Ken Friedman in conversation with Pavlína Morganová
On the occasion of the launch of the Ken Friedman Fluxus Fellowship, Ken Friedman will come to Prague for a public conversation with Pavlína Morganová, an art historian and head of AVU's Research Centre VVP. The discussion will focus on the history of Fluxus, its legacy for contemporary art, and the significance of the new fellowship for research in Central Europe.
- Date
- 7 October 2026
- Location
- AVU Main Building – Room 6, U Akademie 4, Prague 7
The Ken Friedman Fluxus Fellowship is a new doctoral scholarship at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (AVU), which aims to support research into the legacy of the Fluxus movement and its impact on contemporary art. The fellowship draws on Ken Friedman’s unique role within the movement’s network and aims to link archival research with contemporary artistic and academic practice, whilst establishing the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague as a leading centre for Fluxus studies in Central Europe. The fellowship has been established thanks to the support of Ken Friedman, one of the key figures of the movement, who has long been involved in art, design and theory and maintains an extensive international network of contacts in the field of contemporary art.
The inaugural fellowship has been awarded to Viktorie Vítů, a PhD student at AVU, who has long been engaged in research into Fluxus and its influence on Czech art. In October 2026, she will enter the fourth year of her PhD programme; the fellowship will enable her to continue her research for two to three years of her PhD studies, with the option of up to two years’ postdoctoral research on the same topic.
In future, the Academy of Fine Arts plans to open the fellowship to international applicants — one place per four-year cycle. The first open call for applications is scheduled for autumn 2027, with the selection process taking place in spring 2028 and the next fellowship recipient starting in autumn 2028.
Ken Friedman (born 1949) is an American artist, designer and theorist. He joined the Fluxus group in 1966 as its youngest member and later served as director of Fluxus West. He also collaborated with Milan Knížák, director of Fluxus East, for whom he organised the first solo exhibition in the United States. His work is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Tate Gallery in London and the Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart. Friedman also has long-standing ties to Czechoslovakia – his collection Events was published in an unofficial Czech translation by Jan H. Kocman in Brno as early as 1974–1975, at a time when official cultural exchange between the West and Czechoslovakia was practically impossible. He later served as Professor of Design Innovation at Tongji University in Shanghai, President of the Emily Harvey Foundation in New York and Venice, and co-editor of the specialist journal She Ji. In 2007, Loughborough University awarded him an honorary doctorate for his contribution to design research.