I try to make my students think critically, says Helena Maňasová Hradská
12. February 2023Helena Maňasová Hradská is an art historian and theorist who teaches contemporary art and visual studies at the Faculty of Multimedia Communications. In addition, he holds the position of chairman of the faculty senate and heads the Cabinet of Theoretical Studies (CTS). What can students learn during her classes and what are the trends in contemporary art? She revealed all this in the following interview.
Have a nice day. I saw that you graduated from Masaryk University. I would like to know what made or motivated you to work at Tomas Bata University?
Good day to you too. That might be fate. When I was writing my dissertation, I went to the Baťa’s archive in Zlín, it was still in one of the factory buildings at that time, you could smell the glue everywhere, and the accelerating discipline of the big boss kept coming at me from the archives. That definitely left a strong impression on me. As if I already worked here. However, between my studies and my current job there is ten years of maternity leave, during which I still taught externally at Masaryk University. But there really isn’t much need for full-time art historians. If I were to say it with an exaggeration, it is waiting for someone to go on maternity leave or to retire. I therefore had to look all over the Czech Republic for vacancies, as I did not want to leave the field of study. Once my husband told me that there was a job vacancy in Zlín. At first I reacted, what’s wrong with him, because we live near Brno, it takes a long time to get to Zlín. But when you want a lot, it doesn’t seem so far. And that’s how I kind of returned to that “Baťa city” and since then I’ve been discovering it in a different way, like the Zlín of the new millennium. However, I have to admit that I constantly struggle with that distance.
What subjects do you teach at the faculty and what can students learn in them?
I teach contemporary art and visual studies. But when teaching, I don’t want to just dump a lot of information on the students with a requirement: “you should be able to repeat all of this”. On the contrary, I would like it to be more of a “practical” learning of critical thinking. So let’s say that I try to make students think about what they do as designers or artists, understand the wider context and the possible impact of their activity, and be able to reflect on it from different angles. Speaking of which, you can find information in many places these days. Everything is traceable. But it is important to be able to critically read and verify both texts and media images, to look critically at an event, an action. This, in my opinion, is what students should learn at university, within the framework of their expertise with a certain excellence.
When you mentioned events and actions. Do you have a favorite that relates to your field of study?
I would like to highlight the Venice Biennale. It is an event to which I like to return and where I am definitely going again. Not for some maximum admiration, but it is always a strong stimulus for further critical thinking about art. I would definitely mention the visits to various exhibitions in Vienna. It is always a large spectrum of successful exhibitions, where one can find interesting examples for teaching as well.
Could you outline to the readers what your job entails as head of the Cabinet of Theoretical Studies?
It’s not just one thing. It is definitely more areas. The “director role” includes managerial and administrative work. It’s probably not worth the whole story, but it definitely costs a lot of time and it’s needed. Somewhere, for now, the area is professional, a role that the Cabinet of Theoretical Studies should play. It can be said that we are such a theoretical basis for all fields studied at FMC. A designer learns to create something in the studio. But at the same time, they must learn to think and reflect on their work. This should be the task of the subjects that CTS is in charge of. It can look like a superstructure or something additional. Of course, this is not the case. That you can design something is one level. And how you understand what you have proposed is another level. This is precisely the task in which we engage.
Do you follow any trends in art? If so, could you tell what trends will be in the course for 2023?
You can certainly guess something. Of course, it depends on how much I can estimate it personally. To a certain extent, this is determined by the type of exhibitions, such as the aforementioned Venice Biennale. Now, of course, I’m talking about the Central European environment, since I don’t fly all over the world. Last year’s Venice Biennale set a course that highlights female authors as women. Not just women as a gender, but women as representatives of the “quieter” parts of society. So also national minorities, racial minorities, otherwise sexually oriented minorities. Sometimes it happens that you are a person from a racial and social minority, and another orientation, so you have three in one, and no one has ever heard of you before, will not hear of you, and your work, your statement, will not get anywhere. It was the last year of the Venice Biennale that tried to select and exhibit these groups. Atypically, artists who are no longer alive and who previously did not have the opportunity to show their work anywhere were also shown. This is pleasantly surprising in contemporary art. If I were to sum it up, highlighting artwork from areas that have been unexplored, silenced and overlooked until now is definitely a trend that seems to be typical of contemporary shows, but of course it is not the only one.
You hold the position of chairperson of the academic senate of FMC. What do you do in this position? What does it involve?
It can be said that this is the administration of the faculty senate. It is therefore primarily about managing the body so that it functions and performs its duties. Specifically, to convene senators, to ensure that everyone is present at meetings, to discuss management proposals or listen to comments from the academic community, to observe the rules of procedure and, of course, other regulations and standards. The chairman himself does not fundamentally decide on anything, he can only initiate a discussion or vote, since that is what the senate exists for. He is the power that has the task of controlling and deciding within the framework of some kind of consensus, and the chairman enables this through his operation.
Is it possible to combine your work with your family?
Obviously, it can be done, but it’s difficult. I think combining anything with a family life is very difficult because you have to decide what you are going to focus on more and I don’t think you can do it half and half especially in these intellectual jobs. For me, concentration is absolutely essential. This requires a specific time, which takes some time, is random, and is not controlled by the opening hours of the group or kindergarten. So everything is quite complicated and requires various compromises. But it’s reality, and you have to learn to walk in it, and let’s just say I’m still in the process of learning it.
What do you consider to be the greatest personal and career success in your life?
This is a very difficult question. I guess I’m not able to pinpoint a specific thing that can be considered a success, because when you consider something a success, it means that it’s already over and it’s closed. I’m able to say what I’m doing well, but I probably don’t expect that I’ll reach a “peak” in something and then everything will go “down”. But if it does, I hope it won’t happen for a while.
Are there any types of work that women or men do better? If yes, please give an example and reason?
I don’t like this kind of question. It is customary to say that women are more empathetic, men are more persuasive leaders and so on. However, I know a lot of examples when a certain man should definitely never lead anything and when I wonder why that particular woman can’t empathize with someone. So, let’s say that the so-called feminine and masculine strengths are based on different “feminine and masculine” conditions and experiences that we all have behind us, and I understand the mentioned perception as “traditional”. In addition to it, however, there are many more interesting variants of how to implement personnel management.
Thank you very much for the interview and I wish you a lot of time to concentrate and develop the Cabinet of Theoretical Studies.
Author: Marek Kos