the course of things. So hopefully her ability to see into the future will return.

The work is also an open homage to several works of art history, such as Annie Sprinkle's Marriage to the Earth, or John Baldessari's Teaching the Alphabet of Plants, or Taryn Simon's series of photographs depicting bouquets standing on tables during important political meetings.

Director: Jakub Jansa
Script: Jakub Jansa, Dominik Dabrowski, Alice Krajčírová DOP: Kryštof Hlůže
DOP assistant: Tomáš Merta
Editor: Sebastian Kučkovský
Music: Oliver Torr
Costumes: Overall Office (Karolína Juříková, Kristýna Nováková) Photography: Iryna Drahun
Performance: Jan Kostiha, Ester Geislerová, Kamil Nábělek, Trin Alt Vajd, Markéta Vutru, Dexton Kotora, Katsuhiro Iwashita, Veronika Čechmánková, Jakub Samek, Zai Xu, Linda Vondrová, Rokhaya Gueye, Anita Lubadika, Adéla Sobotková, Mary Nguyen, Linh Nguyen, Agáta Hrnčířová
CGI: Matěj Martinec
Production: Agáta Hrnčířová
Make-up: Majda Vaverková
Mask: Eliška Pitráková
Sound master: Nicolas Atcheson
Grading: Kryštof Melka
Lights: Tomáš Prajsler
Focus puller: Mihir Khulkarmi
Costume assistant: Františka Králíková
Cake: Růst Cakes
Special thanks: Plevel (Beáta Melková), DJ Bingo, Umprum, Vít Svoboda, Jaroslav Gazda, NG Prague

Council of the European Union,
Brussels, Belgium
12th July – 31th December 2022
National Gallery, Prague
10th February – 7th May 2023

The project was conceived by: Jan Brož, Barbora Fastrová, Johana Pošová, Jakub Choma, Jakub Jansa, Valentýna Janů, Martin Kohout and Overall Office (Karolína Juříková and Kristýna Nováková).

And was produced by National Gallery Prague, as part of Czech Presidency of European Union 2022, Curated by Michal Novotný

As a part of this year’s Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union, nine young Czech artists and designers created decorations for two buildings in Brussels. These artists decided to use their work to express the values that the European Union embodies for them and which they believe it should continue to embody in the future. They also tried to highlight the idea of Europeanism rather than to simply present the Czech Republic as one of the member states. Their collective project, as well as their individual endeavours, are linked by the concept of a community of plants sharing a single piece of soil, thus also stressing the environmental agenda, which will reverberate strongly during the Czech Presidency.

The main symbol of the Czech Presidency is a wreath of twelve medicinal plants, and this has been incorporated in the design of the large, ecologically-manufactured carpet installed in the main area of the atrium in the building where Council meetings are held. The weaving of wreaths is an ancient, not only Slavic, tradition. Young unwed women cast wreaths into the river during the solstice to guarantee their romantic future. This symbolised not only the vitality of youth but also the natural continuation of life after leaving one’s home hearth.

In keeping with the main symbol for the artistic presentation of the Czech Presidency, the artists chose to replace the twelve gold stars on the EU flag with twelve medicinal plants from different European regions. The resulting wreath, in which the stems of each plant are twisted around those of the previous one to create a more interwoven and stronger bond, embodies a gesture promoting a stronger European togetherness between all of the EU’s unique and distinct regions. A union, which does not exclude local identities, folklore, or traditions.

