Within the framework of its extra-curricular activities, AVU distinguishes between school-wide activities (relating to the entire institution), studio activities (organised by individual studios or students), and activities organised by individual students and lecturers.

In none of the above cases does the management apply institutional “approval” or censorship of artworks in the AVU premises. The institution displays trust towards students and faculty and offers support, not least because the Czech legal system guarantees them freedom of artistic expression. This is a valuable democratic value to which AVU, together with other art schools, proudly subscribes.

The performance Slay the Patriarchy took place as part of a student event organised on a day celebrated by the public as Walpurgis Night or Burn the Witch. According to the organisers, the purpose of the performance was to reverse the established role of female heroines. Instead of burning a witch (symbolising the punishment of a disobedient woman), piňatas were broken (see, for example, https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi%C3%B1ata) made of clay. These contained plant seeds, which were released into the soil of the garden and gave rise to new life.

The ensuing outrage was not caused by the performance itself amongst those present, but by the sharing of a short, misleading fragment of it on social media. The event did not take place in the children’s play area, as was erroneously reported on social media, but in the garden of the Academy of Fine Arts. The children in the audience were accompanied by their legal guardians. In contrast, the video taken of the children and shared on social media was done without their consent, thus infringing the personal rights of minors. Moreover, the artist had not given her consent to the making of the video, which infringed her copyright. For these reasons, AVU immediately called for the removal and destruction of the footage infringing the rights of minors and the copyright of the work.

As for the performer’s nudity, which was the subject of questions and comments on social media, we can only point out that nudity has been a feature of art from prehistory to the present day and is a crucial means of expression for the creator of this performance. A long list of writing and polemics have been devoted to this topic. It is a fact that, even today, nudity is understood differently in diverse social orders, cultures and religious systems. Thanks to its legal and cultural tolerance, the Czech Republic remains a country that enjoys a high level of artistic freedom (pop, rap, indie music, contemporary dance, film, literature and the internet in general). For these reasons we believe the debate around the appropriateness of nudity in a physical performance in the grounds of the art school, which was attended by 25–30 people, is sending a negative signal that is threatening not only the students and staff of AVU, but potentially the wider sphere of experimentally oriented cultural works and institutions in other artistic fields.

Statement by the management of the Academy of Fine Arts (AVU) regarding the event entitled Slay the Patriarchy, made on 14 May 2024, extended on 20 May 2024