In my diploma thesis called Everyday Politics I deal with the insufficiently solved topic of economic relations and structural inequalities of actors in contemporary art. I focus on the issue of economic situation of art students and their position within the university of technical direction with high demands on results and future use of measurable prestige and lucrative work position.

Die Dissertation vergleicht die Konzeptkunst in New York und den Moskauer Konzeptualismus am Beispiel zwei ihrer zentralen Vertreter: Joseph Kosuth und Ilya Kabakov. Beide haben unter dem Titel "The Corridor of Two Banalities" 1994 gemeinsam eine Installation realisiert. In Kosuth und Kabakov fanden die Zeitgenossen und Nachfolger sowohl ihr Vorbild als auch Gegenbild. In komparatistischer Perspektive werden Probleme diskutiert (z. B. das der (Selbst-)Referentialität), die die Diskussion über konzeptuelle Kunst begleiten, und konzeptuelle Kunst als Scharnier zwischen Moderne und Postmoderne erscheinen lassen. Konzeptkünstler betrachten kunsttheoretische und -historische Überlegungen in demselben Maße als selbstverständlichen Teil ihrer künstlerischen Arbeit, wie Kunst als universelle Kategorie für sie ihre Selbstverständlichkeit verloren hat. Sie setzen sich mit deren Rahmenbedingungen auseinander, die diktieren, was zu einer bestimmten Zeit und an einem bestimmten Ort als Kunst wahrgenommen wird. Die Dissertation konzentriert sich daher auf die Frage, wie Kosuth und Kabakov die (Konzept-)Kunst diesseits und jenseits des Eisernen Vorhangs selbst konzeptualisieren. Unter Einbeziehung der Rezeptionsgeschichte wird untersucht, welche Vorstellung von Autor- und Leserschaft Kosuth und Kabakov entwerfen, vom welchem Werkbegriff sie ausgehen und auf welche sprachphilosophischen Modelle sie sich dabei beziehen. / The thesis compares the Conceptual Art in New York with the Moscow Conceptualism while using the example of two of their greatest representatives: Joseph Kosuth and Ilya Kabakov. Together, they have created an installation entitled "The Corridor of Two Banalities" (1994). For their contemporaries and successors, Kosuth and Kabakov served as models or just the opposite. In a comparatistical perspective the thesis discusses problems (e.g. the (self-)referentiality) which go along with the debate about conceptual art and which let the conceptual art appear as a link between modernism and postmodernism. For conceptual artists, theoretical and historical considerations of art form an evident part of their artistic work to the same degree as art as a universal category has lost its self-evidence for them. They examine its frame conditions which dictate what is being considered as art at a specific time and in a specific place. Hence the thesis focusses on the question about the ways Kosuth and Kabakov conceptualise the (Conceptual) Art on both sides of the Iron Curtain. Taking into account the reception history it examines which concept of author- and readership Kosuth and Kabakov formulate, which definition of artwork they have assumed and which models of philosophy of language they refer to.

In diploma thesis Open Call I focus on unequal position of artists in current art world in which, despite the transparent practices like open calls, still persists the cult of name, the power of networking and personal recommendation. This topic I artistically process in form of practical artistic intervention, which is close to the tactics of 1:1 scale of Arte Útil - specifically by creation of software tool called Nomin. Its purpose is to support weakened or marginalized groups of artists. Nomin uses properties of email protocol SMTP to allow its users-spectators to send fake self-recommending emails - from email addresses of famous curators to the inboxes various galleries or other art institutions. During development of program Nomin and its technical background (software documentation, web page etc.) I followed the paradigm of free, libre, open source software (FLOSS) and also the methodology of agile software development in order to provide in this gesamtsoftwerk the users-spectators with fully functional, user-friendly software and give them possibility to influence further development of Nomin or directly participate on it. Created artwork is thus not a single artefact but rather a set of interconnected objects and practices grounded in the network of social bonds and behaviours which balances on the edge of institutional critique, useful art, participatory art and collective performance.