Močvara Gallery, Zagreb
October 26-28 2021

Writer and Director: Jakub Jansa
Character Development: Kamil Nábělek, Jakub Jansa
Camera: Kryštof Hlůže
Sound: Oliver Torr
Performance: Jan Kostiha, Soňa Beaumont, Ester Geislerová, Jakub Jansa
Costumes: Karolína Juříková, Daily Menu
Post-Production: Šimon Hájek, Jakub Jansa
FX, Colorgrading: MagicLab, Vojtěch Štětka
Sound Recording: Juras Karaka, Tomáš Jiřička
Lights: Petr Cuker
Masks: Eliška Pitráková
Makeup Artist: Vendula Niklová
Technical Crew: Michal Pustějovský
Dramaturgy: Jan Strejcovský
Screenprinting: Matěj Doležel
Backstage Photography: Iryna Drahun
Runner: Maria Jančová
Thanks to: FAVU, UMPRUM, Autoclub ČR

The motif of the Celerist’s “coming of age” continues in the seventh episode, created for the Jindřich Chalupecký Award. Again, the external context provides an interior motive for the entire episode. The Celerist has finally scaled the imaginary vegetable social ladder and joined the avocado group. At the same time, he finds himself unable to fully sympathise with the new context; he experiences an existential crisis and decides to “come out” about his class and social background. Jansa himself comes from a position outside of the cultural centre. The need to change the social structure, the difficulty of which, in the art world, lies mainly in grasping what the art scene is talking about addressing at any given time, is also a critique of the mythology of work, sport and self-discipline as a tirelessly promoted opportunity for liberation, a mythology of equal opportunities. Here again, Jansa used recycled materials in the installation, mirrored boards from film sets.

Venues:
(1) Jindřich Chalupecký Award
September 24, 2021 - 30/1/2022
Moravian Gallery, Brno

(2) Močvara Gallery, Zagreb
October 26-28 2021

Writer and Director: Jakub Jansa
Character Development: Kamil Nábělek, Jakub Jansa
Camera: Kryštof Hlůže
Sound: Oliver Torr
Performance: Jan Kostiha, Soňa Beaumont, Ester Geislerová, Jakub Jansa
Costumes: Karolína Juříková, Daily Menu
Post-Production: Šimon Hájek, Jakub Jansa
FX, Colorgrading: MagicLab, Vojtěch Štětka
Sound Recording: Juras Karaka, Tomáš Jiřička
Lights: Petr Cuker
Masks: Eliška Pitráková
Makeup Artist: Vendula Niklová
Technical Crew: Michal Pustějovský
Dramaturgy: Jan Strejcovský
Screenprinting: Matěj Doležel
Backstage Photography: Iryna Drahun
Runner: Maria Jančová
Thanks to: FAVU, UMPRUM, Autoclub ČR

The 7th episode of the Club was made for the Jindřich Chalupecký Award 2021 exhibition. It portrays Celeriac again in a surprising situation: he has symbolically moved up within the vegesociety and been invited into Avocado circles. However, he cannot relate internally to this new social class and, despite the respect he has earned, feels no sense of belonging with anyone around him. At the same time, he has already broken ties with his home environment. He experiences an intense feeling of rootlessness and the only thing that can help is a coming out of his class.

I's so physical
(6-channel video, full HD)

Venue: Meetfactory Gallery, Prague
Date: 25. 5. - 16. 8. 2020
Curator: Tereza Jindrová
Commissioned by MeetFactory for Spiritualities show including artists Jakub Jansa, Melanie Bonajo, Priscilla Telmon & Vincent Moon

   Jansa deals uniquely with collective trauma, using exaggeration and playfulness. Simultaneously, he diverts the theme of spirituality onto another path. An absurd tale about a fictitious conspiracy of tapeworms, who narrate the story, raises a sarcastic eyebrow at the idea that “leaving the body is so fucking easy today”. In the background, then, remains a question we each must ask ourselves: how do we want to, and how can we experience authentic connection with the world around us and achieve inner transformation while remaining aware of the daily material reality of all of those bodies
  → Complete text by Tereza Jindrová in PDF

Camera: Kryštof Melka, Sound design: Eva01, Sound recording: Petr Kolev, Performers: Viola Tůmová, Jan Kostiha,
Soňa Beaumont, Patrik Petr, 3D: Josef Mrva, Styling: Karolína Juříková, Photo: Studio Flusser © 2020

