Jakub Hájek↓

About the work

A Drink Made of Metal Dew and the Bohemian Forest Herbs

#metal laugh #wireworm #guidebook #I shuttle #net #laugh of a poorly lubricated pulley

What is your graduation work about?

I have cooperated with my friend František Hanousek on all my past and present artistic endeavors. My graduation work loosely continues our developing interest in material production. We work on objects that are right now in a state of relics of a tinker’s experience. Besides the personal and enthusiastic venture of working with the material, the tinker´s trade interests us due to the era that, along with the influence of the expanding industrial utilitarianism, transformed the tinkers’ professional identities and hence all traditional craftspeople. The Drink Made of Metal Dew and the Bohemian Forest Herbs is a beverage from the drink list offered in the regional express, which is crucial for our imaginary folklore and narrative of the cultural history of iron. The carefully bent wire, the high density of the weave, the calluses caused by the constant cultivating of the hard metal, and a tourist guide to the railway imagination will complement the artisanal and emotional stakes. It is hardly possible to invent one’s authentic folklore around the nature of working with wire and, at the same time, neglect the wondrously dark drama and hellish ambivalence of the industrial man.

What do you do besides your graduation work?

I share František’s enthusiasm for his recent professional experience as a postal clerk. We discuss what has changed in the postal lingo. And I watch in disbelief as a postilion blowing the postal trumpet signals the first step toward partial privatization or the complete liquidation of the state-owned Czech Post.

In what conditions would you like to work on your graduation work?

I would enjoy working on my graduation work more relaxed, without worrying about what will happen to my life after my studies and whether or not I will be sufficiently existentially saturated. Of the many issues in my concerns, I can start with the disappearance, once and for all, of “centrist” and right-wing parties from the current political representation, which should have never regained their legitimacy. It could bring hope for a change in cultural and economic policy and new motivations to stay in the sphere of culture and continue to do art. I take the liberty to devote the rest of my answer to an “appreciation post”. I value František’s willingness to sacrifice his leisure time and thus fulfill the unspoken commitment to our joint work. Facing all the production challenges as a duo represents a fantastic advantage for me.

What would you imagine to be an alternative culmination of your studies at AVU, in place of the defense of your graduation work?

I’ve always found dialogue as the essence of this open, collective process of defending a graduation work attractive and beneficial. Therefore, I would make only minor changes: I would try rethinking the 1 – 4 scale grading. Perhaps I would invite more outside committee members or better individualize the needs of the students during the defenses, whatever that means, for the sake of their self-esteem.