Karel Miler (1940–2025) was a Czech art historian, visual artist, author of visual poetry, and a leading figure in conceptual and performance art. He studied art history at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University and worked, among other places, at the National Gallery in Prague and at Lidové noviny. From the early 1970s, he developed minimalist-style actions and performances in which he explored the relationship between the body, space, language, and meaning. Karel Miler, along with Jan Mlčocha and Petr Štembera, belonged to the so-called Prague Trio, a loose circle of artists associated with Czech action art, performance, and body art of the 1970s. His work is associated with the unofficial art scene of the Normalization period, and although he ceased his action art practice in the late 1970s, he is considered one of the key figures of Czech conceptual art.

The exhibition will present a selection of works from the GMU’s action art collection, supplemented by iconic pieces from the Moravian Gallery’s collection.

The exhibition space Za zdí, where Karel Miler’s exhibition is on display, is part of the permanent exhibition 20th-Century Czech Art and Its Boxes. The space is dedicated to artists who, between 1948 and 1989, created outside the official structures of cultural policy, in the underground or in the gray zone overlooked by institutions. These are often experimental works, performance art, happenings, and other immaterial or temporary installations. These works, created and presented “behind the walls” of studios, apartments, or cottages, are, from today’s perspective, among the most intellectually rich examples of the art of that era.

curator: Anna Horák Zemanová