CLUB OF OPPORTUNITIES S1: PAF Pioneer Works
(Exhibition creates an environments, where the narrative is gradually revealed through video, various objects, and ongoing live action)

Venue: Pioneer Works, New York
Curator: PAF & Alexander Campaz
Date: November 20th, 2018

   PW presentation of The Club offered five previous episodes in one place. Exhibition created a situations which hover between reality and fiction. Through mixed genres - from drama to absurdity - The Club thematise archetypal social topics and gradually uncovers the anatomy of mythology and storytelling. Over the course of the past episodes, low forms elevate in status into the high ones and vice versa. Somewhere during that transformation, new opportunities were created.
   The main hero of the whole story is the overlooked vegetable - Celeriac. The main storyteller is Kami Nábělek, a fairly eccentric Prague philosopher who makes live appearances at The Club’s openings and then on occasion during the run of the shows. He delivers speeches full of scientific and pseudoscientific concepts and  reveals key moments in the current story.

Cast: P.Petr, J.Kostiha, E.Geislerová, K.Nábělek, Live performace: K.Nábělek, J.Jansa, Camera: K.Melka, K.Hlůže, J.Jansa, Production: PAF, A.Campaz, Nela Klajbanová Photo: J.Jansa, W. Wlodarczyk © 2018

   “April showers bring May flowers (Ep.2)” co-author: Karolína Juříková.
   Work was part PAF New York 2018, commissioned by PAF, with Pioneer Works support.

CLUB OF OPPORTUNITIES EP. 6: Ten Years Night
(Exhibition creates an environments, where the narrative is gradually revealed through video, various objects, and ongoing live action)

Venue: Mihelic’s Gas Station, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Date: September 26 – October 29, 2019

The sixth iteration of an immersive multi-channel art project that explores polyphonic ideas about the nature of reality in the 21st century, albeit with a silent twist. Instead of bombarding viewers with overly didactic wall labels and long convoluted texts, the video installation is composed of narrators who debate the nature of reality from the perspective of a celery root.

→ Complete text by Dorian Batycka in PDF

Cast: P.Petr, J.Kostiha, E.Geislerová, K.Nábělek, Live performace: K.Nábělek, J.Jansa, Camera: K.Melka, K.Hlůže, J.Jansa, Graphic design: M.Groch, J.Horčík Photo: J.Jansa © 2019

CLUB OF OPPORTUNITIES EP. 5: Keeping in Line
(Exhibition creates an environments, where the narrative is gradually revealed through video, various objects, and ongoing live action)

Venue: NoD Gallery, Prague
Date: 23. 10. - 26. 11. 2018
Curator: Pavel Kubesa
Text: Domenico de Chirico

   Red Harring is here ready to fight against himself in a cerebral and almost videogame-y "mise en scène" centred around his own two battling personalities, each constantly trying to take control of his attitude towards the outside world.
   His poetry, seemingly twisted and dreamlike, is based on expanded and elaborate metaphors and his language, carefully structured and polished, turns out to be intentionally rhetorical, a sort of subversive declamation designed to deconstruct the more traditional spoken narration.
   Based on his empirical experience, he describes characters and archetypal situations deliberately transforming their nature through a motion that goes from the top down and viceversa, so as to achieve a distinctive poetry and structuring the plot from time to time to create multiple interesting themes and to show various possible points of view.
   → Complete text by Domenico de Chirico in PDF

Camera: Kryštof Hlůže, Performance: Patrik Petr, Jan Kostiha Jakub Jansa, Kamil Nábělek, Graphic design: Jan Horčík Photo: Tomáš Souček © 2018

CLUB OF OPPORTUNITIES EP. 4: Britannica Bootcamp
(Exhibition creates an environments, where the narrative is gradually revealed through video, various objects, and ongoing live action)

Venue: CEAAC, Strasbourg, France
Date: September 20 – October 28, 2018,
Curator: Elodie Gallina

