EXHIBITION of underground publications, film, and music. OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday, November 10, 6:30pm-8:30pm On view November 10, 2011 through January 12, 2012

Curated by Daniela Sneppova

Samizdat: The Czech Art of Resistance presents 120 rarely seen handmade books, journals, and other original works on paper that circulated secretly during the years between the Prague Spring and the Velvet Revolution. The multimedia exhibition also includes period footage of underground concerts and bootleg recordings of banned Czech bands.

Literally meaning "self-published," samizdat is a Russian term referring to underground publications that flourished in the USSR and Soviet bloc under repressive communist rule. Copies of an essay, a book, a series of poems, or articles were generated in small batches, most commonly using a typewriter with carbon paper or a small printing press. Blending political dissidence with esthetic innovation, samizdat was passed  from person to person through clandestine networks.

Creating and disseminating ideas or art--even if non-political--that did not conform to official ideology was considered to be an act against the state. This could, and did, lead to imprisonment for many of those found to be participating in this "unofficial culture." 

Samizdat explores how these seemingly small acts of opposition played a crucial role in resisting the totalitarian regime in Czechoslovakia, which was eventually displaced by the leaders of underground culture-including such producers of samizdat as writer and first president of Czechoslovakia, Václav Havel.

Samizdat: The Czech Art of Resistance was organized by the Czech Center NY and curated by Daniela Sneppova. It is part of Roads to Freedom: Czech Alternative Culture before 1989, a series of events celebrating the Czech holiday Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day (Den boje za svobodu a demokracii).  

Roads to Freedom also includes a two-day symposium on samizdat presented in conjunction with New York University Prague; a concert by seminal Czech underground band Garage (Garáž); a Velvet Revolution party; and screenings of two underground films (see below for further information).

Samizdat events are organized under the auspices of the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Karel Schwarzenberg, and the First President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Havel.