Page 58 - Studio International - February 1970

Happenings in 1
The first meeting of the Presentological Society
founded by Eugen Brikcius and Rudolf Nemec—
E. Brikcius addresses the public (May 1968, Prague)
Prague 2
The first meeting of the Presentological Society founded
by Eugen Brikcius and Rudolf Nemec—R. Nemec
performs his anthropometrical exercise
Eugen Brikcius Photos: Roman Soumar

CHESS
A dark winter evening. A lady in black waits
at a tram stop. A gentleman in black brings a
lady in white to the opposite pavement.
The actors are familiar only with their own
roles.
At the end of the street a gentleman in white
appears. He moves slowly and lazily towards
the lady in black and tries to enter into con-
versation, but the lady in black shakes her
head. The gentleman in white continues; the
lady in black shyly moves to another place.
The gentleman in white follows her. The lady
in black gets away. The gentleman in white
pursues her round the stop in circles. The
hunting gets faster and the situation becomes
unbearable. As the others waiting at the stop
start getting angrily involved and the gentle-
man in white is in real danger of abuse, the
gentleman in black followed by the frightened
lady in white comes over from the opposite
pavement, pushes the gentleman in white
aside, and applauded by the waiting crowd
chases him away. In the meantime the tor-
mented lady in black, who is pitied by the
public, runs away sobbing in the opposite
direction.
The gentleman in black leads the agitated sisted of two acts and lasted longer than his was held for trial as a hooligan. Proceedings
lady in white to a ground floor room in a author had expected. In the beginning of the began on July 13 before a female judge,
nearby house, where some of the so-far anony- first act it was Brikcius who directed the J. Ortová, and the Prosecutor accused me of
mous witnesses of the incident are already `performance', later it was the police and still `a serious disturbance of public order and an
present. On the floor there is part of a painted later it was the authorities of the state court. insult to the elemental feelings of working
chessboard. The gentleman in black takes the That is to say that the Happening was sum- people'. The following day I received a three
position of the black king, the lady in white moned to the court and the trial turned into a month suspended sentence and a year's
takes the position of the white queen. After a happening. The first act ended in a paradox. probation.
few minutes the gentleman in white to the The Happening sentenced itself.]
surprise of the uninitiated people appears at The proceedings in the Court of the First
the window, a little later the lady in black On June 21, 1967, an article appeared in the Instance can be described in terms of both
appears at the doorstep. The last phase newspaper Lideva Demokracie under the title tragedy and comedy.
begins. The gentleman in white acts the part `Something is going to happen', which con- It was tragic because the judge did not deal
of the white king, the lady in black acts the tained an invitation to a happening. The with me and the witnesses as with independent
part of the black queen. Both kings have two same afternoon 'something happened' in the citizens and compared us to drunkards and
or three more pieces at their disposal. The Motel quarter of Prague— participants brought even to animals.
black king in the original street dispute, now loaves of bread—and at Riflemen's Island a It was tragic because the judge a priori
carried through according to the rules of rehearsal of the Thanksgiving took place, declared a happening to be a disturbance and
chess, soon loses his queen. The white king during which a girl was put into a cardboard refused to hear the experts on this subject sug-
then easily wins, loudly applauded by the box and buried under a pyramid of bread. gested by the defence Jindrich Chalupecký,
public. The black king and the black queen The Happening culminated in Ledebur Ivan Vyskočil and Bohumil Hrabal—who
are bombarded with rubbish, and finally Garden, a beautiful old baroque public gar- would have explained the nature of this
hissed out of the room. den in Prague. A girl who represented a unique kind of creative activity.
[Performed in the winter of 1966, in Zickov, goddess sat at the top of a long staircase and It was tragic because the judge did not allow
Prague.] participants ceremoniously presented loaves me to explain the motives of the action and
of bread to her. At that moment the Thanks- claimed that she was not going to debate with
A HAPPENING IN TWO ACTS giving was interrupted by the police and all me about aesthetics. This, nevertheless, did
[On June 21, 1967, Eugen Brikcius started his the participants were arrested, held over- not prevent her from asking me and the wit-
third publicly advertised happening. It con- night in gaol and then fined 100 Kcs each. I nesses over and over again how various absurd