Oh yes! We're here. This is the fourth episode of The Club of Opportunities. We're in the middle of a story which started a little bit earlier, let's say in some mythological proto-form and maybe the story is only starting to show itself. We don't know yet.
   Other celerists are shocked by Red Herring’s acting, but they don't know how to react. That's why they are looking for help.
They are based in the departmant called Britanica Bootcamp, reminding us of a hybrid of training camp and library. Soo, on which page to start, hm?
   → Complete text by Kamil Nábělek in PDF

Camera: Kryštof Hlůže Kryštof Melka, Performace: Patrik Petr, Ester Geislerová, Jakub Jansa, Kamil Nábělek, Sound recording: Anna Žihlová, Graphic design: Jan Horčík Photo: Jakub Jansa © 2018

CLUB OF OPPORTUNITIES EP. 3: My name is Red Herring
(Exhibition creates an environments, where the narrative is gradually revealed through video, various objects, and ongoing live action)

Venue: Fotograf Galery, Prague
Date: March 20 - April 14, 2018
Curator: Jiří Ptáček

   His allusion to the temple narthex with minimalist furniture that reminds one of store shelves, but which also breathes a rhythm of colored lights, intensifies an atmosphere that approximates a business-spiritual transaction, in which devilish demand accommodates a supply of skills that allow us to live through at least a small portion of life without a feeling of humiliation. But what if this is all just a clown-show. The series is a series only thanks to the transplanting of plants which, of course, have the gift of being able to take root in any conditions. Myth is an optional game whose rules can be changed as the moment requires. Skills are just crutches for all the legless and armless who cannot submit an alternative to force-based solutions to “social issues.” Movement in ambivalent escapism and untrustworthiness is, however, grounds for asking who exactly is Red Herring?
   The character of Red Herring, a hybrid creature between a human and a celery, is introduced. And now he’s revolting against the origin that gave birth to him, so he is revolting against the Seer. So from his safe place, inside the mythos, he enters a battlefield and wrestles on a political level. He is individualizing himself and becoming dark-side influencer.
   → Complete text by Jiří Ptáček in PDF

Celerist: Patrik Petr, Live Performace: Jakub Jansa, Kamil Nábělek, Camera: Kryštof Melka, Kryštof Hlůže, Sound recording: Anna Žihlová, Graphic Design: Martin Groch
Photos: Tomáš Souček, Anna-Marie Bergrová, Kryštof Hlůže © 2018

CLUB OF OPPORTUNITIES EP. 2: April showers bring May flowers
(Exhibition creates an environments, where the narrative is gradually revealed through video, various objects, and ongoing live action)

Venue: AMU Gallery, Prague
March 14 - April 4, 2018
Curator: Lumír Nykl
Artists: Jakub Jansa & Karolína Juříková

If we wanna put it simply - It’s the story in which the character of SEER (Oracle) feels anxious in this world. She looks for a way to be more active in forming the surrounding world and herself. We witness the SEER touching every individual celery root and getting them tattoo with positive predictions - or functions. She is trying to realize her own ambitiotios and desires for hope.
   The collaborative exhibition of Jakub Jansa and Karolína Juříková is the second part of a series whose pilot version originated as an invitation to Jansa’s own Club of Opportunities. The bowling bar became the setting for a seminar devoted to the ontology of celery for all the senses.
   In this new, narrative episode featuring Karolína Juříková, our intrepid heroes relocate beneath the arched ceilings of GAMU for an initiatory séance of young stalks, their hag watching from backstage, where bodies flagrantly transform with the promise of a new beginning. An old sage rambles from her ritually refurbished throne, her avuncular visage showing signs of new hope. Through the rejuvenated language of folk verbiage, we call for a new spring of shared imagination.
   → Complete text by Lumír Nykl in PDF

creature: Ester Geislerová
camera: Kryštof Melka, Kryštof Hlůže
sound: Juraś Karaka
graphic: Martin Groch,
Jan Slabihoudek
production: Lenka Střeláková

Thanks to: Lenka Střeláková,
Jakub Chrenčík, Anežka Bartlová,
Eliška Žáková

CLUB OF OPPORTUNITIES EP. 1
Bowling Bar
The Club took place at Bowling Club on July 29th, 2017 in Prague, organized by Hunt Kastner.  

Composed By Jakub Jansa
Curator: Jan Vítek
Text: Christina Gigliotti
Performers: Kamil Nábělek, Michal Šupák,
Eva Spoustová, Soňa Tichá,
Camera: Kryštof Hlůže, Kryštof Melka,
Graphic Design: Jan Horčík,
Photos: Tomáš Souček, Filip Beránek, Filip Kopecký, Julie Slauka

The first episode offered various scenarios to interact with. First, Kamil Nábělek's lecture about the ontology of the celery, which brought this vegetables to the center of a new narrative. Second, the voice of an animated chipmunk transforms visitors into performers while encouraging them to imagine new opportunities for themselves. Third, live piano baroque rendition of Rihanna’s We Found Love in a Hopeless Place can be heard.

Through mixed genres - from drama to absurdity - The Club thematise archetypal social topics and gradually uncovers the anatomy of mythology and storytelling.

As a whole, the narrative is reminiscent of a typical TV series. Each episode of The Club (i.e. exhibition) introduces new characters and plot twists. Each exhibition creates an environment, where the narrative is gradually revealed through video, various objects, and ongoing live action.

→ Complete text by Christina Gigliotti in PDF

The exhibition Healing (Healing in the active and passive sense of the word) is based on the fact that personal health and a healthy way of life in today’s society (above all, but not only in the western world) is such a highly valued asset. that the pursuit of health sometimes seems almost cultic. The definition of “being healthy” is different in different cultures, and the healing methods and procedures are different.

Medicine, healing and therapy will be addressed, taking into account the existence of certain tensions and paradoxes: be they interfaces between rationality and belief, between science and magic, between healing applications and rituals, or between natural and artificial substances or aids. In today’s globalized world, it is often not easy to draw a clear line

between what is modern and progressive (qualities that we can associate with the development of technologies, science, chemistry, etc.) and what is in essence originated in a long tradition (which in turn is based on inherited knowledge, natural sources, but also on collective rituals and non-rational beliefs).

From the perspective of contemporary art, the exhibition as a whole intends to present various current perspectives on the topic of healing and health, thus placing the complex of issues in broader social, political and economic contexts. The fact that the exhibition builds on the tension between rational and irrational aspects of healing is a consequence of her concern to point out the close connection between these opposing aspects, which in the final analysis can not be separated.

February 22 - April 12, 2018
venue: Czech Center, Berlin
Curated by Tereza Jindrová

Exhibiting artists: Jana Doležalová, Marco Donnarumma, Romana Drdova, Jakub Jansa, Barbora Kleinhamplová, Martin Kohout, Uriel Orlov, Johana Střížková, Miroslava Večeřová & Pavel Příkaský

Spiritual Fitness is a physical enhancement program created by artist Jakub Jansa. The intentions of this program are never explained nor it’s ultimate objective found. Perhaps the most interesting and intriguing aspect of this work of art is that the viewer is left to question the motives of the project, which situates itself between a self- help curriculum and social identity program that evokes an alienating yet communal experience akin †o a religious mindset. Although this program is a reflection and perhaps a critique of the rise and evolution of many of the physical enhancement communities that are prevalent today, the program is also a reflection of other aspects that are shaping global politics. Examples of contradicting rules of governance and control by contradiction are themes explored. From a historical point of view these questions are not new but they point towards an evolving and uncertain landscape of world politics today.
The world of Spiritual Fitness is a three part video series that unlocks the potential of the participant. As the viewer is introduced to the world of Spiritual Fitness a contradiction emerges that is inherit within the system. This duality is present in every action and every action can have two meanings. The opening lines of the first video titled Two Minutes starts with the lines “We smile when we feel happy but also when we are forced to smile it makes us feel happy so it goes both ways. When it comes to power it also goes both ways”.

From the opening lines the participant is asked to sacrifice the self in order to benefit from the rewards of the collective. Thus the act of smiling is meant as a social marker to connect oneself to the collective mind in physical form if not in mental form. This communal participation is reinforced in the second video installment titled One Touch where emphasis is given to scientific and mental powers of touch. As the narrator informs the viewer the very act of touch creates stronger bonds between those who adhere to the Spiritual Fitness ethos. But as soon as the viewer is introduced to the strong communal nucleus of the system in the second video the contradiction within the system emerges once more in the third and last installment titled Three Floors. Where as in the first video we are introduced to the multiplicity of an action like a smile and in the second the bond

of a touch in the third video we are introduced to the alienating aspect of the program. As the video beings the
narrator instructs the viewer towards an ambiguous action with no clear intention. This cryptic order, which separates those that understand the message and those that do not ultimately allow a person to attain further knowledge within the system. Although what must be done to unlock this action is never informed, the viewer is asked to practice in an empty elevator. The narrator explains that this is the best place to practice but it is upto the person to decide how much time is spent here. The danger and balance of this training can be both beneficial and detrimental. In the end the narrator warns “But think carefully, more practice makes your business”.

from essay by Alexander Campaz

Spiritual Fitness is a physical practise developed for Academy of Art, Architecture and Design in Prague (AAAD), presenting its complex self- development programe, in a form of public seminary. It is based on three video lessons (the first part talks about the development of self- confidence , second one is about the strengthening cooperation in working groups and third is summary). Lessons can be purchased at a special video cases, which are part of the gallery installation.

Day is night, water is fire, cocaine is not enough, depression does not exist. People are flying in the sky propelled by their own confidence. Everyone is going the same direction; to a brilliant day after tomorrow, and the work week begins and ends on Friday. The initial skepticism is like a plague, failure is prohibited and the winner is you. The path to self-confidence, positive thinking, success – that's Spiritual Fitness. An originally inconspicuous student movement has become today a possible model of a future studio at the School of Applied Arts, where weak individuals are being transformed into strong and resilient creatures. All this with with minimum effort invested. Two minutes and one touch is enough to mechanically reprogram the human body into a confident and solid mass. The movement of Spiritual Fitness aims to transform unconvincing presentations (by the weak voices of fragile shells) into indescribably wonderful lectures boasting punchlines from the dominant Supermen. At the beginning I also did not believe, but thanks to two minutes of sophisticated exercise, one is convinced about himself and his limitless choices and own brilliance.

Achieve self-confidence and healthy self-esteem is, in today's accelerated virtual world (which lacks empathy) incredibly difficult. Even creatively or technically talented individuals have problems making a mark because of strong doubts. Thanks goes to the laboratory of scientific studies that verifies various mechanical movements, and our highest hawk Jakub Jansa, who has discovered the secret source code of the human psyche. Day is night, water is fire, cocaine is not enough, depression does not exist. People are flying in the sky propelled by their own confidence. Everyone is going the same direction; to a brilliant day after tomorrow, and the work week begins and ends on Friday. The sun rose in the east and will no longer set. The initial skepticism is like a plague, failure is prohibited and the winner is you.

Directed by: Jakub Jansa
Camera by: Kryštof Hlůže, Kryštof Melka
Cast: Marie Jansová, William Valerián,
Agáta Nowaková, Petr Jakeš, Petr Hák
Voice: Dirk Wright
Sound: Jakub Jansa, Jaromír Hávorník, Kateřina Zochová,
Case objects: Jakub Jansa
Graphic Design: Štěpán Marko
Illustration: Luky
VVVV: Jan Nálepa
Photos: Michal Ureš, Peter Fabo
Web: Florian Karsten